The Eight Questions Meme, Sort Of

Several days ago, Edward “Hollywood” Carson tagged me to do this on his blog, so I decided I would comply, but with a couple of changes. I’m supposed to make up and then answer eight questions. Well, eight questions is a lot, and since I have to come up with them on my own, I’m going to limit it to 5.


1. What is something about you that embarrasses you, or at least that you wouldn’t want everyone on the World Wide Web to see?

I can’t swim. Not a bit. I don't really have an excuse, I just never learned how. When I was younger, I was greatly ashamed by this, but I’ve had enough people joke with me about it over the years that now it just annoys me. One of my college buddies actually gave me a couple of lessons over the course of a couple of years, and I learned how to float on my back, but if I were ever in a situation where I had to put that into practice, I’m almost certain that I would choke (both metaphorically and literally).

2. In the About The Author link on the side of the page, you describe yourself as an ultimate frisbee player, but it seems like every other post you write is about baseball, while you hardly ever talk about ultimate. What’s up with that?

It is a firmly-held conviction of mine that baseball is the best sport of all time. It is not the world’s oldest sport, but the meticulous documentation of its history is unmatched. It is not the most demanding sport physically, but hitting a major league fastball has been called the most difficult thing to do in sports, and when placed alongside the grind of a 162 game schedule, it makes baseball demanding in a unique way. The sound of football pads crashing against each other is impressive, and the swish of a basketball net is cool, but no sound in sports compares to the poetry of the crack of the bat. I could go on and on.

Baseball is fun to play too, and for a while, I was pretty good at it, but I was never going to make it to the big leagues. I wasn’t even good enough to really play in college.

Ultimate doesn’t have nearly the history of baseball, but it has come a long way in the last 30 years. I made great friends in college through the frisbee team I played on, and when I’m healthy (which sadly is rarer and rarer these days), I can be competitive at the highest levels of ultimate, which is pretty neat.

Baseball is the better sport. Ultimate is the sport that I am better at.

3. What is your favorite animal?

Turtles, without a doubt. When I was little, I never really had much interest in pets, unless I found a turtle in the yard.

I’m not sure I can explain what the big deal about turtles is, but I’ll try: They’re easy to care for, generally very nice, occasionally friendly, and usually, not in too big of a hurry. People could learn a lot from turtles.

I’m not a big fan of snapping turtles though. They’re the jerks that give the rest of the turtles a bad name.

4. It’s pretty clear from reading your blog that you are a Christian. Why is that?

Honestly, the reason I became a Christian is because my parents are Christians—it’s just the way I was raised. As I got older though, especially when I went away to college, I examined my own beliefs and also learned about some other religions, and while some of my ideas have changed, my faith is probably stronger now than it has ever been.

When it comes down to it, the Person of Jesus is entirely unique, and, in my opinion, irresistibly appealing. There’s no one I would rather imitate.

5. If you were Barry Bonds, on the verge of making history by breaking Hank Aaron’s career home run record, what would you do?

I’d consult the nearest physician as soon as possible. With as many foreign substances as I’d have injected into my body, I’d be pretty sure that I had some major problems.


There you go. Since I only answered five questions, I’ll only tag five people: Angela, Clay Hendrix, David McMahon, Paul Murphy and Sam Travaglini. Technically, you’re supposed to answer eight questions, but I guess it would be pretty hypocritical of me to hold you to that. I’ll look forward to the responses.