dash77

Magnium PI on the Retro TV Network.

What happened to the John Doe part of my last reply???? Is someone now editing my spelling???

Sorry John Doe. Sometimes I'm too rushed to even re-read the post I submit.

Just another exmaple of why the Boys Scouts is a falling apart organization -- now they are trying to be modern day gladiators.

Backroads: The development of the brain is complex and is not really standradized. Some youth may have very advanced brains at age 13, there others it litertally doe snot develop until their middel 20's. And there are so many factors that play into brain development, from pure genetics, to good nutition, to supporting home environments, to climate. My arguement is that a once-size-fits all that everyone is mature at 18 is bogus thinking that does not aling in any way to brain research.

A few years ago I read a book related to brain development called the Pleasure Instinct. It outlines – like recent studies on brain development – that the brain does not fully develop until ages 22-23. As much as I think independent behavior should be learned, there are some young adults that really do not have fully develop brains and may need parental help through their early 20’s. Beyond the purely giving side of a mission, such experiences give young men and women a chance to be fairly indepdent within a framework of supervision (e.g., zone leaders, mission president) and would be a great experience just in transition through brain development. My point is this - -sometimes I think the masses think that something magical happens when some turns 18. The age of adulthood was NOT based on scientific human developmental criteria. Some 18 year olds still due need their parents around to guide and help. With that said, there are parents that can go overboard.

Is it any wonder why the general statistics of the church are that 1 in 3 boys becomes less active when you have situations like the OP outlined. I have seen this in various wards over the years this -- the fanatic scout leader destroying testimonies.

Backraods: In regard to your posts at this website, we all know you are larger up top and its an endowement for you. We all know that!

Vort: I do not have much time to get into a protracted debate, so let me try to bring some quick clarity to what I see as my central message and where we might differ. The first issue is that there were BYU coaches and players that did say before the season started that they would be playing for a national championship – and in your reply you have outlined this with mixed messages. As you outlined, in the first article, Heaps is directly quoted as saying “We’re not shooting for a conference champion, we’re shooting for a national championship”. In the second article Bronco Mendenhall is clearly articulating that BYU can be a national champion. BYU is a good football program and I do not think there is anything wrong with being a solid middle of the row football program. I will still cheer for them – but I find the illusionary view that BYU is good enough to be a national powerhouse as delusional cockiness and I think that reality is hitting home right now. Hopefully this season knocks some sense into some BYU coaches, players and fans and pride usually occurs before a fall. If BYU wants to be a national champion they need to either (1) join a good conference, like a PAC 12, or (2) be independent and play some of the better teams in the national and not play one or two somewhat good teams (like Texas, this year) and then stack the schedule with poor teams (like Idaho State and New Mexico State) to try to have an undefeated season and then talk big like they are some type of national powerhouse. Even in their recent three game winning streak they (coaches, players and fans) were talking big again and laying claim that if Nelson was quarterback they might have beaten Texas or Utah. The reality is that BYU is just a middle of the row team and the reason they won three games is that they were playing not very good teams – and they were lucky to beat Utah State at home. Two dozen teams that are better than BYU would be: LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Stanford, Oregon, USC, Utah, Houston, Clemson, Penn State, Iowa, Auburn, West Virginia, TCU, Florida, and Florida State. I could probable list a handful of other teams. These are teams that over the past 10 years would beat BYU more times than not. Yes, any team can catch another team on an off night and beat them. But this year illustrates that when BYU has played some-par teams, like Texas, TCU and Utah, they can’t beat them on a regular basis. Think about the disaster if BYU played teams like LSU or USC or Wisconsin. Despite what you and a few others claim that I am not a BYU fan, I am, we just have a different view of what being a fan is. I believe I am a reality based fan and with this said hope that BYU players and coaches and fan can be a more humble team and can be more successful next year. But they need to play much better teams for me to start to think of them as a top 20 or top 15 team, before I can even think of them being a consistent national powerhouse.

