Millions of men and women love sports. In fact, many are obsessed with their favorite sports teams. I understand this because I am the same way. I am obsessed with my favorite sports team (the New York Yankees and New York Jets). Unfortunately, many times in our love of our sports teams, we forget the importance of loving God. So I write this blog as a reminder to focus first on loving God, before we love our sports team.
"I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
Malachi 3:6 (NIV)
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Numbers 3:19 (NIV)
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17 (NIV)
It was June 12, 2014. I had gotten home from work and was preparing to leave again for a retirement party. I saw the look in my wife’s face as she spoke on the phone with the doctor. The only question was going to be, “how bad is it?” I knew something was wrong with my oldest daughter, but I had no idea what it was or how bad it was going to be. I also knew I wasn’t going to any party. My wife informed me quietly that the doctor told her that Eliana had Type 1 Diabetes and we needed to take her immediately to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She also said we needed to bring a bag – because she wasn’t coming home that night. I was baffled. I have type 2 diabetes, so I could not fathom why we needed to take her to the emergency room- let alone spend the night. I was completely ignorant of what it meant to have type 1 diabetes. We brought Eliana home from CHOP after 3 days. My daughter’s world and our world changed that night.
“Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas loses the ability to produce insulin – a hormone essential to turning food into energy. It strikes both children and adults and is unrelated to diet and lifestyle. With T1D, there are no days off, and there is no cure”- JDRF.
The only way to receive insulin is through injection. It is tough injecting insulin in a six-year-old child before every meal and even large snacks. We have to constantly monitor her blood sugar- if it goes too low she could lose consciousness and suffer brain damage. She could go too high; we have to check her blood for Ketones (one of the many diabetes terms I had never heard of before June 12). All you need to know about Ketones is that they are toxic to the body. Eliana has been low plenty of times. She has been high plenty of times. We have a great team at CHOP- but really it is all on my wife and I to monitor her and make numerous decisions each day. Eliana does not like having diabetes and she verbalizes that feeling often. My wife and I have not had a good night sleep since her diagnosis. Eliana tells me her stomach hurts every night. We have had to navigate through school. For the most part they have been helpful. However, it is alarming how much the school district does NOT know about diabetes. Things that I feel after 8 months are common sense seem like grandiose requests. It has not been fun. I realize as I think back to June 12, people have been praying for Eliana and my family. I know they have, because I feel God watching over her and us. The night her blood sugar was below 50 and for no reason my wife went and checked on her as she slept, He was watching. Every time I see Eliana laughing and playing, I know He is watching. My wife and I watched her and her sister walk 3.1 miles for the JDRF/One Walk for a World Without Diabetes fundraiser. We knew God was watching her as she completed the walk with pride. Now Eliana has a Continuous Glucose Monitoring(CGM) device inserted into her body, so we can always know what her blood sugar is. At some point she will probably have an insulin pump attached to her body. These are major life changes she has undergone at the age of six as a result of having type 1 diabetes. God, however, does not change. As a result, when the world around us changes, we can still have hope. I know that no matter how much our lives change, God’s love for my daughter does not. He can do anything. He can cure her or He can choose not to. But most importantly He will not change. We can depend on Him to get through any challenge. When things change, He will not. You too can have that same assurance, if you trust in the Lord.
The Super Bowl is now over. Peter Carroll lost that game in a manner worthy of the New York Jets. However, I digress, my focus is not on the Seattle Seahawks. The New York Jets have fired Rex Ryan and John Idzik. Things will hopefully be changing for the New York Jets. I am a New York Jets fan, so I am always skeptical. I hope things will change for the best for the Jets. Many Jets fans, myself included, were really excited to hear that Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf were advising Woody Johnson in regards to his leadership quest. Two years ago Woody blew it when he kept Rex and hired Idzik. But the truth of the matter is, Woody was right to keep Rex. He made a huge mistake in hiring Idzik, any half competent G.M could have led the Jets to having at least 4 more wins. So we were excited to hear these respected names will be advising Woody. And then came the name Doug Marrone. I was initially, excited to hear that he was available and would be one of the candidates interviewed. He was a former Jet coach and offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints. My excitement left me as soon as I saw the quote from Woody speaking on Marrone quitting his Buffalo Bills head coaching job, “ pretty good news.” Uh oh. This is the man that said,“you can never have enough Tebow”.
