Loss of 2015

No one is really every prepared to lose someone that they are close to, no matter if it is family or friends. I really felt this during the past year it started off on January 3rd of 2015 with a text message saying one of my closest friends had past away from a tumor on his brain. You are never prepared to see a friend laying in a coffin knowing you will never see them or speak to them again. Through out the year I would pick my phone up and call Charlie and then realize no one would pick up the phone.

During the latter part of the year I have had two aunts and one uncle pass away. I was unable to attend any of the funerals due to work. My Aunt Marie was the first to pass away. When I was younger I would go spend the night at her house and my Uncle Marvin would ask me if I wanted to be there and my reply always  was "I'm not here by choice!" which wasn't true I loved going to their house because I got to do anything I got to stay up late and have all the candy I wanted. Aunt Marie had a face you could read like a book, but you never had to worry about where she stood on anything she would tell you just to make sure you understood why she looked at you the way she did. I will always cherish my memories and the time we spent together.

My Uncle Buddy was the nest to pass away. When I worked away from home I would call Uncle Buddy and we would talk about fishing and where I was and where I was going next. He always told me next time you home you need to get down here and see me and met me meet that pretty baby of yours and your wife. I was never able to make that trip, there always seemed to be something going on or work, not only that I always figured I had plenty of time to let him meet my family. When Uncle Buddy was around there was never a dull moment, just a pair of dark shades and a big smile. he never met a stranger and when he did he introduced himself. If someone needed something he did everything that he could to help. If he was still here with us I would make a special trip down the see him just so he could meet my family and he could make them smile and laugh.

The latest to pass was my Aunt Virginia or Aunt Sis and most of us knew her by. I was down around her house less than two weeks ago and my dad ask me, " Chance why don't you stop by and go see Aunt Sis?" I replied, "I'll stop by next time and down and see her." Not knowing there would be a next time. I always there would be more time, one more bowl of Sackett stew and some story of how that was made and who ate it. A story about her and Uncle Jimmy traveling all over the U.S in a big rig. Or the story of her yelling at Uncle Jimmy because I was driving away in his crew cab pickup towards a ditch, I was 5 at the time. There will always be regrets, but there will also always be great memories of times that we shared.

Some people think I think of myself as better than some of my family, and I'll be honest that has some truth to it depending on who it is. the three family member mentions above are not to be counted in that crowd. I would have been at there funerals if there would have been a way for me to be there. I was lucky enough to be able to make it to Charlie's and say goodbye to my friend. If this past year has taught me anything at all it is to cherish the time we have here and spend it with those you love.

Life Goes On

I haven't been keeping up with the blog like one should this past year. There are multiple things that i could be sharing with everyone. Let me start by saying, this past year was a year of change. I resigned from my position at TLWallace a company that i had been a part of for the last seven years. On one of my weeks home Kristi and I discussed the possibility and decided it was the right move for our family. We stepped out on a limb of faith being that I did not have a job or one lined up at the time. I was lucky enough to be able to take a month off and just relaxed and be with my family for longer than five days without trying to cram everything in. July was a month of nothing but family it was amazing.

In August I began to apply for jobs and interviews for many. I took a job at Cspire, because of my background with computer and cellphone towers. I have learned a great deal from the people that I have worked with and continue to do so. I am very thankful for God placing this group of people in my life, and also thankful for getting to be home with my family over the past six months.

With the beginning of a new year, it's the turning of a page and a new chapter in our lives. I look forward to the winds of change that are coming and the new direction that god has given my family. 2016 will be a year of change...

TEN WEEKS

Ten weeks................

Not a whole lot of people will know what I mean when they see that, but the Ole Miss faithful will. It's ten weeks until the start of college football. It's ten weeks until our hunt for the hunt for the first national championship in over fifty years begins. It's ten weeks until the furious "Landshark D" sees the first drop of blood in the water and rushes to it like a pack of hungry great whites. Ladies and Gentlemen its ten weeks until the mighty Rebels take the field and begins to hunt... 

