Category: talking

Politics: Shamed, Demeaned and Cancelled- Woke Cancel Culture

Todays writing may hit a few nerves so I give advance notice. If it turns you off or offends your feelings then please read another person postings. However, my hope would be that because we may disagree on this does not mean we have to quit following one another or reading each others work. I am writing this because I am tired of seeing my friends, family and co-workers that do not agree with liberalism, socialism, Democrats or woke culture get cancelled, called stupid and demeaned because they disagree or have a differing opinion of this new movement in America. We have this thing that the country was founded on called the Constitution and it guarantees certain rights under the law.

One of those rights is the first amendment otherwise know as 1A. That gives people the individual right to speak freely, freedom of the press, choose the religion of their choice, “peacefully” gather to protest and petition the government. If your not aware of it go to google and see what it is about. It seems that we have a new culture of people that are now dead set on infringing on this very right from what appears to be a lack of understanding of what it represents “individual right to speak freely” without being censored. I have a suspicion it is being taught to these people by liberal woke teachers and professors in schools. Once again, that is my opinion so that is what it is, an “opinion”.

We can prove that it is all over social media, television, internet sites and the left wing mass media groups. Some of the largest companies in the world are shutting free speech down, especially if it does not agree with their woke ness and views. Heck, this one may get shutdown, but that is OK because I have my rights and refuse to be told how to think, act, behave or get re-engineered to meet someone else’s standards. I will write about my beliefs, opinions, views based on my set of morals and how I think.

I exercise my right to free speech just as most people do on social media sometimes and I do not post things with intent to harm or offend anyone. I simply post things of interest to me that meet the values, beliefs and issues that are important to me as a man, husband, father, teacher, coach and Christian. What has spurred this posting today was a simple picture I posted about gas prices. It showed the price at $2.55 per gallon and I had recently bought gas at the same place a month ago in mid December for around $2.10 a gallon.

Instead of reading the posting and either liking it or stating some type of opinion, suddenly I was hit with replies that I am basically stupid, do not know what I am talking about and other comments. The intent was to show that my idea of progress is not paying .45 more cent per gallon at the pump. It suddenly turned into a posting with liberals posting fact checking, stats and columns from guess where, liberal media sites and outlets. I am an educated man with two Bachelor degrees (one in Business Management) and a Masters Degree with advanced education.

I am smart enough to think for myself, form an opinion and post it without being told by a woke person or liberal that I am stupid and my opinion does not count. Then it expanded into conservatives versus liberal, then it went into Trump versus Biden and what they did or did not do. All over a freaking picture of gas prices simply asking to “please explain how paying more for gas is progress”. I got replies about the Texas storm, renewable energy and other stats. What I wanted was explain to me how going backwards is progress.

(IMO) shutting down the pipeline is impacting gas prices and anyone who cannot see that well I won’t say what I am thinking because then I am part of the problem then. Think of it like this, you own an oil company and have an unlimited supply at minimum cost. The system works and everyone getting it from you is good and its easier on their pocket book. Why in the hell would you sell it to your neighbor, give him control over pricing so he can charge people whatever and think that is progress. Paying higher prices, taxes, costs, losing jobs, losing industry, and many other progressive views cannot be progress. Going backwards is not progress, hell it is actually going backwards.

Does a football running back take the ball and run the wrong way? Does a tractor trailer load heading west turn around and waste time driving East? Does a person wanting to lose weight instead purposely gain 10 pounds? These are silly but tell the story of who truly may not be as “woke” as they think they are. Personally I think as a country we need energy independence while working towards a better future with some green energy options.

The very same people stating I am stupid and do not understand get in their car everyday and drive to work using what “gas”. Gast that is made from oil. Oil that was coming from America and Canada mostly. Duh, dumbass and they want to tell me conservatives speak out of one side of their mouth. Yes, I was told I speak out of one side of my mouth during this posting. Honestly I speak what I consider to be the truth and it comes straight out with no BS, make you feel good sugar coating.

It then turned to Trump and Biden and who is the best and all that bull crap. If you like Biden, good for you and I hope it works out for us all. If you like Trump or King Kong it is your business, opinion and thought process. For the cancel culture folks, please explain to me how tearing up cities, destroying the past and rioting makes things better? Explain to me how a movement that claims to want equality is trampling on the very rights they claim to need. Explain to me how some people of all races, colors, creeds and religions make it in life while others don’t. Explain to me how me and other working class people owe anyone a damn thing.

