Dad, Mom, Tug and I all drove up to the Michigan International Speedway this weekend for the NASCAR race – the Batman Begins 400. We definitely walked our legs off, but all had a great time getting deaf and cheering for our drivers. None of them won of course. They didn’t even come close, lol. The Batmobile running in the front of the field as the pace car doesn’t happen too often. Batman had the privilege of commanding the drivers to start their engines. Livi and Ava love screaming at the top of their lungs – “Gentlmen, start your engines!”, so I recorded Batman for them to watch when we got home. They couldn’t believe the real Batman did that! I was very thankful that God gave us great weather for the entire day! If you don’t think NASCAR is a sport, try picturing yourself driving 200 mph within inches of another car for 3-4 hours every Sunday. I don’t understand how people can be so negative towards a sport they’ve never seen in person.

After my statement about VT possibly being the fourth best team in college football yesterday, this morning I have to admit……..I might have been wrong? I started watching last night’s championship game between USC and Oklahoma, but stopped quite a bit before halftime since the game was already over. USC, the #1 team in the nation (and now champions) beat up on Oklahoma and ended up winning the game 55-29. Some are saying it was the best performance ever in a championship game. That’s not what my first thought is. As a Hokie fan, I look back to August 28th (first game of the year at FedEx Field in Washington DC) and ponder over the great game the Hokies gave USC, only losing by a score of 24-13. From looking at USC’s schedule, that game was obviously their hardest competition throughout the entire year, and definitely a tougher match than they had last night? Should the Hokies be considered the third or second best team in college football? The Hokies should have beaten NC State (but missed a field goal) and possibly should have beaten Auburn in the Sugar Bowl (but dropped a touchdown pass and missed a much easier field goal). College football is definitely the funnest sport to follow throughout a season…..hopefully the BCS changes and makes it even better next year?

Not sure how many of you watched VT play Auburn in the Sugar Bowl last night, but it was an awkward game. Everyone was talking about Auburn since they are undefeated and should have a share of the national championship (but the BCS screwed that up)……..so the Hokies were definitely the underdog. They finally put 13 points on the board in the fourth quarter, after being down 16-0, but that was just a little too late. Thanks to a missed chip-shot field goal, missed catches, a few costly passing mistakes, and a dropped touchdown pass they ended up losing, but made it a much better game that it seemed like it was going to be at halftime. Next year should be exciting with the freshman wide receiver crew returning, a good defensive group coming back, and the return of Marcus Vick to the team to start at the quarterback position (suspended from the team and school for a year due to a few big mistakes off of the field). Now that the season is over, it’s great to look back and see that the team overcame odds of finishing in the middle of the conference and actually being the ACC champions in their conference debut season. You might expect to hear this, but I actually think they are the fourth best team in the nation……..who else would give Auburn a decent matchup besides the higher ranked USC and Oklahoma teams?

We had the privilege of getting to know the White family these past four years, and admire a great family God gave us to follow as examples for each of us. We had the opportunity to spend the night at their home just three months ago and God really used that time for them to impact our lives yet again. After being one of the greatest football players of all time, Reggie was now focused primarily on maturing his relationship with God as much as possible. That happened through his family, through his friends, and through much time spent studying the Hebrew language (an original language of the Bible). When he was on the field you could see the desire to compete at his highest level in his eyes. You could sense that same passion from him recently, but it was at a higher level and towards a higher goal. We are intensely saddened to hear that God has called the “Minister of Defense” home and many prayers are going out for Sara (his wife) and two children (Jeremy and Jecolia). His greater legacy is very apparent in the lives of those three individuals. God obviously made Reggie the example he is by putting him in the family he did. Words can’t express the amount of thankfulness we have towards their unselfishness. Knowing you are listening, we thank you, Reggie, for the example you have given us. This Christmas my brother went the extra mile and got in touch with Reggie. On Christmas morning, the day before Reggie went to be with the Lord, they both gave me a present I will remember for a lifetime……..a personal-autographed Green Bay Packers jersey from Reggie – possibly his last autograph. Thanks so much to both of you!

As a huge Hokie fan (obviously from this blog design) it’s been an exciting year to watch VT play through their first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference – http://www.theacc.com . At the beginning of the year they were selected to finish 6th out of 11 teams in their new conference. After Saturday’s victory over the favored Miami Hurricanes those predictions were proven to be false. They finished first in the conference and are headed to the Nokia Sugar Bowl on January 3rd and will be facing the undefeated Auburn Tigers- http://www.nokiasugarbowl.com . The BCS is nothing short of a joke of course. Auburn, even if they do win against VT, cannot even have a share of the national championship. How can that be the case for a team that went undefeated and won the SEC conferece? My vote is to change the BCS system to a system that brings in a champion from each conference and has a playoff system between all of the conference champions. If you win your conference, you deserve a shot at all teams…….no matter how large or small your rank is. 2004 was definitely a victorious season for the Hokies (although I believe they should be undefeated instead of 10-2).