Cooper

The Texas Rangers kick off their season tomorrow at home against the Chicago White Sox. In today’s blog, I hope to provide some food for thought on the Rangers and their chances to a) make the playoffs, b) win the American League Pennant, and c) win the World Series. ESPN partnered with InfographicsWorld.com to provide some interesting Opening Day numbers on an info graph linked here, and that inspired me to do a Rangers-focused blog. Here’s a list of some numbers to keep an eye on this season for the Rangers:

1. The Texas Rangers have the second-lowest Opening Day winning percentage at .431, which is better than only the Kansas City Royals at .348. The team with the best winning percentage you ask? Why that would be the New York Mets at .640, and the other team from New York is second with .576.
   
   
   
2. Since the modern era of baseball began (1960s) only 6 of the 14 teams that have won the pennant in the American League have 3-peated or better, so there’s a 43 percent chance the Rangers make the 3-peat.
   Those teams are:
   
   
1. The 1960-1964 New York Yankees-5 straight
2. The 1969-1971 Baltimore Orioles-3 straight
3. The 1972-1974 Oakland Athletics-3 straight
4. The 1976-1978 New York Yankees-3 straight
5. The 1988-1990 Oakland Athletics-3 straight
6. The 1998-2001 New York Yankees-4 straight.

In each of those 3-peats the 3-peater managed to win the World Series at least once, with the 60-64 Yankees winning twice, the 69-71 Orioles winning once, the 72-74 A’s winning all 3 times, the 76-78 Yankees winning twice, the 88-90 A’s winning once, and 98-2001 Yankees winning 3 of 4 and taking the 4th to 7 games. So if the Rangers can get back to the A.L. championship, history shows they win the World Series. Oh and by the way, NO team in the National League has 3-peated since the 1942-1944 St. Louis Cardinals.

3. Watch for some cool career mile-markers this season.
1. Josh Hamilton’s career mile-markers that could be reached include: 800 hits (he has 698 now), 500 RBI (he has 425 now), and 150 home runs (he has 118 now). If he keeps pace with last season and stays healthy, I see Hamilton hitting .300 with 28 home runs, 90 RBI, 157 hits, and a .340 OBP.
   
   
2. Mike Napoli’s possible career mile-markers: 600 hits (he has 507 now), 150 home runs (he has 122 now), and 400 RBI (324 now). I expect .278 hitting average, 25 home runs, 66 RBI, 98 hits, and a .359 OBP.
   
   
3. Michael Young career: 2200 hits (he has 2061 now), 190 home runs (169 now), 1000 RBI (917 now), 500 walks (499 now), 1100 runs scored (1006 now), 100 stolen bases (87 now), and 1800 games played for the Rangers (1667 now). I expect a .304 hitting average, 15 home runs, 87 RBI, 187 hits, and a .355 OBP.
   
   
4. Elvis Andrus career: 600 hits (448 now), 350 runs (256 now), 20 home runs (11 now), 130 stolen bases (102 now), 200 RBI (135 now), 200 walks (160 now), and 600 games played for the Rangers (443 now). Expect a .275 hitting average, 7 home runs, 50 RBI, 160 hits, 34 stolen bases, and a .340 OBP.
   
   
5. Ian Kinsler career: 1000 hits (826 now), 200 doubles (176 now), 150 home runs (124 now), 475 RBI (395 now), 400 walks (351 now), 150 stolen bases (136 now), 3500 at bats (3001 now), and 900 games played for the Rangers (773 now). Expect a .275 average, 27 home runs, 140 hits, 80 RBI, 25 stolen bases, and a .355 OBP.
   
   
6. Adrian Beltre career: 1000 runs (994 now), 2200 hits (2033 now), 450 doubles (430 now), 30 triples (28 now), 350 home runs (310 now), 1200 RBI (1113 now), 550 walks (543 now), 120 stolen bases (114 now), and 7500 at bats (7361 now). Expect a .286 avg, 28 home runs, 144 hits, 97 RBI, and a .329 OBP.
   
   
7. Mitch Moreland career: 120 runs (80 now), 200 hits (157 now), 50 doubles (26 now), 30 home runs (25 now), 100 RBI (76 now), 100 walks (64 now), and 1000 at bats for the Rangers. Expect a .256 avg, 15 home runs, 45 RBI, 140 hits, and a .325 OBP.
   
   
8. Nelson Cruz career: 300 runs (269 now), 600 hits (512 now), 125 doubles (108 now), 125 home runs (106 now), 400 RBI (323 now), 200 walks (167 now), 60 stolen bases (52 now), and 2000 at bats for the Rangers. Expect a .275 avg, 26 home runs, 79 RBI, 10 stolen bases, 130 hits, and a .340 OBP.
   
