A Word from Ferg

A Word from Ferg

A word from Ferg.

The ad popped up on craigslist.org late Monday night - it was just what we were looking for, and the price was right.

I made the call scant minutes after it had been posted, and I wasn't the first. "Do you still have it? I can come in the morning, and pay cash." "Well, I'm leaving in the morning, but if you want to come tonight, then come on."

It's 9 pm, and I'm driving to Hendersonville to buy a lawn mower.

We have a lot of grass. Almost three acres of mow-able grass that last year I either a) mowed myself with a 20-inch push mower, or b) paid someone to mow. You can guess which option I chose. No? Well, let's take a look at the scouting report on John Ferguson - "good heart, likes kids and animals, wants to help, bit of a lazy streak, can't lay off the high fastball." Now guess.

However, now I have a new lawn tractor, which as the seller labored hard and long to point out to me, is much different than just a lawn mower. I didn't care what he called it - in my mind I was already calling it 'the new toy that means my son will mow instead of me machine.' Christian is thirteen now, and I won't lie - I've been waiting for this day to come, the day when I can point and say, "Mow the grass, boy." Glory.

Of course, first I have to play with my new toy. The sun is out, the grass is growing (well, the weeds are growing) , and I'm out on my newly-acquired Craftsman 20 hp, dual-overhead-cam, 46-inch deck, hydrostatic drive LAWN TRACTOR. To quote one of my current favorite TV personalities, "POWWWAHHH!"

My new toy - needs a name.

The yard has no chance whatsoever - I mow the entire thing faster and more easily than ever before, and I find that I still have some mow left in me. So I start in on my neighbor Eddie's yard.

Eddie is a great neighbor, and is the opposite of me, which means that he's handy and knows how to do, make, and fix things. A guy like that makes it hard for a guy like me to return neighborly favors - unless he needs a P.A. system wired, a web site set up, or some fluffy nonsense written, he probably doesn't need my help.

That changes today. I attack his backyard with gusto, feeling good that I get to give rather than receive for a change. Does he know I'm doing it? Well, no ... but if he doesn't want me mowing his yard, he needs to build a big fence; otherwise, his grass is mine.

I got the chance to be a good neighbor, help a friend, and make my local world a bit better. All with just a little bit of effort, and, of course, 20 hp of pure POWAAAHHH!

I tell you that story to make this request.

Kris Freeman is the kind of man we want in our community. He tells our stories, teaches our kids, coaches our sons, and generally makes White House a better place to live.

He and his family are planting a new church here in the area, called Revolution Church, and are planning to start in September. They're raising money for the plant with help from the General Baptist National Missions, and are about $10,000 short of the mark they need to hit to unlock an additional $100K in funding from the organization.

This is our chance to mow our neighbor's grass, gang. There are about 10,000 of us in the White House area, so we just need a buck apiece. OK, not everyone in White House will read this, and some of them are babies (literally - that's not just me calling people names), so maybe we could give a little more to cover us and a couple more people, maybe 20, 50, or even more.

Never mind your religious views. I don't care if you're Baptist, Methodist, Hindu, or atheist. The Freeman's plan is to reach out to the community through service, and I think we can all agree that this is a good plan. It makes our local world a little better. We want people like Kris in our community, and here's our chance to help make sure he sticks.

Does Kris know I'm doing this? Well, no ... but if he doesn't want me spreading the word about his work, he needs to take me off the mailing lists; otherwise, his grass is mine.

You can help by donating to help this group get started. All donations are fully tax-deductible, and if you use PayPal (my business account) I assure you that ever single penny will go to Revolution Church. If you plan on making a donation of $100 or more, I would encourage you to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it so that you can get a receipt.

Thanks, gang - and let's all work to make our world a little better.
 

A Word from Ferg

Rest in peace, Kelsie.

This is too hard.

I've spent the last 30 hours or so trying to put words to thought after hearing the news of two bright young lives cut tragically short. A car struck the motorcycle carrying Noah Wilson and Kelsie Trobaugh in Portland Saturday night, throwing the lives of their families and friends into grief-stricken chaos.

Although I know that those close to the family will try their hardest, there will be no consolation for a season. How can there be? We offer words and hugs, hands to hold and shoulders to cry upon, but accidents give us no time to prepare. I offer the Trobaugh and Wilson families my prayers and sadness, but will not even attempt to make sense of the event. Instead, I offer this - a word to our children, from the heart of a father.

My child,

As a parent, I walk a wonderfully perilous path with you.

On the one hand, I long to protect you from any and every hurt that may come your way. I want to wish away the scrapes and bruises, the broken bones and scars, the illness that comes as you grow.

