Good Soldier

Like the lyrics from an old country song, Cavalier fans like me must “try not to think about what might have been.”

That was the feeling I was left with this past week after watching Genesee Christian’s senior and soon-to-be all-state basketball player, Scott Soldan.

The 6’4’’ and 195-pound swingman is the baseball equivalent of a five-tool player. He can shoot from range, dribble and pass like a guard, and score in amongst the trees. Last season, he was special fmention all-state after averaging better than 20 points per game.

Soldan can do it all.

It’s just too bad he wasn’t doing it in Cavalier blue.

Soldan, a resident of Flint Township since birth, opted instead to enlist at Genesee Christian and dress in Soldier blue.

He started at GCS in kindergarten and decided to see it through to the end.

“I thought about going to Carman-Ainsworth during the summer before my freshman year,” Soldan said. “My parents gave me the choice to stay at Genesee Christian or to go to Carman-Ainsworth. GCS was where I had all my friends, so I decided to stay.”

In the intervening four years, Soldan has been the big man on a small campus.

Genesee Christian is a class D high school with only about 150 students. It is a member of the MHSAA and boasts arguably the top sports program of any class D school in mid-Michigan.

Soldan’s handiwork is all over the Soldiers’ program.

It’s certainly not a big stage, but great players have a way of shining through even at shoestring schools like Genesee Christian.

“Being at Genesee Christian has been a lot of fun for me,” Soldan said. “I really like Coach Chapman, he really knows basketball.”

Dan Chapman, the first year head coach of the Soldiers basketball team, may never coach a better athlete at the class D level.

When I asked the head coach of Flint International Academy ’s basketball team, Chris Matheson, what he thought about Soldan, he beamed.

“I could go on and on about Scott,” Matheson said. “I really like the way he plays the game; he is the kind of kid you wish was on your team and he is the type of player you hope other players, particularly yours, emulate. He probably comes as close to reaching his potential as any kid in the area. He plays the game the way it was meant to be played.”

But it’s not the only game he plays, coach.

Twice an all-state soccer player, Soldan led his team all the way to the regional championship soccer game before bowing out to Oakland Christian this past November.

Last year, Soldan put the finishing touches on a great basketball season with a tremendous individual performance in the playoffs. The Soldiers won a regional title and narrowly missed making it to the state championships at the Breslin Center in East Lansing for the first time in school history.

Soldan, after scoring his 1000th career point earlier in the season, scored a combined 46 points in his team’s two regional games.

This season, Soldan got another record out of the way early. He broke the school’s all-time scoring record, one that had stood for better than a decade, during a heartbreaking loss on the road at Oakland Christian.

Genesee Christian had its share of losses last season and so far this season, but it, unlike many of its class D counterparts, doesn’t shy away from locking horns with larger schools. Soldan’s Soldiers have made a habit out of playing schools like Beecher , Saginaw Buena Vista, and Northwestern in the regular season.

“It’s better that way,” Soldan said. “It’s fun being able to play a lot of good teams like Buena Vista and Northwestern.”

Beecher is next on the docket for GCS on Tuesday night, before hooking up with Perry, one of the top class B schools in the Lansing-area.

The Soldiers were no match for last season’s class C state champions, Buena Vista , Tuesday night, but the Knights had no answer for Soldan. He scored 26 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the loss.

“As a team, I think we are going to be tough by season’s end,” Soldan said. “We just have a few kinks to work out.”

Even for a Carman-Ainsworth partisan, it’s hard to have anything but high praise for student-athlete who breaks the mold of a small-school player. He is currently being recruited by several division three schools for both basketball and soccer. Were Soldan to have his druthers, he would be playing basketball for Saginaw Valley State .

Here’s hoping he gets his chance.

Life in the Low Country

DAY ONE:

After spending a few days with my family in Charlotte, North Carolina, I decided to get a rental car and head to the other jewel of the old south, Charleston.