1000 tears: What I disliked about BYU at the beginning of this season was how often players and coaches were talking about how great they were and how they are playing for a national championship. I was mortified and as a BYU fan thoroughly embarrassed that a football team that is mediocre at best would talk like they are some type of national powerhouse. The two articles below outline Heaps and Mendenhall talking big about a national championship. I kept thinking what reality are they living in – especially with the easy schedule BYU plays (Ole Miss, Oregon State, and Texas are not very good – predicted to be average teams going into the season at best and certainly Utah State, Idaho, Idaho State and New Mexico State are not even close to teams you would play regularly in the SEC or PAC 12). I think what BYU was trying to do is play just one or two tough teams at the beginning of the conference (thinking that Texas and Ole Miss were tough) and then play easy teams (New Mexico State, Idaho State) in order to have a perfect record and then claim to be a national championship type team (the same strategy that occurred in 1984 when they were voted in as national champions after having one of the weakest football schedules in the nation, but going undefeated, which eventually helped develop the BCS ranking systems). When Utah went to the PAC 12 – a choice I wish they would not have made – the coaches, players, and athletic department seemed to be cautiously optimistic, but were very clear in communicating that wining in the PAC 12 would be extremely difficult. I thought Utah took a humble and realistic perspective. Then you have BYU making what seemed like a knee-jerk reaction to Utah being invited to the PAC 12 – claiming football independence, moving the rest of the athletic programs to a lesser conference and actually stating they were going to challenge for a national championship. They were bragging and talking smack before they even went out on the field. Here you have the heathen University of Utah acting humble and cautious and the BYU – who are suppose to exemplify gospel standards -- acting cocky and going after the money of national exposure. This is why I am upset with the BYU administration. After going independent, couldn’t they have been humble instead of talking smack about being a national powerhouse. They deserve what is happening. I hope they have learned their lesson and will come out next year with a humble disposition and be cautiously optimistic, rather than claiming to be a national football powerhouse. BYU football: Cougars ready for risk, rewards of independence | The Salt Lake Tribune BYU's Mendenhall explains why he keeps talking about national championship goal | BYU Sports | The Salt Lake Tribune

I see BYU fans like you -- ones that think they are the center of the universal and that their football team as a national powerhouse -- as self-righteous rather than a honest critique.

John: I am a BYU, Utah, and Utah State fan (although I prefer Utah over BYU and USU) – but I am one who does not pretend to live in a fantasy world and am willing to provide constructive criticism about teams I like. I am not a mindless robot and I do not think everything that BYU does is good. I have always been a BYU fan but have found typically BYU fans highly problematic from both an academic and athletic perspective who thinks BYU is at the center of the universe. This perspective – of thinking BYU could be a national champion – is delusional and all I am pointing out is that neither BYU now – nor probable every – will be a national football powerhouse. This summer the BYU athletic department kept talking big about an undefeated season and being a national powerhouse. They barely beat the worst SEC team, could not beat a terrible Texas team, got clobbered by Utah, beat a terrible Oregon, and are now talking big again after beating teams like San Jose and Utah State and are gearing up for Idaho State and later New Mexico State. I simply wish the typical BYU fan would realizes that BYU is a middle of the row football team, which is nothing to be ashamed off – rather than pretend they are some type of leader in college football.

Gordon Monson: Don’t be fooled by BYU’s illusion | The Salt Lake Tribune I think the artice above sums up the BYU football team well.

John: Your comments at the micro level exemplify my frustration at the macro level. I was commenting on how BYU was talking big about being an independent powerhouse in football and have demonstrated on the football field that they are at the same level of a Utah State of Central Florida football team. Rather than stay focused on the poor play of BYU, your comments go right away to the Utah football team that lost to two PAC 12 teams. In a micro level, your comments exemplify my frustration with BYU football from a macro level perspective. Utah gets invited to the PAC 12 and then you have BYU football administrators (not the General Authorities) acting jealous and make a knee-jerk decision to try to be better than Utah by claiming independence and talking big about being a national powerhouse like Notre Dame (and Notre Dame is not a national powerhouse anymore – they were in the 1980 but are not even close now). Further, and as a BYU fan that is losing interest with each passing day, I think their ESPN game on Friday against USU was a real embarrassment from a gospel principle perspective. The dance squad have sleeveless tops - -which does against the Standards of Youth pamphlet and teachings about modesty. Second, their running back that fumbled – Deluge (sp?) – is taught on TV fitting his head with his own helmet while swearing. The fans are booing while a USU player is injured on the field. There are many BYU fans suggesting that the football independence will help with missionary efforts by highlighting the team. Swearing, sleeveless female, fans booing during an injury – do not equate to a team in the world but not of the world. They are a real embarrassment. And their football team does not look very good at all – despite repeated claims that their independence will underscore that they are a national powerhouse, BYU is a middle of the row football team, good enough to beat teams like Wyoming and to hand with the poorer PAC 12 teams, but not a national powerhouse. . I’m sure they will look impressive against New Mexico State later this season. As a BYU fan, I am really turned off by the football team as they try to become more and more worldly and act like a jealous pubescent after Utah’s invitation to the PAC 12. I wish BYU (and Utah) would have stayed in the Mountain West that could have resisted the BCS and outlined that they are good football teams outside of the BCS troubling framework. Although I wish they would not have, I can understand Utah’s jump to the PAC 12 – they are a worldly school based on egos and status and I hope the ned up last in the PAC 12. But BYU should behavior better and their actions seem worse because they claim to embrace gospel habits and nothing aligns to gospel habits related to their football team and what I have witnessed on national TV. The talk big about being a national powerhouse but reality outlines they are an average football team, at best.

For those of you living in Utah, is BYU again talking about being a national powerhouse after back to back wins against Central Florida and Utah State?