My Last Semester!

Today I started the last semester of my undergraduate schooling! (I preface that with undergrad just in case). According to my calculations, I have 118 days left to graduation, and it can't go fast enough. Although I am eager to finish up, I do need to stay on top of my work and make sure I finish strong. I also want to make this an enjoyable semester, starting with getting out more than I have the previous three here. We'll see how that goes. After I graduate, I am going to start an internship (and hopefully go home first), not sure where quite yet. After that, who knows. For now I have school to finish.

Time to Dig In

Quick note on my last post; nothing has changed. Liberty fans are still fair weather in every sense of the word. After packing the student section for the JMU game, they began filing out at halftime. Of a 7-10 game!

Anyway, the next two weeks are gonna be crazy for me as far as school goes. I have papers due both weeks, and a presentation and part of a project due next week. The good news is that my parents are coming out next Thursday for Family Weekend, so that is the "light at the end of the tunnel" I am focusing on. Also good news is the fact that after next week I only have five and a half weeks left in the semester, which is pretty crazy. And after that, only one semester of college left!

Liberty Football

For the last few season's Liberty's football program has been growing by leaps and bounds. Last year they finished the season ranked #14 in the FCS, narrowly missing the playoffs, and this season they opened the year playing at West Virginia. They hung with them, too, losing only 20-33. Earlier this month, the Athletic Director, Jeff Barber, announced plans to expand Williams Stadium, home of our football team, from 12,000 to 30,000 seats when it is all said and done. And now, the team is getting ready to play what very well could be the most important in program history, against James Madison. Currently, Liberty is ranked #24 and JMU is #6 in the FCS. If Liberty wins, and is able to play well the rest of the season, we should easily make the playoffs. That in itself would be a major milestone for the team and school, legitimizing us as a true football university. But, what may arguably be an even more important result is a change in the student/fan culture.

Until now, Liberty students have been very much fair weather fans (granted this is only my second year on campus, but it is just that obvious). Last season, it was fairly rare to have a full stadium by the end of the game, either because Liberty had it rapped it up by half, or because it was raining, too cold, whatever. On top of that, after we lost a home game last season, the first in quite a while, attendance dropped by 1,100 (it was even Homecoming), and a few weeks later was down 7,500 after losing on the road. That's just not the way it is supposed to work. If we want to be a true football school, we need to have dedicated, die-hard fans that will support the team through anything, all the way to the end. But what I see now, two and a half hours before game time, is awesome. It's raining out, it's cold, and yet there are students lined up to get into the stadium! That is what we need! Yes, marketing did a great job of getting everyone hyped up during Friday's convocation, but in the past that alone has not worked. Something else is changing. Already this season we set an attendance record of 16,000+ at our home opener, and now they expect 20,000 to show for this game. I really believe that this game could be the deciding factor in changing the fan culture, and send Liberty students into a football frenzy.

Fantasy Football, Not Just For Fun

For the last four years or so, I have played fantasy football with some good friends of mine back home in Wisconsin. It is always a fun time, although my team is usually just average, and I have also missed the last two drafts because of school. Anyone who plays fantasy sports knows that the drafts are half the fun. Most years I only play in one league a season so I do not get too obsessed with it, but this semester I am required to be in a league for one of my classes. That's right, I am actually running a fantasy football team for a class project! Of course, it is much more than that; we are basically building an entire franchise (logo, stadium, game revenue, economic impact analysis, etc.) around our team and then "selling" it to an investor at the end of the season/semester. Now comes the shameless plug. The team a friend and I are running is called the St. Louis Spirit, and in order to make it more realistic and hopefully gain an advantage over the other franchises when it comes time to sell, I have set up a twitter and Google site for it. Twitter is here, the website here. Check 'em out, follow us if you like (I certainly don't expect you to turn device updates on for a fictional team), and enjoy the football season! Go Pack! Go Favre!

School Has Begun

Last week was the first week of school at Liberty. It was a fairly laid-back week, but that is kind of typical when half the classes are a review of the syllabus or course projects. Still, I do get the impression that it will be an easier semester than I was anticipating, though still challenging. Over the weekend, I went to Panther Falls with a bunch of guys from my dorm and our sister dorm, which was a nice break from all of the reading I was doing (I like to get ahead). This week is Spiritual Emphasis Week, which Clayton King is leading for the fifth year in a row, so it should be an interesting couple of days.

Back at Liberty University

Last night my family dropped me off at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia for my senior year of college! I am not gonna lie, I will be happy when it is over. After only a year of being on-campus, the rigmarole of moving here for a few months then back home for a break, then back for another semester, and back home again has gotten old. I love the school and the people, but I like having one home. This year I had to be on campus a week early because I am a prayer leader this semester. The school wants all of the student leadership to get some training and help move the freshman in. Unfortunately, there isn't much else to do.

Hasta Luego, Costa Rica

Wednesday was a perfect end to my trip. All day I was out in Los Guido with a group that was basically running Upwards sport camps. And it was a blast! In the morning, they set up a bunch of carnival games in the soccer field, and I would say well over 100 kids came out. I made balloon animals, and had a great time. Around noon, we cleaned everything up and went to the community center for lunch. After that, we headed back to the field and the group setup a soccer clinic, with six or seven drills for the kids to rotate through. They also had cheerleading for the girls. Another 100+ kids came out, many returning from the morning. When that was all finished, we had a bit of time to kill before dinner, so we went up onto a mountain that had a great view of San Jose. While we were up there, I caught a lizard, and Mihai decided to bring it back to the House as a pet. But, unfortunately, it escaped in the bus, and was not seen again. Back at the Villa, we had dinner and a devo from Ron Bishop, the founder of SCORE International. Afterwards, I needed to leave pretty quick so we could take a new group (there are six down here now, with over 120 people total) to the hotel, and pick the other group up to take to the House. That turned fairly chaotic because we did not know which rooms the new people would be in, and I could tell they were about to fall asleep where they stood. But, everything got sorted out, and we headed to the House, where I got packed for the morning.

Today, I am going to a big devotional in the morning that all of the groups will be at, and then head to the airport to start the journey home. This trip has been fantastic, and I have really enjoyed serving alongside some of the most dedicated Christ-followers I have ever met. I hope I will get the chance to come back someday.