MANNING UP – DEALING WITH THE LAKERS LOSS

The message this last weekend centered around a passage in 1 Corinthians 16. Here’s the passage:

1Cor. 16:13 Be on the alert, bstand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

It centered on the “act like men” phrase. In Greek it’s just one word: andreidzesthe (a loose transliteration). It’s a plural present middle imperative – i.e. it’s a command for us to be about something, not just do something. To develop the idea a little further, there are 2 words that get translated “man”. One is “anthropos” where we get the discipline of anthropology, usually referring to mankind. Then there is the word “aner” which is used when they wanted to talk about ‘man’ as opposed to woman (gyne). This is from the verbal form of that noun if that make any sense. It is about “man” as opposed to “boy”, not as opposed to “woman” in this context.

In the message, I said that if Paul were writing this idiomatically today, he would say, “man up!”

So in my effort to “MAN UP!” I am trying to stop my crying & deal with the Lakers’ embarrassing loss last Tuesday. I was hoping against hope to be watching the 4th quarter of game 7 at this moment right now. So here goes:

* The better team won – *(*&^% I hate saying this. But, the evil Celtics came in not getting the respect that the team with the best record should have.

* The Lakers were soft – I really $%%^^& hate saying this. Back in the 80s there was this idiotic contrast of the blue collar Celtics with the Hollywood Lakers and showtime. Magic, Byron (grew up in Inglewood like Paul Pierce), James & the Big Fella, the Captain with Michael Cooper (whom Larry says was the toughest defender he ever faced) were rock hard. It must have hurt them to see Sasha imitating a matador or a practice cone & Pau flopping around.

* Paul Pierce was the best player on the floor. I am no longer anti-Kobe. It’s all forgiven bro. But PP was unstoppable.

* The Zen Master was out coached. I hate to do this, but I lay the game 4 choke job at Phil’s feet.

O.k. enough. All of you can stop posting smack or condolences on the other places & we can have a centralized spot.

On another note, I finally brought myself to call my mom today – she is a much more passionate Lakers fan than me (I remember she called me when the great Chic Hearn died – it was the kind of late night call reserved for a death in the family :-). She is just coming out of a couple days of deperession. Hope you are all happy!!!

O.k. BRING IT. Ed’s manning up!

Steve, you can repost you blast here – we miss you bro!