I have been working over thirty five years and no one ever punched the clock for me and did my job, no one paid my car payment, college loan or mortgage. Why in the hell do we need to do that for basement dwelling college dropouts that will not work because they are “professional gamers”. I refuse to be cancelled, re-conditioned, changed, woke, harrassed or believe that anyone else’s thought process or opinion of me is valid if it involves hate, malice, anger or resentment. You see that is the root of the problem (IMO). The bible clearly states that these things are unGodly and create issues within us.

For the woke generation and cancel culture people reading this. Do your research, use your mind to think and form your opinions, values and beliefs on how you feel and not how others tell you to feel. Stand on your own, be an adult and respect others regardless of how they agree or disagree with you. I will end by saying I could have “cancelled” those people. I could have “erased” the posting. I could have fought back, sent hateful and resentful remarks.

Instead I just read what they had to say, absorbed it and was an adult about it. If I was to unfollow the people that disagreed with me I would then be part of the problem and not the solution. If I was to erase the posting to stop the banter back and forth, then I am giving into their demands and trying to erase or cancel the past.

I will post, read, react and exercise my rights as given to me by the Constitution of this great country. I will consider other views and opinions, but ultimately I will be guided by my belief systems, views and moral code. I refuse to be woke, cancel out the past and allow my country to go to hell in a hand basket by being told how to act, think, behave or believe. I am smart enough to do that for myself whether one agrees with me or not. That is all!

Coach B

Coaching: Four Things Great Coaches/Leaders Have In Common

Coaches hold the key to make or break a teams success. Coaches that have poor interpersonal skills, have huge egos, don’t care about their student athletes and just use power to bully their way with the athletes put a sour taste in the mouths of the players. On the flip side, a great coach inspires, motivates, leads, guides, teaches and mentors his or her players. 

They can inspire a love of the game and a life long relationship with the players they impact.  There are plenty of good sports coaches out there that keep the season humming along, but it’s those great sports coaches that kids (and parents) will remember and love forever. Here are four things those great sports coaches have in common that make student/athletes want to play for them.

1- They love to teach: A great coach loves to teach the sport and does so with passion.  They use the game and its learning to teach life skills, build relationships and build the skills of each individual athlete.  They inspire the players and coaching staff to get better by sharing knowledge, experience and the background they have attained from that sport.  

2- They take time to build relationships with each individual and learns their skill set: Great coaches can take average players and make them very good or even great.  Great coaches see things in the players and maximize their potential to be successful as a student athlete.  They build on the strengths, coach up the areas of opportunity and put the player in a position to be successful.

3- They are passionate about the game, the athlete and life: Great coaches build programs by getting those around them to buy in and work hard.  Great coaches show passion for the game, passion for the players and the organization.  Their passion trickles down into the organization, the coaching staff and locker room which creates a winning attitude and high expectations driven by the coaches passion.

4- They have very high expectations: Great coaches have extremely high expectations of themselves, the players, the staff, families and community.  They set the tone from day one and hold everyone accountable to team rules and are very consistent with the way they deal with people.  They are goal driven, want to win, show passion and expect results. 

I have been blessed to work with what I consider great coaches.  In my opinion, you do not have to be a national championship coach, state title level coach or have all time winning records to be great.  I think you need to have the above traits to be or become a great coach.  You can also apply these to regular life, work, career, family and how you play.

As my dad once told me, “find something you love and do it with al your heart, passion and commit to the process” and the rest will take care of itself.

Football: Winning in Life Attitude

Do you have a winning attitude about life. What is your definition of winning? That all depends on your personal views, background and experience with winning and losing. As a long time career football, wrestling and softball coach I have had to look at winning from two perspectives. One of those being actual W’s and L’s. How is my football team competing or how is my individual wrestlers doing. Are they beating people on the field or the mat. That is a statistical way to view winning and many coaches only view it that way. I know Hall of Fame coaches that have win totals I would love to attain. They are are well known for those stats during their career.

The other way to look at winning is “winning in life” and life after death. As a coach it is my job to mentor my student/athletes to be active hardworking and goal oriented adults. Adults that learned through competition, winning and losing to overcome and push forward. I love seeing my former students go into adult life and succeed on the job, in marriage and whatever they venture into. I love to watch them reap the success of competing at a high level as a wrestler and making the state tournament or winning the ultimate prize of a state championship. I have been fortunate to have a few of those special wrestlers and they are few and far between.