   
9. David Murphy career: 300 runs (246 now), 600 hits (504 now), 125 doubles (105 now), 75 homes runs (58 now), 300 RBI (258 now), 200 walks (169 now), 50 stolen bases (41 now), and 2000 at bats for the Rangers (1797 now). Expect an average of .280, 10 home runs, 42 RBI, 10 stolen bases, 115 hits, and a .335 OBP.
   
   
4. Now for my prediction for the season. I think Yu Darvish does ok and wins 15 games. The Rangers do about as well as last year and finish with 93 wins. They squeak by the Los Angeles Angels by 3 games, and win their third consecutive A.L. West Championship. They face the New York Yankees in the ALDS and win 4 games to 2. They next face the Los Angeles Angels (who will beat the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS), and win 4 games to 3 with Colby Lewis proving himself in the playoffs once again. The Rangers face the Phillies in the World Series, and they win in 6 games.

Ok, I know I haven’t posted anything in a while that hasn’t been a repost, so it’s time to make it up to you guys.

While I was at Beach Reach, something really impacted me. Worship is amazing. And I’m not just saying that to say it. This week God really impacted me in that region more than anything. Yes God worked in amazing ways through the rest of the Beach Reachers and myself and brought a lot of new people into the kingdom, and this is a tangent to that.

Worship for me has always been weird. I’ve never been comfortable with it. A) I usually don’t like the songs, because worship music just isn’t my cup of tea, and B) when I’m in a worship service, I always feel compelled to sing and stand and do what everyone else does, and it just never had the impact on me the way it seemed to be having on everyone else. Now I’m not criticizing the traditional worship experience that accompanies contemporary music, I just feel obligated (or sometimes required) to stand when everyone stands and not sit until everyone else does. I feel like if I sit down early or don’t stand with everyone else, I’ll be either asked what’s wrong or deemed unspiritual. And then once I do stand up and try to start worshipping with the songs, I’m always worried about how I sound to those around me, distracting me from the whole purpose worship.

But then Danny Sanders told me to try not singing in worship, and just praying instead, even if I’m just praying the words of the song. So I tried it two weeks ago at the beginning of Beach Reach at our first worship service. And it was amazing. I heard something I’ve never heard before, and I’d really encourage you to try it.

You see, worship is like the coolest reflection of what the church is supposed to be. When you shut up and listen, you hear everyone else singing. Now there are a few sour notes here and there, and some people that just aren’t gifted in song or or purposely singing badly to get a reaction; but overall it’s amazing. When everyone sings out at their loudest, and the worship leader isn’t singing too loud over everyone to hear, you hear a beautiful noise. All those individual voices lifted up, each with their own story and their own walk with God and their own hurts, and yet they mingle together to form this beautiful harmony that really impacts you.

To me, that’s what God wants the church to be. He designed us to, when we set aside our prejudices and biases and hate and doubt and hurt and regret and shame, to form this huge body that does amazing and miraculous things on this planet. Sure, there are a few hiccups here and there because we’re human, and some people in the body aren’t as far along in their walk with Christ as others, and some people join the church just to use it as an excuse to pass judgement on others, but overall if people really listen, and if the church is really singing, the world is supposed to hear a beautiful song; a song that declares the love and redeeming grace that is Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s what worship is supposed to reflect.

So, I leave for South Padre Island in about 6 hours now. I’m super excited, and can’t really think about much else. And that’s a problem. Because I’ve got an essay due the week we get back, and right now is the only time I’ll have to write it. Stupid procrastination! Anyway, I could use some prayer for motivation to finish this thing, because it could be worth a lot of money.

Well, I had to be up at the station early again this morning, but thankfully Saturdays are extremely easy to get through. So I finished everything I needed to do by 9, and have since then spent my time looking through Mumford & Sons recordings on YouTube. I was surprised to find some new stuff, and even a new artist that I may soon be adding to my iTunes. Anyway, I decided to put a link to my top 5 songs that I’ve found from Mumford & Sons on YouTube and aren’t available for purchase (anywhere that I’ve seen), in order of least favorite to most favorite.

1. Dance, Dance, Dance-This is a cover of a Neil Young song apparently. Here is a link to his original rendition.
2. Ghost That We Knew-This song is an original that they’ve played a few times.
3. Unfinished Business-This song is apparently a cover of a song by White Lies. I’ve listened to the original, linked here, and I personally prefer this one by a rather wide margin.
4. Home-This is another original, and was my favorite by them for a long time.
5. Lover’s Eyes-This is now, and will be for a while, my favorite Mumford & Sons song, including everything that can be found on their album, Sigh No More.
6. Honorable mention-The Banjolin Song-This is another really good song. It features Johnny Flynn playing the violin, and tacked on to the end of this song is a pseudo-French version of Awake My Soul, which is also very good.

