Zac Parsons

It was our sophomore year in college and my ex-girlfriend had just started dating my best friend, Jason.  Jessica and I broke up shortly after I traveled over four hours to watch her graduate high school.  She had planned to attend KCU before we started dating, but the added pressure of going to school with me the next year was too much.  She needed “wide open spaces” and room to make “big mistakes.”

If you know why this picture is here... you get 5 cool points.

I found out that Jason was dating her when he kissed her in front of me for the first time.  At that moment I had to choose which person I cared about more.  I chose Jason and we’ve continued to be friends ever since.  The only reason I even mention Jessica is because she was not only a witness to both of the games in which I made the winning goals, but she may have been the reason I made the winning goals.

Intramural Football

No one on our team had ever played football in high school or college, but we did play our share of 2-hand touch in the grass outside of Water’s Hall.  I could throw the ball, but was never really picked to be quarterback.  I would mostly play the linebacker, wide-receiver, and safety positions – guaranteeing that I would be worn out by the end of the game.  It was usually Jason’s idea to play and it was his idea to join the intramural league.

Our team consisted of mostly the same guys who played 2-hand touch and (besides the guitar player) consisted entirely of our band, “Shog”.  Our season did not start out well and we continued to post losses.  By the end of the season we had yet to win a game.  The last game was against an upperclassman team, which also had members from one the other band on campus, “Crummies Church”.  It was literally a battle of the bands.

The game started off as other games had, but this time something was different.  We were putting points on the board and we were staying in the game.  Something else was different too.  Jessica had come to watch us that day.  As the end of the game approached, we were down, but not out. Whoever made the next touchdown would win the game.  I had never played quarterback, but at this moment, the ball was handed to me and the rest of our team ran to the end on the field. I through a Hail Mary pass above the heads of the opposing team.  Heath jumped to catch the ball – and he came down with it in the end zone. We had won the game!

Intramural Floor Hockey

Later on that year, the same team decided to play intramural floor hockey.  We thought we would have some advantages as we had been playing street hockey in rollerblades behind Ralph’s Supermarket all year.  We would lay shopping carts down as a hockey nets.

When the games began, the story that unfolded was somewhat different than what we imagined.  Because floor hockey is more like basketball than street hockey, requiring more running than skating, the basketball players who decided to join dominated the league. At least, they did until that fateful night when Jessica decided to watch our game.

Again, the game was back and forth, but then I felt it, that feeling.  It was the same feeling I had on the football feeling, the feeling when you know something is going to happen – and then it does.  I was at half-court and there were three guys between me and the net, but I cocked back and swung.  The ball went straight through all three guys, past the goalie, and into the net, winning the game.

The Muse

Jason and Jessica broke up shortly after field hockey season and all five members of Shog left KCU at the end of that year.  Jessica graduated from KCU and is now married.  Jason and I are as well, although not to each other.

The first movie we see together with another person in a new relationship tends to stick with us in our memory.  Jessica and I went to see the movie “She’s All That”.  Jason and Jessica went to see “The Muse”.

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It was November 15, 2006…

“My Love” by Justin Timberlake was the number one song in the country, the first Transformers movie was still being shot, and the vast majority  of us had never heard of Barack Obama.  It was also the last time the Spanish national team lost a game. They had been 32-0-3 since and won 15 games in a row. Pretty impressive streak.  It’s even more impressive when you consider the majority of the international games Spain plays are against European powerhouses like Italy, Germany, and England. That should help us all put in perspective how great the win the USA had today to snap Spain’s record-tying streak… and after the way they played in the first two games of the Confederation Cup (see Zac’s June 20th update) it is hard to believe they were even had a chance.

For those of you who didn’t catch Sundays action, the moon was in the seventh house, Jupiter was definitely aligned with Mars, and some how the USA snuck out of group play on a wing and a prayer. The 3-0 win over Egypt looked pretty good, but you weren’t sure if it was American hustle or if the Egyptians (insert Bengals humor here) were just gassed. Well los Estaduos Unidos answered that in a major way Wednesday.

Diving headers. Bicycle kicks. Flying knees. Muscling Spaniards off the ball. Hustle. The Americans didn’t jog back, they got back. Onyewu and DeMerit were monsters in the middle and ensured Timmy Howard got a clean sheet against a team which could be talked about as the greatest team ever. The forwards played smart, and when their opportunities arose they delivered. Landon Donovan lived up to John Harkes’ man crush and made good decisions,  which he usually doesn’t. They found some passion. But I’ve danced this dance before. I’ve predicted deep runs into World Cup, only to see them bounced with a lone point and a bad taste in their mouths. But they can play with the best in the world, they’ve proved it. Winning their first ever major tournament would be huge, and provide the confidence to make a run in next years World Cup.  I’m trying very hard not to get ahead of myself, but it is possible. Have they arrived? Guess we’ll find out on Sunday.

BTW, Sportscenter had a great line today.  Something about the Spanish streak running into “a red, white, and blue buzzsaw”. Epic.

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I often wonder what like would be like if some of the big decisions I made in life were made differently.  Would I have married my wife? Gone to the same college? Bought that vehicle or that house? The more I think about it the more I realize that these huge decisions were not made at the moment they happened, but were the result of a series of events set off by the smallest of circumstances.

You may have heard the proverb about the butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world causing dramatic weather in another part.  This is called the butterfly effect or the chaos theory (depending on which movie you are watching).  Taking that idea down to the micro level, we can use one butterfly wing flap in my life which changed the course of history for myself and all those around me.

I was in 6th grade and I was new.  My parents had just moved us from the suburbs of Indianapolis to the country just outside of Franklin.  I didn’t know anybody, but there was a girl that I liked.  Her name was Chrissy.  She rode my bus and everyone at school knew I liked her.  That’s why one day in social studies, a guy named Matt told me about his church.  He said I might like it because Chrissy went there.

Of course I wanted to go and I just might be able to convince my parents to take me.  We hadn’t found a new church yet and so my parents were willing to try it out.  That Sunday my whole family went to Fair Haven Christian Church not knowing it was so that I could spend more time with Chrissy.  They loved it.  I hated it.  We went to that church for the next eight years.

I eventually came around to loving the people at Fair Haven. I loved it so much I invited Jason to join.  Jason and I were on the swim team together.  He swam butterfly and I swam the breast stroke.  Jason plugged into the church fast and became quick friends with my other friends, Derek and Ben.  We did everything together, including going to Summer in the Son (SITS) at Kentucky Christian University (KCU).

It was at SITS that Jason, Derek, and I decided to go to KCU for college and it was at SITS that Jason and Krista, one of the other members of our youth group, started dating.  Within two years, Jason and Krista were married. Jason and Derek had transferred to Ball State and I went to Milligan College with Ben from Fair Haven.  When Derek lost his roommate to Krista, I left Milligan for Ball State in Muncie.  It was there that both Derek and I met our wives.

So how did I decide what school to go to or who to marry? By the time I got to that point, the tipping point, it was already decided.  The butterfly, Matt, had flapped his wings back in 1992 and because of that three families, nine children, and four friend’s lives were changed forever.  If you have any inclination that your life has no effect on other people, consider this.  Matt never talked to me again nor did he ever attend Fair Haven while I was there.  You have no idea what effect your words and your actions can have on another persons life so make sure you use your tongue wisely.  Choose your words wisely for they hold the power of life and death.

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