    The Rebels will be lead by a fearsome defensive line consisting of Haynes, Gross, Nkemdiche, and Brown. Then you have two shutdown corners in Shepard and Bridges. I'm going to go ahead and put this out there these two are going to have a tremendous year. This is why I am predicting that the two corners put up big numbers. Look at our D-Line, just look and tell me what you see? Let me answer that question for you so you won't hurt yourself thinking about it, you see SPEED and a lot of it. That was just six players on defense there are still five more to talk about and one being another All-American in Tony Connor one of the, if not the, hardest hitting safeties in the SEC. Mike Hilton, "Mr. Everything" in my opinion if the coaches asked Hilton to lineup at defensive end, he would smile and assume and three point stance. Elston is slipping into Cody Pruitts position and should fill it with no drop off. then that brings us to the Linebackers. you have Mighty Mouse himself Denzel Nkemdiche back at full strength and CJ Johnson taking over for DT in the middle. the great thing about Denzel is his speed he plays so much bigger than he is, he is a modern day Sam Mills. Call me biased, maybe, but I'm a defensive guy and in a different blog I will discuss the offense. 

    In my opinion we will go as far as our defense takes us, and with a DC Like Wommack that could be all the way. Don't get me wrong the majority of the credit goes to Coach Freeze for putting this staff together and keeping them here to do something special. Coach Wommack has molded this defense into something that was unimaginable just four short years ago. Wommack made them hungry again they had forgot the taste and he reminded them what that was like. When out boys in Red and Blue take the field in ten weeks they are going to already have the smell of blood in their nostrils and a fire in their belly. This is the year we Bite, Claw, Scrap, and Fight our way to the top of the Heap. This is the year they call us National Champions...

Is Homosexuality Becoming a Selfish Act?

In today's society saying that you are Homosexual has become more of a look at me than anything else. It's like a football player doing some elaborate dance in the end-zone after a touchdown. With Jason Collin's "coming out part" and the reaction of our country it just made me begin to think, "Are some over-the-hill athletes going to try and use this for a paycheck?" Jason Collins career is over, not because he is gay, but because he just cant play at professional level anymore. When I thought about this the  question was, "If a NBA team does not sign him will the gay community cry foul?" I would hate to think that they would, but being that Homosexuality is a "LOOK AT ME" event these days it would not surprise me if the community was marching in the streets trying to force some team to sign him or they would be designated a Hate Group. Honestly, if I was a professional athlete I wouldn't care if your gay, straight, Muslim, Jew, or gentile as long as they help the team win I wouldn't care. The locker room is a team atmosphere not a place to share sexual orientation this is why I feel like coming out as a homosexual in the locker room it is a very selfish act. I know not everyone will agree with me, but hey this is my opinion.

Its in the Air

Can anyone really believe football season is almost here again, and yes that means I will be blogging a lot more. Between the first weekend in February and the third week in July my sports world s very shallow. Those are the two sports dates that I look forward to the most because one crowns a Champion and the other begins the journey. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a die hard Saints and Ole Miss fan, I don't care if we don't win a game I'm going to support my team and run my mouth.

This is a very exciting year at Ole Miss we have a new HC, Hugh Freeze, who is bring something we drastically needed...Discipline. Also with him comes a high octane spread offense that will be able to score in bunches. Not only is the offense going to be able to put up point Coach Freeze brings with him an attacking defense that will get after the quarterback

My beloved Saints on the other hand have had a very stressful off-season. From the bounty scandal to not having Drew Brees signed to a long-term contract yet. Even though all of this is going on  it feels that this group of players have grown closer to one another and have taken on the mentality of "us against the world". even Roger can't take that away from them. 

The main thing is Football is about to be here and I cant wait...

NFL's Top 5 Most Influential Players

The other day I was reading over a list of Most Influential Players they had Chad Ochocinco at the top of the list then Reggie Bush and so on. Well it got me to thinking and I have decided to put a list of my own together. Just to see how it matches up with the "experts".

1. Tim Tebow -  Who has done more for football this year? The packers are looking to go undefeated in the regular season and all anyone can talk about is "Tebow Time" or someone suspended for "Tebowing" the school hallway. Tebow is the type of player you love or you love to hate. He isn't your typical NFL QB, he will never throw for 4,000 yards a season. What he does bring to the table is a desire to make himself and the team around him better. He has crossed over from football star to culture icon. That is something that hasn't happened since Dion Sanders was playing.