God is like a coach that pushes us, mentors us and teaches us how to be productive in life. He especially wants us to be productive Christians that seek his guidance to live a fantastic life full of success. Living his word and seeking his guidance and coaching will allow us to get the ultimate win. God is consistent and walks with us through life with our success. He carries us through the losses and always thinks of us above all. How do you try to win at life and how do you want to win with God?

  1. Will you be coachable and work hard to overcome losses and gain more life wins?
  2. Will you be coachable by God and allow his spirit to guide you to afterlife success?

Proverbs 21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.

Dear Lord, please come into my life and allow me to be coached by you. Show me your wisdom, grace and mercy all the days of my life. Show me through winning and losing that I can always look to you for motivation and consistency. Amen

God Bless! KB

Faith: Good Dog or Bad Dog

A friend once told me that I could be either a good dog or a bad dog. I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, because I thought I was a good dog already. After talking with her about it, she went on to explain that I was going through a spiritual awakening of sorts. One that would take my faith to another level, but would also come with the challenges of the dark side. When we are faithful and growing in our relationship with Jesus, the devil will mess with us and try to sway us away. The Devil does not want us to be successful. The devil will do whatever he can to deceive us and make us a bad dog.

He wants us to be a bad dog. One that will bite the hand that feeds it, one that chases after things that are harmful, one that barks at people to intimidate them. God on the other hand wants us to be a good dog. One that is loyal, obedient, trusting and friendly to others. We all have seen good and bad dogs at some point in our lives. I remember growing up as a kid my friends and I would ride bikes (do kids even ride bikes now), I certainly hope so. Anyways, back to the story of the bikes. We would ride to the store, friends houses, school and wherever else we could. On our regular route their was this one dog.

He was a huge German Shepard and he would sit at the edge of his driveway and wait for us to come by. We were scared of him so we would get as much speed as we could and go flying by screaming and laughing. Unfortunately for me, I was the biggest kid on the block so generally I was the slowest and came the closest to getting bit every time. I had to pedal twice as hard as the other kids to stay safe and go fast enough to avoid the bad dog. That big dog would get right beside the back tire and he would growl, bark and try to bite the tire. One day I was going to fast and wiped out in the road. I ate pavement over the handle bars and cut myself up pretty good. I just knew I was going to get eaten alive by that bad dog.

Amazingly, the dog stopped and actually started trying to lick me and crawl on me. You see, we had misjudged that dog because it chased us, barked at us and made us go faster on our bikes. In reality, it was a good dog that just had a simple character flaw. The owner later told me that the dog loved to chase anything, bikes, the mailman, balls, joggers, you name it. After that day the dog waited at the end of the driveway, chased us, barked at us and got right next to somebody’s tire growling and barking like he was going to tear a foot off or eat the tire. He had formed a habit of behavior that was hard for him to break. He was a good dog overall, but his demeanor of barking, growling and chasing made people think he was a bad dog.

As humans we all have the good or bad dog inside of us. Either one can come out at anytime and it is up to us to decide which one we will be. Will we be the devil dog and bite people, bark at people and chase them away. Or will we be the good dog and nurture people, be faithful and obedient to God’s word. We will end up being the dog that we nurture inside of us. If we walk with God and build good habits or kindness, compassion and love for others then our inner good dog will shine through and people will see that. God will be please with us and help us grow that good dog.

If we chose to grow the bad dog by being rude, mean, unhappy and unwelcoming to others. Then, God will still love us, but he will not be happy about our sin and lack of compassion for others. God is constant and he is mans best friend for sure. He is number one and like a great family pet, he is faithful, happy and concerned for our well-being. Do you want to be a good dog or a bad dog?

  1. Do you present yourself in a manner that people would think you are a good dog?
  2. Do you present yourself in a manner that would make God see you are a bad dog?

God, help me to be the person you want me to be. Help me grow the good dog inside of me. One that cares, has compassion and helps others. I pray for your grace, mercy and guidance daily as I grow my inner “Good Dog”. Amen

Proverbs 26:11 “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly”.

God Bless! KB

Faith: Meeting God’s Expectations

God’s Expectations and Being Non-Conforming to Indoctrination of Evil

While watching television today and browsing social media sites I saw so many messages that are non-conforming to God’s word.  I wrote down a list of these things and will not address all of them on here today.  However, it is clear after going back and reading 2nd Timothy that we are now in times that were described in that scripture.  In 2nd Timothy Paul warned Timothy about difficult times that will happen in history.  Paul wrote that people would become lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasure, abusive, unforgiving and show an ungodly attitude.  Ungodlike acts of violence, the breakdown of the family unit, drugs, alcohol and acceptance of anything goes has left the United States in a complete mess.

