Just call me "Jazz". It's pretty much my name...yeah.

So I'm sitting here watching some American Idol with my roommate, a fairly regular occurrence. Well I mean, sitting and watching TV, not necessarily American Idol. However, I love it and it's hilarious. Sure it's a great time watching the really heart warming stories and also to be able to hear from the very beginning of the people who will eventually make it to the finals and to follow their story. Really though, let's just call a spade a spade here my friends...we all watch to see the people that just suck something awful. You know what I'm talking about..."We're brothers forevvveerrrrr..." 

Seriously though, then they also showed the not so positive reactions of people after they were told in such eloquent language as Simon could put it (sarcasm font on there) that they were just not cut out for the musical performing side of life. What really got to me once again, and what gets to me every season...is that there is a pretty large and significant amount of people who try out that think they are truly the next American Idol. I feel bad for these people on one hand, because they don't have anyone in their lives that are willing to break the news to them that they really aren't that great. I'm mean sure, everyone dreams of breaking it big and having thousands upon thousands of people singing your songs and basically worshipping you. The money, the fame, the roadies; sounds good to me right? Also though, it hurts people that most have no idea what types of songs are good for their voices and sounds. They always try songs that aren't good in their range or are written for vocal freaks, of which they are not. At least not in the positive sense. Also, let's go ahead and say that if you feel the need to result to some gimmick to get Simon, Paula, Randy, and Kara's attention you probably know already that you aren't getting their attention with your voice; in you know, a singing competition. 

Really though, it makes me even more grateful and thankful for the presence of Christ in my life. Through Him I know who I am, my identity is found and secured in Him and His life through me. I don't have to go grasping at straws like an American Idol audition to seek significance in my life. As followers of the living God we serve and live for an audience of One. How amazing it is and refreshing that we don't have to worry about those crazy things that never fulfill and always leave us lacking? There's so many things that this carries over into and so many other avenues of life that performing and living just for an audience of One will do for you. Freedom in Christ...I love it. 

A kinda-sorta emptiness.

Well, most of you if you read the title to this entry first (which you should), and if know even a little bit about me (which shouldn't be difficult), then you will have a pretty good idea what this post is about already. Go ahead, connect those dots...I'll give you a few seconds...

Ok. So last night was the final send-off for Malcolm Jenkins, James Laurinaitis, Brian Robiskie, Marcus Freeman, and a bunch of other Buckeye seniors as they closed out their careers in the same friggin' bowl we always go to, the Fiesta Bowl, against the "mighty" Texas Longhorns. We lost. 24-21. Texas scored their last touchdown with 16 seconds left on the clock and I sunk to the floor from where I was standing at my friend's apartment. Hands behind my head, jaw dropped to the ground, stomach in the apartment below us, and hopes pretty much dashed. That's when this kinda-sorta feeling started creeping in. The funny thing about this pose that I was in: you know, wide eyed, mouth gaping, sitting on the floor, speechless; was that was exactly the way I was sitting after we scored the go-ahead touchdown ourselves with a Boom Herron jaunt into the endzone that had followed a Todd Boeckman pass to Terrelle Pryor (gorgeous play) and my friends jumping around the room only minutes earlier. 

Growing up, any loss for the Buckeyes meant that I was completely inconsolable for a good five days after the game, and the day immediately following the game I was ready to kill anyone that said a wrong word. However, I have fortunately moved past that as I've gotten older, matured, and let God mold me away from having my identity in sports and specifically Ohio State. Sure, I love the Buckeyes with everything in me, would cheer for them over any other team that I even like, and will always find time to watch OSU football games wherever I am in life and will force my family to do the same. However, it's only a game folks and how exactly would my life be any different today if we had won last night? I would still have to wait on the cable guy, still need to clean up the room I'm moving into and then make that move, still need to eat food and pay some bills. Sure maybe I would have had a slightly better demeanor today, but really I'm not in that bad of a mood at all, actually as I write this I'm just hungry. 

When you take this senior class overall most people are going to remember the big game failures, fairly or unfairly. They went 43-8 overall, one of the highest winning percentages ever at OSU, their losses were all to teams who won a national championship that year, or played in a BCS bowl game by the end of the year. They won a ton of individual awards, too many to name here, went to 4 straight BCS bowls, won 4 straight Big Ten crowns, and most importantly in my book: beat M*ch*g*n four straight times and now 5 straight for those redshirt seniors. Nothing ever tops beating the Wolverines in my book, and nothing ever will. If we never win another national title but beat them every year then I will be the happiest man to ever walk God's green Earth. 

So that is why it is a kinda-sorta emptiness. Sure would I have liked to win one of our last three BCS games? Of course! (the one I went to would've been nice) However I am more than grateful towards these seniors and what they were able to accomplish at OSU. They leave a great legacy for others to follow and improve on. Terrelle Pryor, Boom Herron, Mike Adams, Mike Brewster, DeVier Posey, JB Shugarts, Nathan Williams, Etienne Sabino, Thad Gibson, and friends will take this team to new heights. Let's see, better book my plane ticket to Pasadena now, since that's where the National Championship is gonna be next year...you would be wise to come with me.

In Tressel We Trust.