As bad as the NFC Championship game was (if you were a Saints fan), the AFC Championship game made up for it. Excellent!

I cheered for the Saints. Their luck ran out. But you have to believe that there were a lot of teams sitting at home that were watching the Saints with envy. The Saints had an excellent year and their affect on their home city and fans is phenomenal.

You couldn't help but wonder about the weather factor. What was that statistic, teams that play indoor at home are 0-9 in the NFC Championship game? (I guess that is 0-10 now.) I don't think Mother Nature is a Saints fan.

As far as the Colts go, they sure tried to give it away. The biggest comeback in conference championship history. Drama to the end.

So we are set, Chicago and Indianapolis. Bears and Colts.

If special teams determine the outcome, the Bears are gonna' drill 'em! Keep Grossman off the field and make the Colts punt to Hester.

Yet I will be in Peyton's camp. Go Colts.

Much is being made about the historic fact that this Super Bowl is the first ever with an African-American Head Coach. And both coaches are African-Americans! I hope this doesn't become the story line and the game become a side story.

I have long been a Tony Dungy fan and a Herman Edwards fan. I threw some quick numbers together. These are off the cuff so don't expect them to be exact. Of the active head coaches in the NFL in 2006, 7 were African-American, 25 were Caucasian. All 32 were coaches. 22% of the Caucasians have taken a team to the Super Bowl. 28% of the African-American coaches have taken or will take a team to play in the Super Bowl.

Let's don't get bogged down in racial politics. Let's enjoy the accomplishments of two excellent teams led by two excellent coaches!

Play ball!

I got in trouble yesterday for talking on my company cell phone. That is one of the down falls of living with your supervisor. They see you when you're sleeping, they know when you're awake, they know if you've been bad or good, so maybe you need to hide. Once the lectures began, I was in deep doo! I wasn't aware how inept I was, it's not like I made intentional bad choices, they just come naturally.

Actually, I can't argue with her. I am guilty as charged. I had two calls, back to back. One out going, the other incoming. One for just under an hour, the second just over an hour. Both were personal calls. Hey I'm a personable guy. Neither of these calls were numbers in "My Circle" (I haven't activated or updated my circle since we returned from the jobsite. Actually I was hoping that if I mentioned "My Circle", maybe Alltel would help me out.)

I had a call from Pat, she was asking me about a legal issue I knew nothing about. She says I will probably get something about it. Once again it is residual fallout from the family business. Nothing major, I feel sure. (I hope.)

Before we got off the phone we discussed a lot of things, the wonderful rain, snow, sleet and how promising the coming year looks on the farm. She updated me on a change in Pepa's schedule. His appointment has been changed to February 1 with Dr. Marx (sp). Pat said that she had told the Cancer Center that they wanted in quickly with the best Doctor they had. This is supposed to be their "Ace". Our conversation went on to some recent developments that involved some property and a strange chain of events that could turn out to be quite profitable for Pat and Hag. She also told me that it appeared one of Chris's farms was going to get four of the big wind turbines, which would be a guaranteed income for 29 years. There is also an opportunity to sell off a limestone knoll. All of this is excellent news! I am glad for them. She told me how Chris is excelling in his little business. It seems he is becoming quite the little salesman. We even talked some about me possibly coming over and working and talking with Chris a couple of days a week. I sure don't mind doing anything I can possibly do to help him and or Pat. I think often times Pat sells herself short. I think she is a very smart woman but maybe she has too many irons in the fire. I worry about her keeping her sanity while everything about her is spinning wildly about. She has a lot on her plate.

She told me that Kyle Patrick Henry is getting a packet for the TSTC truck driving school. For him that would be a dream come true.

Pat was telling me how proud she is of Chris and how well he has done with his vision impairment, especially at the business. She told me that when he wakes in the morning, he is developing his day.

In a final note, Pat shared with me a little of Chris's philosophy. As a preface to this story, I would remind you that Chris has been legally blind since he was 5 months old and was never able to participate in sports due to this impairment. Chris told his Mom that every day when he awakens, he realizes that GOD has given him four fresh downs. It is up to him to make the most of them. Sometimes he fumbles, sometimes he loses ground, sometimes he moves forward, and occasionally he makes a touchdown. The reassuring thing is regardless of his success or the setbacks, as sure as the next day dawns, his new set of downs awaits him.

All I can say is "hut, hut!"

FATHER, thank YOU for the chances YOU afford us. Thank YOU for do-overs, thank YOU for our successes and help us to learn from our failures. Thank YOU for being faithful in YOUR promises to us.