Charleston, like my favorite city, Savannah, is truly an American treasure. It is a wonder of adaptation that this antebellum city stands as a truly modern city in spite of its revolutionary war-era civil engineering.

As I drove through the streets of the "Holy City"--aptly named for its inordinate numbers of churches--I was in awe of the narrow streets that separated the wonderfully ornate two-tiered old south homes.

One must be patient when traveling in this city--patiently reckless.

Among Nascar fans there is an old saying: "Rubbing is racing." In Charleston, it seems, rubbing is living. It is no place for the claustrophobic, on or off the roads.

After slingshoting myself around legions of King street shoppers eager to find a day-after-Thanksgiving bargain, I made my way to the tip of the Charleston peninsula--the battery. I stood at the end of the path that captured pirates once walked, some 250 years ago, on their death march to the gallows.

From there I made my way around the battery, to Broad street to Church, where I spotted the first Huguenot church founded in North America.

I took some pictures before traipsing down historic Market street and back to the car. As an aside, there was an American Indian woman I encountered on Meeting street who was sporting a t-shirt that said: "Don't worry, be Hopi."

I got a kick out of that.

Day Two:

I got up this morning, turned on the television, and saw a pleasant forecast for Charleston--70 degrees and sunny. What I didn't see, however, was a forecast with regard to the breakfast buffett at the North Charleston Inn.

If you were wondering, it was cold and nasty.

The rest of my Saturday morning was spent at the Military College of South Carolina, The Citadel. The Citadel is a top-tier military college that is located on the Ashley river in Charleston.

Every building on the campus looms large with a fortified edifice, especially the enormous Cadet barracks.

You might remember hearing about The Citadel back in the mid-1990s when a female sued to gain entry into the all-male Cadet corps.

She won, but didn't last a week. The male Cadets openly celebrated her retreat. Since then, The Citadel's Corps of Cadets has been co-ed.

After I had a sufficient number of pictures, I returned to interstate 26 and headed over the newly-opened Arthur Ravenel bridge that connects Mount Pleasant with the Charleston peninsula. It is the largest cable-stayed bridge in the Western hemisphere.

From there I took US-17 to Long Point road where I stopped in at the Charles Pinckney House at Snee Farm. I walked around the property for about 20 minutes before I saw a sign warning of venomous snakes.

I scurried back to the car with my tail between my legs.

On the property were the foundations of old slave homes that were marked out by archeologists who worked on the site many years ago.

I snapped a photo of the foundations before running scared to the car and continuing north on 17 toward my final destination, Georgetown.

Before Georgetown, however, I got off the beaten path and visited Hampton Island and the Hampton Plantation. It is a beautiful plantation home built by French Huguenots in 1735--err, I mean built by slaves for Huguenots.

The Hampton Mansion was visited by George Washington in 1791 when he, supposedly, urged the plantation owner not to cut down the small oak tree in the front lawn. He wanted it spared even though it would eventually obstruct the view of the house from the front.

Well, Washington saved the tree and now it is nothing short of enormous.

Back on 17, I travelled the final half hour of the ninety minute trip to Georgetown, South Carolina's third oldest city.

Georgetown, a port city, is steeped in history. Not only was it the city that supported Nathaniel Greene and the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, but it also was one of the main ports of entry for west Africans during the Atlantic slave trade (besides Charleston).

In Savannah during this time cotton was king, but in Georgetown it was first indigo and then rice.

I walked along the board walk and strolled around downtown for a little while before hitting the road once again. I was lucky to be able to hear the end of the biggest rivalry football game in South Carolina on the radio. The Gamecocks of USC defeated Clemson 31-28 in death valley.

Heading back towards Charleston, I stopped for a quick visit of McClellanville. This town of 600 people bore the brunt of the category 5 monster, Hurricane Hugo, in September 1989. (The original track had it passing over Savannah, but, as with General Sherman in the war between the states, Savannah was spared.)