Marrone should have been a candidate for the head coaching job. He should not have been the candidate for the New York Jets job. Woody Johnson is the common denominator of all of our struggles. He has proven that he cares about his team and that he wants to win. He tried hard to get the Jets their own stadium, he opened up his checkbook during the Tannenbaum GM years, he even kept Rex after last year. However, he is not a football man and he has made choices that have hurt the franchise (not re-signing Revis, bringing in Tim Tebow, not hiring someone with a strong personnel background after firing Tannebaum). So after hearing his quote about Marrone, I began thinking the worst. Not only had he already made up his mind, but he was not even going pick a G.M first. Then came the backlash from the media about Doug Marrone. Conflicting reports then emerged regarding his interview. One said it was great; others said it was terrible. Either way he disappeared as a viable candidate. What happened? Did he really have a bad interview or does the owner of my favorite football team have no backbone. Was he simply afraid of the negative publicity? I did not want Woody to hand Doug Marrone the job like he was Bill Parcells. I did want him to consider him (Marrone got an endorsement from Kein Maawae and even Bill Parcells) and choose him if he was the best man for the job. We may never know what happened, but we do know Woody is in no position to get the benefit of the doubt. So finally, the New York Jets and Woody Johnson announce the hiring of Mike Maccagnan GM and Todd Bowles H.C. I don't know that much about Maccagnan except he was scout for many years and the Director of College Scouting for the Houston Texans. I know he is a talent evaluator, personnel guy and football man. He is everything John Idzik was not. I know much more about Todd Bowles. He is a former football player, he was a former defensive backs coach for the New York Jets, and he coached at the collegiate level. He was an interim head coach for the Miami Dolphins and defensive coordinator the past two years for an excellent Arizona Cardinal defense. Bowles was also one of the most sought after head coaching candidates this off-season. He is Rex Ryan- like in his defense prowess, but he maybe much more. I am very happy and excited regarding this change for the New York Jets. Our scouting department has completely changed, our coaching staff has completely changed. It appears the GM and coaches will focus on making the Jets a well rounded team. That will be change. Woody Johnson for the moment appears to have made the correct call. He seems to have learned from previous mistakes. Although, not one game has been played yet, I am confident in my owner's decision and that is a change.
I am hoping that by the time I post this, The New York Yankees will have made a major signing in Free Agency. If not, it will be safe to say that things have changed. There is no way that in previous years the Yankees would have let other teams sign their players in free agency (See Russell Martin, Robinson Cano) or outbid them. At the risk of getting carried away the Yankees did sign Elsbury, McCann and Tanaka for 400 million last year. In addition, Cano was offered 25 million a year(even though the old Yankees would have offered more considering that Seattle offered equal dollars). However, we are now at year 2 without a playoff appearance and we have been outbid and lost players. It was clear the Yankees were targeting, Chase Headly, Brandon McCarthy and presumably Dave Robertson. Well, they went after Miller instead of Robertson, signed Headly and were outbid by the Dodgers for McCarthy. The New York Yankees are a team we are used to seeing get the players they want. Brian Cashman went out of his way to say the Yankees were targeting McCarthy- only to be outbid by the Dodgers. Looks like things are changing. The starting rotation got much weaker with the loss of McCarthy and Shane Greene. They provided quality depth for our oft-injured/aging starting five. They also traded more depth when they moved David Phelps. Sorry but Nathan Eovaldi seems like a downgrade compared to Shane Greene. With the recent trade of Shawn Kelly (which I lose no sleep over), it appears the Yankees are trying to save money. I would be remiss in not mentioning that the Yankees have attacked the international market. Cashman has signed Dermis Garcia SS Dominican Republic, Juan De Leon OF Dominican Republic, and Nelson Gomez 3B Dominican Republic, all of 3 are rated in the top 10 for international amateurs. He may also sign Cuban SS phenom Yoan Mocada. I will give him credit for these signings. However, as of now I remain uncomfortable of losing our mystic as the big bad Yankees. Unless the New York Yankees are gearing up for a major signing to upgrade our weak offense or sign a top-notch pitcher to combat our numerous pitching questions- I will be forced to admit that things have changed.
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