Jesus also warned his disciples in the bible that Satan would plant his deceptive ways among the church and in people’s hearts.  The world would become full of false believers and be guided by false doctrine.  As believers we must resist this doctrine and stand firm against Satan’s attack on humanity.  We must not conform to unGodly principles and an anything goes attitude. This will not be a popular message for many, but for others it is reassurance of what God expects of us.  It is not what we want, but what God wants for us.  Believers must stand against evil thoughts, ideas and false doctrine.

God loves everyone, he made us all in his image.  The commandments given to Moses have not changed and still stand as the expectations God gave us.  Take a look around and see what is happening right now in America.  False doctrines are being bombarded to our youth daily.  Violence, hate, jealousy, self-loathing and immoral behavior are pushed by large social media outlets, famous people and political action groups.  At what point do we take a stand?  Do we sit back and watch the devil destroy our amazing country or do we take action and stand as one nation under God!  

More importantly, do we stand back and watch God’s word be destroyed, dismissed as untrue or Fiction?  I for one will take the attack from those that hate, are lost and do the devil’s bidding.  For I know the grace and mercy of God.  He loves us all, but does not like sin within us.  Turn to God, seek his justice and guidance.  Turn away from unGodly thoughts, actions and behaviors.  Whether you believe it or not, the bible tells us we will all account one day for our life and the things we did.  

  1. Are you willing to stand for good, for God?
  2. Are you willing to conform to the idolatry of the devil?

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

God, I pray for your guidance, grace, mercy and protection against those that choose to hate, be spiteful and trample upon my faith. I pray for forgiveness or their transgressions and for an awakening of their spirit. Amen

God Bless!  KB

Sports: Talk is Cheap, Action Speaks

Talk Is Cheap, Action Speaks

During my coaching career I have heard many inspirational sayings from coaches before games, during meetings and at coaching clinics.  A few of my favorites that stuck with me are “Don’t talk about it, be about it”, “Talks cheap, action speaks” and “Don’t tell me, show me”.  I have said these many times to my football players, wrestlers and team members.  We say these things to our athletes to inspire them to be more than talk, to be more than they currently are.  We want to challenge them to become bigger, stronger and faster and tougher.  We want to show the opponent through our play that we are tough, will battle and fight to the last whistle.

In today’s world of social media many athletes ;ike to talk trash.  They post  about who is going to to win, lose and all that hype.  It isn’t a bad thing and is designed to encourage competition.  However, when the whistle blows, many of these tough talkers falter and fall short of their own expectations.  They get whipped, pushed around and often make excuses for those shortcomings.  They point the finger at the coach, the referee, the team or whatever it is that diverts the blame from them.  

Many times I have told athletes, “if you were as tough as you think you are, you would be a champion and unstoppable”.  Some may say, why would a coach say that to an athlete and may think it sounds like an insult.  In reality it is designed to say to them, man you talk a big game but what you’re doing in practice, on the field of play or wrestling mat does not back up all that smack talk.  As a coach it is not my job to pamper athletes, to make them feel good about themselves by lying to them. It is my job to mentor, guide, lead and coach them up and being honest is part of that process.

Being a Christian is the same concept.  As Christians we often talk a big game, but fail to live up to that standard that God put in place for us.  It is easy to talk a big game and act all Christian around people, but turn around and do the opposite.  God has huge expectations for us and made us in his image.  He coaches us, teaches us and guides us to be strong in faith.  He wants us to inspire others through our actions, thoughts and behaviors.  We obtain spiritual growth and success by putting into actions the living word he gave us in the bible.  God’s word clearly identifies that standing up for what’s right, being strong of will and following his word are what measures us up.  

So let’s all stand up, talk about it and be about it.  Let’s take action and show others through our spirit that God is the way, the light and the truth.  Don’t talk about it, be about it.  

  1. Are you a sayer or a doer?
  2. How can you become a doer?

God, please open my spirit, mind and soul to your word.  Show me how to be an active Christian that is strong of faith and show your light to others through my actions.  Guide me, lead me and strengthen me to not only talk about, but be about your work.  Amen

God Bless! KB 10-23-2020

Daily Reading- 2nd Timothy 3:16-17