This town is like nothing I've ever seen. It is small, yes, but it is spread out and almost totally canopied by enormous live oak trees and spanish moss. This little town is so close to the Atlantic that in 1989 the storm surge flooded and almost killed dozens of people riding it out in the local high school.

I stopped at Sonic in Mount Pleasant before taking the interstate 526 back to North Charleston.

Sonic is an endemic southern chain that, much like its western counterpart, In-and-Out Burger, is nothing to write home about.

Ok, your order is delivered by a roller skate wearing waitress. I get it.

DAY THREE:

This morning, like each of the past three mornings, I woke up to the smell of funk in the air--North Charleston.

I am not exactly sure what that smell is, but funk should suffice.

In any event, I was in a hurry to hit the road for some reason, and I soon found out why. I wanted to drive all the way (20 miles) to Isle of Palms without my camera battery.

Needless to say, I was a little bent out of shape. Like any good shutterbug, I drove back to get it.

I spent the next two hours in Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island, taking pictures of the Atlantic, of Fort Sumter and everything in-between.

I didn't do a whole lot after that. I figured I had already done enough driving--700 miles.

Local scuba shop a real dive

It’s that time of year again. The leaves have turned and fallen, the high school football season is drawing to a close, and mid-Michigan is again bracing for another bone-chilling winter.

And all this just in time for scuba season.

No, seriously.

And if you are interested, Kevin Stiff, co-owner of the Dive Shop in Flint Township, has just the submersible suit for you. It’s a dry suit, with coverage from head-to-toe, to take on all that Michigan’s icy waters can dish out.

But, fear not, it’s only bitter cold for the first twenty feet or so; the canopy of ice will provide all the extra insulation you’ll need after that.

While winter serves as the off-season for many of our state’s recreational endeavors, Scuba Divers all over mid-Michigan are rushing to get their tanks filled and their fins polished.

Quick check: Have you gotten your buoyancy regulator inspected lately?

It’s not too late.

“We’re really busy around this time of year,” Stiff said. “Winter vacations and spring break keep us very busy; we don’t close our doors or change our hours.”

Stiff and his staff provide a number of services for the novice, i.e. those of us who thought scuba divers took the winter off, all the way to the experienced diver.

“We’ve certified kids as young as ten and adults as old as 81,” said Stiff, whose shop just celebrated its 20th anniversary last month.

“We work with a lot of families to get them everything they need before they head out on vacation.”

They can get you certified locally, or arrange to help you get your license to dive while you are on your vacation.

And where are many local families heading? Probably the Caribbean.

But, the staff at the Dive Shop isn’t completely sold out to the tropical environs. In fact, they can’t say enough about Michigan as a great state for scuba diving, regardless of season.

“There are a great number of fully intact shipwrecks in this state, some with the masts still standing,” Stiff said. “I don’t think the Great Lakes get their due.”

And, even closer to home, Stiff says that many inland lakes are worth checking out for an afternoon dive.

“People have been diving Lake Fenton, especially the north end, since the 1960s; and Silver lake has some tremendous trenches as well.”

But, in the final analysis, he’s no eccentric.

“Even so, I can’t think of a better place to go than Cozumel (Mexico).”

I guess being somewhat typical is a small price to pay for diving in the crystal clear waters of the tropics.

The Dive Shop’s manager, however, is anything but typical.

“Diving in Michigan is my favorite,” said Kim Collingham, who also teaches scuba diving locally at Mott Community College. “There is so much to see here, and it’s getting better every year.”

“Oh, and it’s affordable.”

Find out just how affordable it is by visiting the Dive Shop at G-4020 Corunna Road in Flint Township, or check out their website at diveshopmi.com.

Sooner boomed too soon

This past Saturday fans and foes said goodbye to one of the greatest running backs in college football history.

