preseason Top 25 poll.  I suspect they are wary of Arkansas’ pitching, or this would be a little bit higher.  Look out for true freshman D.J. Baxendale of Sylvan Hills. He reportedly has filthy stuff and could be the closer.

Jim Gooch sent me this and asked that I post it as an addendum to his now much-criticized Movie List regarding the Teabaggers, and his reply to PapaJ. Apparently, it is a ridiculious Teabagger Rally poster.

“Arkansas, will you make the Final Four in those whacky uniforms with the pigs with horns…………..yeah, those pigs may be Hogs but they’re kosher to me.”

(if report regarding its content are true) regardless of which side you are on in the never-ending abortion debate.

Really….. *I* am a Jerk for Calling Tim Tebow College Football Baby Jesus, but the anti-abortion Super Bowl commercial he is starring in is going to center around his “miraculious” birth?  Here is a particularly interesting portion of this article in the Gainesville Sun :

Focus on the Family announced last week that the commercial will share a personal story from the Tebows centered on the theme of “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.” The group has declined to provide specific details about the ad, but speculation has centered on the story of Tebow’s birth.

After getting seriously ill during a mission trip to the Philippines, Pam Tebow ignored a recommendation by doctors to have an abortion and ended up giving birth. Tim Tebow himself said the story was the reason that he decided to participate in the ad.

“That’s the reason I’m here, because my mom is a really courageous woman,” he said Monday.

Tom Krattenmaker, author of the book “Onward Christian Athletes,” questioned whether the ad’s focus on the “miraculous birth narrative” might turn off even Christians for being idolatrous. Krattenmaker, whose book is critical of mixing religion and sports, said Tebow is moving beyond simply espousing his faith to being a flash point in the culture wars.

“He’s either naive or incredibly gutsy and principled,” Krattenmaker said. “I expect there’s some of both.”

The controversy is growing regarding this, and, if the ad contains such a focus, I can understand why.  It’s one thing to be anti-abortion.  It’s another to tell people faced with a Hobson’s choice regarding the most excruciating of life (and death) experiences that they did the wrong thing.

Let me explain.  In 2005, Amber, my wife, was pregnant with what would have been our first child.  Unfortunately, at about the 3-4 month mark, there were extreme complications.  We were advised by the doctors, that under no scenario would the baby live to term, be born, and survive. 

The doctors said it was highly likely the baby would be stillborn in the womb, and possibly present some serious risks for Amber’s health, but that even if the baby survived to term, she would then die.  The doctors strongly suggested we induce labor. We did.

To the staunchest Pro-Life people, this was, I am sure, an abortion, even though I cannot imagine how bringing a baby into the world with extreme birth defects, to live for a second, and then die could ever be considered a Pro-Life decision (not to mention the further toll it would have added to an already devastating experience).

Nevertheless, that’s essentially the message Tebow is sending.  Not that we should find a loving home for “unwanted” babies and avoid abortion at all cost.  But, that everything is black and white, and no matter the circumstances an abortion is an abortion is an abortion…..and you just never know…..that baby you didn’t want may grow up to win the Heisman Trophy and, at 22, tell the rest of the World how it should live it’s life.