2. Ndamukong Suh - Dirtiest player in the game...That is a complement most defensive players would love to have. As a defensive lineman you want the player across the line to fear you. There has not been a player in the NFL like this since "Mean" Joe Greene. He isn't a person I would wont my kid to look up to, but if I had a defensive tackle that wanted to know how to play the position Suh would be the first players I would show him.


3.Troy Polamalu - If for nothing else the hair. You didn't see players coming into the league with hair like that until we got Polamalu out of USC (He had to take a pay cut to enter the draft). Now we have the Matthews brothers, Bobby Carpenter, and AJ Hawk all running around trying to get the next Pantene ProV commercial. Polamalu also brought a fearlessness to the position he plays, when he got to the league John Lynch was going out there wasn't someone in the league at the safety position that came to work everyday looking to knockout the opponent. Polamalu put the fear back in recievers coming across the middle and the QBs are always wondering when is that safety blitz coming.

4.Ray Lewis - The king of trash talking. one og the most feared and loved MLBs of all time. This is one person a running back does not want to see filling the hole that has been opened for him or that receiver running that route over the middle. He will go down as one of the all-time greats that played in the NFL. look in HS across America and you will see young men trying to imitate his moves, his ability to sniff out a play, and even his war paint. imitation is the highest sign of respect and there is a lot out there for Ray Lewis.


5. Drew Brees - I know he isn't Aaron Rogers or Tom Brady but let us take a step back and look at the big picture. Lets look at stats: ATT 543 - COMP 385 - Passing yards 4368 - TDs 32. A QB that is only 6'0 tall putting up those type number who would have ever thought that could happen. That is the same reason coaches around the league shunned Doug Flutie back in the day because he wasn't that pro style QB they were looking for. Brees had overcame so many odds in his career that he had to be on this list. He will never have the athletic ability of Cam Newton or the hand signals of Peyton Manning but what he compensates with is the will to win.


Like I said before I'm no expert but in my opinion these are 5 players that have became icons of the sport. They will go down as some of the greatest players to play the game of football.

Show Me the Money (Quam)

"Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes."

Today when i was reading about South Carolina losing six scholarships for receiving improper discounts from a hotel ion the amount of $55,000. It got me to thinking what was the worst scandal in college football:

1. SMU : The Mustangs fell from greatness after the Eric Dickerson and Craig James "Pony Express" era to being the only major college football team to recieve the "Death Penalty" in NCAA history. The football team didn't play in either the 1987 or 1988 seasons after it received tens of thousands of dollars from boosters to pay the players (Craig James go stand in the woodshed)

2. Oklahoma's Barry Switzer era: He had a amazing record on the field, and he may have survived the numerous allegations against his team. But then again when your starting QB in 1989 gets arrested for selling that "Tony Montana" stuff its kinda hard to come back from that

3. The Jackie Sherrill era at Texas A&M: The coach wasn't found guilty (really doesn't mean your not guilty), but still resigned in 1988 after the program was found guilty of improper employment, extra benefits, unethical conduct and lack of institutional control. (Now I see how he won at Mississippi State)

 4.The U 1995 Pell Grant scandal: Why settle for weekly handouts from boosters when you can get thousands of dollars from the government by using fake grant applications? (they should have hired the tutors from USC to fill them out)

5. USC and Reggie Bush : Reggie Bush is the only player to give back a Heisman Trophy. USC's players have long been thought of as the best paid players in college sports, but this was one of the only times that it has been proven that a players accepted money. Also, in 2001 team tutors were caught writing term papers for players. (they was the best team money could buy until Cam went to Auburn)


This is just my top five. There are many more out there, but these five really jumped out at me. Its something about money that makes people go a little crazy. From a players standpoint, they see all the money the schools are making off of them and knowing they may never see that type of money being offered to them in there career (most don't make the NFL). I can see were that would be tempting. But for a coach are school to blatantly go out of their way to help players cheat the system that is where there needs to be a change. Don't just take wins away from the school, but also take away the money that came wth that win. Here is a idea that has been around for ever....Give the players and little bit and then you wouldn't have near the problem you have with agents and boosters. If the NCAA really wants to fix the problem they will let the money trickle down to the players that break bones and tear ligaments for the schools, it wouldn't have to be much just enough to say thank you. Because after all isn't that what we all want... for some one to Show Us the Money.