Adrian Peterson, the sensational junior running back for Oklahoma, was all over the national news this week and for all the right reasons. Adrian had never been able to play a competitive game, either in high school or college, in front of his father who was only recently released from prison. And, in a tragic twist of irony, dad's first game was his son's last. Peterson broke his collarbone after diving into the endzone for his second touchdown of the day against Iowa State.

Peterson had been running roughshod over the Cyclones defense all day long, putting the Sooners in front 34-9. But his day, his season, and his career at Oklahoma ended in the fourth quarter of an anti-clicmatic conference game.

No Heisman. No national title.

This caps off a forgettable football season for the Sooners who, without a doubt, had one of the hardest luck campaigns in recent memory.

Peterson, in spite of his team's shortcomings and his latest injury, is the best college football player I have ever had the pleasure to watch. He possesses a truly unique blend of speed and power that will make him millions in the NFL--where he will undoubtedly be playing next year.

Find me a college football player at any position who was the best at his position every single season he laced-up his cleats. There are only a scant few. Peterson finished second in the Heisman voting as a freshman, and was well on his way to winning it outright this year.

In short, college football lost the kind of player that is all but impossible to replace.

The only consolation for Sooners fans is this: AD left Oklahoma from roughly the same placed he started--in the endzone.

Bless you boys, redux...

What has gotten into my beloved Tigers? All of the sudden the 'D' is alive again; and, who would have ever thought that the breath of life would have come from the nostrils of the Motor City Kitties?

Certainly not me.

Tonight, in front of a capacity crowd at the COPA, the Tigers defeated the evil empire in convincing fashion, 8-3, to win the five game American League Divisional Series series in four. Not since the days of Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris has this organization so captivated a city.

I remember as a kid having an old poster of the Detroit Free Press with an exuberant Kirk Gibson, arms raised, under the headline: Bless You Boys. Well, the boys are back in town; only this time, you've never heard of them.

The Tigers' roster reads like a B-movie filmography. Who? From where? What?

Players like Marcus Thames, Curtis Granderson and Craig Monroe all came from relative obscurity only to find themselves starring on what now must be considered America's team--this is the moniker given to the latest team to beat the hated New York Yankees.

No one, including me, believed the Tigers had a chance of beating the Yankees in a five game series and we were dead wrong. As much as I hate to admit it, money truly cannot buy championships. With that in mind, I may have to find another reason to hate the Yankees. (Oh wait, they have a 200 million dollar payroll, more than twice that of the hometown boys. That should hold me over.)

The Tigers advance to the American League Championship Series where they will face the hard-charging Oakland A's who most recently swept the Minnesota Twins in their divisional series.

I won't bet against the Tigers again, I promise.

See you at the Series.

What say you, Detroit?

Last week I had a couple days in the can and I decided to take off for the tropical climes of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ok, sure, it is not tropical but it has a climate just like everywhere else.

So, I know what you are thinking. Why Pittsburgh?

There are a few reasons:

1.) I've never been there.

2.) There was an article in the New Yorker back in the early 1990s that called Paris, St. Petersburg and Pittsburgh the most beautiful cities in the world.

3.) I wanted to brush up on the local dialect--Pittsburghese. (Hoagies, "Red-up", "Yinz", you get the idea.)

In any event, it was something to do. I have a car that gets 40 miles to the gallon on the expressway, a digital slr, and a knack for getting good hotel prices online. Why wouldn't I go to the 'Burgh?

Pittsburgh is a success story like no other American city.

This steel city, built down in the valley and rising above the congress of the three rivers, used to be the poster boy for the American rust belt. Today, however, it is a shining city--a civil engineer's paradise with more than twelve bridges, two inclines, trolleys and a downtown subway.

The city planners of Pittsburgh redeveloped its waterfront to rescue it from the clutches of urban blight that so many American cities have succumbed to. Cities like Detroit and Philadelphia, since losing much of their industrial bases, have regressed into depressing shells of their former selves--with brownfields as far as the eyes can see.

Pittsburgh is different.