I want to shield you from the ache and pain that comes when you give your heart to someone. I never want you to feel rejection, loneliness, or despair. I would gladly give my life to keep you from death.

However, I know that if I hover, if I never let you chance or dare, you will never grow into the wonderful person God has made you. You must stretch and try, rise and fall, attempt and fail, before you blossom into the full-grown You.

So I ask only this: Please, please remember that when you leave the house, when you're away from me, that you carry my heart with you. What an incredible responsibility that is!

Be smart. Think before you decide. It might look like fun, but try to see what's on the other side of that choice first. Your growing body is screaming for stimulation - use your brain before answering its requests. If you're not sure, ask. I'm here, waiting to help you walk the path I've already traveled. If you feel pressured from those who don't care that you carry my heart, blame me for your smart decision. I'm not afraid to be the bad guy to your peers, if it means you stay safe.

Call me. Check in from time to time. It will help you stay rooted, and will help me feel better. I don't want to hold you back, I want to help you soar.

I love you. Always remember that.

Kelsie and Noah.

Visitation for the Wilson and Trobaugh families will be held at the Wilkinson and Wiseman Funeral Home in Portland: Monday 4pm - 9pm, Tuesday 11am - 9pm, Wednesday 12noon - 2pm.

The families will hold a joint funeral service on Wednesday, March 24, at 2:30pm at First Baptist Church, Portland.

Family and friends will host a meal at White House High School after the service, anticipated to start around 4:30pm. All are welcome, and are encouraged to bring a covered dish. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information on how to help.

UPDATE - Noon, Tuesday March 23.

A Trobaugh/Wilson Memorial Scholarship Fund will be established in the names of Kelsie and Noah. The families request, in lieu of flowers, that donations be made to this fund, which will provide a scholarship for one student at Portland High School, and one at White House High School. Donations can be made at any Vol State Bank branch.

A Word from Ferg

A word from Ferg.

I'll be honest. I'm not much more than a casual basketball fan. I love the game, but not enough to track it throughout the season.

However, I love this time of year, because for the next three weeks, anyone can be an expert. All you have to do is fill out a bracket - presto! You're an expert. Trust me, whatever method you choose has just as much a chance as the top minds in the game do of being close to accurate.

The White House (Super)Star Bracket Challenge, powered by Yahoo!, gives you the chance to do your worst, or best, or whatever. Pick perfectly, and you'll win a million bucks. Pick better than everyone in the group, and you'll win fabulous prizes from the White House community. Pick better than me, and you'll have bragging rights for the entire year. Actually, beating me may not be such an achievement ... maybe you should aim a bit higher.

You'll need a Yahoo! account, which is free, as is our contest. Click here to register if you don't have an account.

Let me give you a few strategies that I've seen in the past (or that I've just made up on the spot - you'll never know, unless this inner monologue is finding its way to my fingers).

Pick the top seeds

By far the easiest way to fill out a bracket. Click on the lower number, or seed, in each game, and you don't have to make a decision until the Final Four. Easy, peasy.

In fact, Yahoo! (adding the exclamation point makes me happy, by the way) makes it easy to use this method. Just choose Top Seeds in the Autofill my Bracket box, and you're all set to spend the tournament as a front-runner. Yeah, that's fun. You know what, I hate this approach already - let's move on.

Battlin' mascots

True story - back in my youth ministry days, I used to have a weekly contest with my youth group during the NFL season that I called Beat the 4 Year Olds. I'd let the students submit their weekly picks, and they would compete against my son Christian and his friend Josh, both four (clever name I came up with, right?).

I would then print out the weekly schedule for the two boys, using the team logos and mascot names, and they would choose using conversations like this: "A bear would kill a bird, so let's pick them (in adult-speak, that's Chicago over Arizona)." "What's a Packer?" "Just a man that makes meat." "Oh, well a Viking has a sword, so they would probably win (ok, Minny over Green Bay)."

Let me tell you something - our little boys romped, week in and week out, so this method has to work. Especially if you want to humiliate high-schoolers.

Think a cougar could whip a turtle? Then there's your first upset pick of the tourney, Houston over Maryland, #13 over #4. If you think an eagle could beat up a husky, then choose Marquette over Washington. Of course, that means that last year, a Tar Heel (whatever that is) beat up a Spartan. Maybe they meant Tar Baby, like in the Uncle Remus tales. Anyway, this might work ...

SCIENCE!

Google 2010 bracket strategy, and you'll come up with a cornucopia of bracket-picking advice. Stats galore. Formulas, methods, scenarios by the boatload. Some free, some you have to pay for. If you're a stats geek, jump right in. Me? I'll pass. What's the fun in that?

Uncanny, isn't it?

