Just shut up. Play the game. Play it from your heart and you know what, I will show you the Kwan.

Tonight was the last Cowboys game played at Texas Stadium. They apparently handpicked the Ravens in the off-season to be their final home game.

Tonight there were two teams with their backs up against the wall for a playoff spot. But one had the luxury of playing at home and playing with the emotional inspiration of playing the last Cowboys game at Texas Stadium for their fans and their watching legends.

But it was the road team who showed up with the heart, passion, and a sense of urgency. The game could be perhaps seen as another choke. I'm just further convinced this team has no heart.

Watching the legends in the post-game ceremony, I was thinking, "Gun, you think Jimmy would have let this happen? You think Michael Irvin would have let this happen? You think Troy or Roger would have let this happen? You think Darren Woodson would have let this happen? You think Randy White would have let this happen? You think Bill Bates would let the special teams be so bad?"

What a way to end their time at Texas Stadium ... losing to a rookie QB, giving up 33 offensive points, and giving up first recording tying 77 yard TD run by an opponent and then giving up a record 82 yard TD run by an opponent on the very next offensive play.

All in all, they put themselves in a position where they have to win a tough game on the road and get help even to make the playoffs. That's a sad shift of gears from the 13-1 first round bye team last year that sent 13 to the pro-bowl.

P.S. Check out photos of our family tour of Texas Stadium the week after this game.

No such thing bad student. Only bad teacher.

(click to enlarge)

(From TeachSundaySchool.com, for which I cannot at this time necessarily vouch.)

Well, then I get all excited. I'm like Jojo the idiot circus boy with a pretty new pet.

I'm starting to get really whipped by exclamation point abuse. I share two recent instances.

1. My wife was perusing houses via the miracle of the Internet, not so much because we want to move, but it's sort of her hobby.

In one she sent me I found the following description noteworthy.

THIS HOME HAS ONE OF THE BEST YARDS IN [town]! SO MANY TREES! VIEW OF GOLF COURSE FROM JUST ABOUT EVERY WINDOW IN THE HOUSE! UPDATED POOL WITH A IRON FENCE! ABSOLUTELY BREATH TAKING! IT ALSO HAS AN AWESOME HOUSE ATTACHED TO IT TOO! AND THERE IS A THREE CAR GARAGE! KITCHEN HAS GRANITE COUNTERTOPS! NEW CARPET AND PAINT!

In case you're keeping score, that's eight (8) exclamation points in that terse bit of text. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's excessive and trying too hard.

2. Today I got a note from school about my kid's "Winter Party," which included a solicitation from the Room Mom for some cag for the party, including milks.

This caught my eye:

"The milk is to be purchased directly from the cafeteria by the parent who wants to donate it just before the party!!"

I thought to myself, "Self, I can understand bolding the text, but is it really an exclamation? If so, does it need two (2) exclamation points?"

Anyway, what's up with that? One should be enough and I've seen three exclamation points, but rarely do you see two.

Why do you take aspirin with champagne? Oh, champagne gives me a headache.

Some random slooge that came my way. The source is unknown to me, but I thought it was good bull enough to share, especially as some reminded me of the great Steven Wright.

Cogitation Questions:

1. Can you cry under water?
2. How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
3. Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'... but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?
4. Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?
5. Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
6. What disease did cured ham actually have?
7. How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
8. Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?
9. If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
10. Why are you IN a movie, but you’re ON TV?
11. Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
12. Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.
13. Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?
14. Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
15. If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?
16. If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
17. Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on al l fours? They're both dogs!
18. If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME cag, why didn't he just buy something to eat?
19. If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
20. Why do the Alphabet song and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" have the same tune?
21. Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
22. Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
23. Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?
24. Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they already know there is not enough money?
25. Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
26. Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
27. Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
28. Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
29. Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
30. Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in the word 'lisp'?
31. If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
32. Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
33. Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
34. Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
35. Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
36. Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?
37. How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
38. When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, 'It's all right?' Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, 'That really hurt, why don't you watch where you're going?'
39. Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
40. In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
41. How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

N.B. The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons are suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

Heck, I'm not even mad, that's amazing!

So, I'm driving in the car with my boy and from the backseat I hear him sing the following:

Jingle bells
Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
Batmobile lost it's wheel
and the Joker got away.

2 things came to mind:

1. How easy some things can be passed down by oral tradition. Many of us probably remember that song, which has never been written down as far as I know.

It's interesting how some things couldn't be suppressed even if we tried and yet other things are so difficult to pass down, typically the stuff of redeeming value.

2. How things can be learned wherein the full meaning is not realized. When I learned the song, it never occurred to me that Robin laying an egg was a play on Robin being named after a bird, and birds do indeed lay eggs.

I thought about the multitude of things we teach our kids at home and at church, particularly of a spiritual nature, the fullness of which they may not realize for years to come. But, I think we lay a foundation for the future, giving them a theological skeleton on which flesh is added over time.