The Skyline of Carnegie's city is dotted with all the affectations of diverse urban development. This city is no longer slave to the boom and bust of a single commodity monoculture like Detroit and, my city, Flint. Pittsburgh is now known as a center for finance and medical services to go along with its heavier industries. (And a tremendous university...PITT.)

Pittsburgh is not without its problems, but it should give other rust belt cities like Detroit hope for the future. It has recently been voted the most livable city in America due to its low cost of living as compared to the larger cities of the eastern United States.

I only wish other cities that have been similarly affected by the rise of global economy could pick themselves off the mat like Pittsburgh has. (For another example of urban renewal at the city center, check out Cleveland.)

What say you, Detroit?

Get the Message

I was given the opportunity to speak to a group of junior and senior high school students tonight at church. Before I got to my lesson on having a Godly disposition and building character, I took the liberty of shilling for Eugene Peterson. Peterson is the heretic/hero who paraphrased the Bible, putting it into words that everyone can read. Not only is his paraphrase, called The Message, readable, but it is also written with the alacrity of a truly brilliant ink slinger.

As Christians, we must take full advantage of the doctrinal flexibility that our faith grants us. Since we do not have a serious traditional of literalism like our Muslim friends, or Jews to a lesser extent, our faith and our system of morality can be known by all, young and old. Peterson gets it.

For years many Christian churches have been embroiled in controversy over the veracity of one translation over another; it is utter nonsense. Translations are subjective by their very nature. To say that the King James version is more correct than the New International Version which is more correct than The Message belies and understanding of what the scriptures are. What the scriptures have to say about this life are too important to be exclusionary in any way. More to the point, the Message of Christ is too important to be lost in the minutiae of outdated language and anachronistic figures of speech.

Again, we are lucky. Most Christians do not believe that the Bible represents a verbatim recitation of the words of God. The majority of Christians believe that the Bible represents the inspired writings of the great men of the Faith--authoritative yet not immutable. Interpretations of interpretations of interpretations, then, don't seem to make us queasy.

The Bible wasn't written in a sacred language. That is, when Christians pray they pray in a multiplicity of languages--unlike in Islam where Arabic is the only lingual medium to God. The same can be said for reading the scriptures. Many Muslims consider the translation of the Qu'ran into other languages to be apostasy. In this way, the message of the Prophet is lost to people who cannot read in Arabic. This would seem to contravene the Qu'ran's proscription against religious compulsion--though it is certainly not alone.

The Message represents the best of what the Bible can be. It loses none of its depth, it takes nothing away from the spirit of the original texts, and it is more inclusive that any other single translation. The days of reverence to the scroundrel King James' version of the Bible should be put behind us. But, judge for yourself.

I think this calls for a side-by-side-by side comparison. Let's look at this passage in Galatians, chapter five, through the lens of three different versions of the Bible.

Galatians 5:16-18 (KJV):

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.


Galatians 5:16-18 (NIV):

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

Galatians 5:16-18 (The Message):

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

What do you think?

Peterson writes with a prose that has a Thomas Paine feel to it that certainly appeals to a wide audience. It was Thomas Paine, the muckraker, who sowed the seeds of revolution in young America with his pen--the one that was "mightier than the sword." In the final analysis, it was Paine's style every bit as much as his words that made him a hero of the revolution.

His cause was important enough to necessitate universal currency, and we should not lose sight of that.

The scriptures are too important, too life-changing, to be anything but inclusionary on a grand scale.

In an article published by Mars Hill several years ago, Peterson was asked about how The Message might change the way we look at the Bible:

"...why do people spend so much time studying the Bible? How much do you need to know? We invest all this time in understanding the text which has a separate life of its own and we think we're being more pious and spiritual when we're doing it. But it's all to be lived. It was given to us so we could live it. But most Christians know far more of the Bible than they're living. They should be studying it less, not more. You just need enough to pay attention to God."

The knees are getting wobbly and the pews are quaking--and I think he is right.