The guys we love to hate

This is the method I almost used, one that I'll call the Weasel strategy. You know what I'm talking about. Those coaches, those programs, those fan groups that just drive you batty. I'm a big fan of this method, mostly because of my snarky attitude. After all, I'm the guy who wrote about 2,000 words berating UT fans during the Lame Kiffin saga, one status update at a time.

I say 'almost,' because this year's Weasel is easy - John Calipari. For those who don't know, Calipari was the head coach at the University of Memphis until last March, when he bolted for UK. He took along with him some top recruits, including John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.

Now, imagine that you have a job that pays you to bring resources to the company. Company A pays you to go get those resources, then use those resources to benefit Company A, who also pays all the expenses involved in gathering those resources. That's what college recruiting is, for better or worse - resource gathering. If you left that job, and took with you the resources that Company A had paid for, and used those resources to benefit Company B, that would be stealing. It's outright theft, and that's what Calipari did. He's a weasel, just like Kiffin. Memphis should claim all these wins as their own. I'd list them in the Media Guide next year, if I were the sports information director.

I wanted to pick against Kentucky, with all my heart, but that would be foolish. It's a great team. What I wish I could do is change the name on the bracket, from Kentucky to Memphis. If you are more vindictive than me, then you can use the Weasel strategy, and I know many will. Duke? Down in flames. Kansas? Hope they lose by 50. Admit it, some of us will be using this in our brackets. You may not win, but at least you'll feel better.

Everybody loves an underdog

This is the opposite of the front-runner. What makes March so great is the fact that, unlike football, you don't need 20 superior athletes to beat another team. You just need two or three, or you just need team chemistry, or you just need lights-out luck, to make a splash in the tournament. So go ahead - pick those scrappy underdogs. Make sure you have at least one 12-over-5 pick, because history shows us that at least one #5 will fall in the first round.

The great part about picking the underdogs is actually two-fold. One - those games are so fun to watch. Let a higher seed stick around, and the place gets electric. The bench  explodes, waving towels and hugging after every basket. The neutral fans in the arena start to get behind the upstarts, and the noise goes up and up. And if we TV viewers are lucky, Gus Johnson is calling the game, which is a party all by itself. Two - if your underdog pick actually comes through with a win, you get to say, "I knew it all along," claiming expert status even if you picked the game with a dartboard.

I can get behind this method, 100%. You may go down in flames, but at least you go down swinging.

My method

How did I pick my bracket? Quickly - took me about two minutes total. I trust my first instincts, regardless of their origins. That may mean I base some of my picks off of hazy recollections from 1989 (the last year I can remember closely following college basketball), but so what?

Any method might be the right one. Come play, and let's find out.

A Word from Ferg

A word from Ferg

Mark, Chris, James, and the rest of the WHSC clan - I'm so sorry for your (saturated) luck.

Yet again, the weekend with the largest event of the year in White House has rain. Soaked fields once again for the White House Soccer Club's bi-annual tournament, an event that is trying to surpass the Relay for Life as the new rainmaker in town. After some horrific experiences with trying to play in the rain in the past, this year's organizers have (wisely, in my opinion) decided to cancel the tournament.

Don't believe me about the biggest event moniker? Well, this spring's tournament had 62 teams registered. Figure 12 players per team (some have more, some have less), then add in the family and friends that typically come with those players. That's an average of 48 people per team x 62 teams = about 3000 people that were expected to visit our city. Eat in our restaurants. Shop in our stores. Stay in our hotels. Put our gas in their cars.

I'm an old soccer veteran, and I generally expect to spend about $75 on a tournament weekend for my family - if we're coming in from out of town (like many of those who were playing in this spring's event), that can go up to around $200 or more. For estimate's sake, we can figure about $20 per person.

Okay - $20 per person x 3000 people = a pretty substantial dent in the community coffers. That's right - the rain soaked us all.

The weather really puts the tournament organizers in a tough spot. Play, and you risk injuries, damage to the fields, and the chance that teams, after such a miserable experience, choose to give the White House tournament a pass next season. Cancel, and both the club and area businesses suffer financially.

I think they made the right choice - a choice that will pay off in the long run. Events like this thrive on good experiences and word-of-mouth. I know. There are plenty of soccer tournaments on my 'never again in a million years' list. The stigma that comes after a bad experience can damage any event, not just a tournament. Therefore, it is in any event's best interests to either exceed expectations or operate in complete honesty, putting the visitors and their best interests first.

Kudos to Mark Smith, the tournament chairman, and the rest of the leadership in White House soccer. I hope your decision pays off in the long run.

One more question: Do you guys take requests? Because a weekend of rain would go a long way towards filling my swimming pool later this spring.