And here’s a link to the new artist I discovered whilst looking for new Mumford & Sons stuff. Her name is Kina Grannis. The first link, above, is to her song In Your Arms. It’s pretty good. And here’s a link to her cover of Timshel, one of my favorite Mumford & Sons songs, with her two sisters.

I know I haven’t posted in a while, and for those 4-5 people who read this, I know it’s been terribly distressing. Well, the past few days have been extremely busy, but trust me fellow social-mediaites; I’ve had you in my thoughts. I promise when I next find time, I will fill your news feeds, dashboards, and notifications with the literary equivalent of morphine. Because when you read my blog, I’m raining on your brain until you’re moaning with seratonin. A slightly inappropriate saying I know, but I first saw this on a Chuck Lorre vanity card, and I’ve been trying to find a place to use it. Anyway, see ya soon!

I know I said I wasn’t going to post anything until Tuesday, but some stuff has come up recently that really changes things. The past few days I’ve been having some chest pains and some tingling and soreness in my legs, so I went to the free health clinic here on campus to get checked out and make sure I was ok. And they told me to get an EKG and a chest x-ray on Monday. Now it’s almost certainly nothing, but when you face your own fragility for the first time it’s a rather humbling experience. It’s got me thinking about everything I’ve done with my life, and what I wish was different. So as I lay here over-thinking every breath that I take, I can’t help but reflect that so far I’ve been incredibly blessed in this life. I was born to parents that love me, love each other, and love God. My extended family has always been great with a focus on what God wants in their lives. School was easy, and I always had a lot of friends. I’ve never been seriously sick or broken a bone. I’ve never gone hungry or not had enough money. God has blessed me beyond imagination, and I can thankfully say that whenever God calls me home, I’ll have had a good life; a life that’s been a million billion times more blessed than I ever deserved. And I’ll be going to a place thats even better than here! Love you guys, and goodnight!

Guys, I’m taking a break. I feel convicted that I’ve let social media become too big a part of my life lately, so for this next week I’m not going to get on Facebook or any other form of social media at all if I can help it. So until next Tuesday, have a great week, keep your focus on God, and love those around you.

God bless,

Cooper

Ok, so I’m basically stealing this from ESPN Insider now, but I figure most people don’t have an ESPN Insider account, and I’m a) linking back to them and b) giving them complete credit for this article, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

Anyway, here’s the newest 8 possiblities the ESPN Insiders are talking about for Howard, besides him miracously staying in Orlando this offseason. I’ll first list them in the ESPN Insider order, and then in the order that scares me the most as a league-dominating team for the next 5 years at least.

ESPN’s List:

1. The Magic trade Howard and Turkoglu to the Chicago Bulls for Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and the first-round pick the Bulls received from the Charlotte Bobcats
   
2. The Magic trade Howard and Anderson to the Los Angeles Clippers for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan
3. The Dallas Mavericks sign Howard as a free agent
4. The Magic trade Howard, Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson to the Los Angeles Lakers for Andrew Bynum. Houston sends Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry and Chase Budinger to the Magic. The Lakers send Pau Gasol to Houston.
5. The Magic trade Howard and Turkoglu to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler
6. The Magic trade Howard, Turkoglu and Jason Richardson to the Atlanta Hawks for Joe Johnson, Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia
7. The Magic trades Howard and Turkoglu to the New Jersey Nets for Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Jordan Farmar, Mehmet Okur and a first-round pick
8. The Orlando Magic trade Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu and Ryan Anderson to the Miami Heat for Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade

Now here’s my list:

1. The Magic trade Howard and Turkoglu to the Chicago Bulls for Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and the first-round pick the Bulls received from the Charlotte Bobcats
   
2. The Orlando Magic trade Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu and Ryan Anderson to the Miami Heat for Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade
3. The Magic trade Howard and Anderson to the Los Angeles Clippers for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan
4. The Magic trade Howard and Turkoglu to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler
5. The Magic trade Howard, Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson to the Los Angeles Lakers for Andrew Bynum. Houston sends Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry and Chase Budinger to the Magic. The Lakers send Pau Gasol to Houston.
6. The Dallas Mavericks sign Howard as a free agent
7. The Magic trade Howard, Turkoglu and Jason Richardson to the Atlanta Hawks for Joe Johnson, Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia
8. The Magic trades Howard and Turkoglu to the New Jersey Nets for Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Jordan Farmar, Mehmet Okur and a first-round pick

As you can see, ESPN and I both agree that the Bulls-Howard trade would be the best for Howard. After that we kinda diverge, but boy is it exciting thinking about the Bulls being made almost as relevant as they were during the Jordan era. Here is the link to the ESPN Insider article, if you have an account to read it with.