Hockey Chat:  When the NHL moved from a 3-man officiating system to a 4-man system it was to tighten the fairness of the game. With instant replay of goals, fair scoring has been pretty accurate as well.  This keeps the players to the rules and holds them to their penalties.

Trouble often seems to be waiting around every corner of daily life, especially for coaches. Whether it is a troubled player, an unfair referee, a nagging parent or an unreasonable principal, coaches can count on difficulties. They come with the territory!

Thankfully, Jesus never pretended that life would be a luxury cruise. “You will have trouble,” He told His disciples. In fact, difficulties are guaranteed, an inevitable part of living in a fallen world. Jesus didn’t deliver the trouble; He just knew it was coming.

This year, the UConn Huskies played the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. Going into the game, they were massive underdogs. While they’d been 8-4 and won the Big East Conference, many considered their conference and schedule weak. Thus, the Sooners were highly favored to win the game.

Wait. One of the worst words in the English language, isn’t it? That’s where I am right now. Waiting. It’s my senior volleyball season, and I’ve been out with a shoulder injury for over a week. There’s nothing I can really do but wait. Wait for recovery. Wait for my doctor’s appointment. Wait for my trainer to clear me to play.

For me, all the waiting does is make me think about my injury, stress about missing games, and get anxious to play. I’m so tired of all this waiting! Are you? What are you waiting on? Waiting for a shoulder to heal might be trivial compared to what’s on your mind. A doctor’s diagnosis. A job offer. A way to pay the bills.

When Steve Fitzhugh picks his friends, he does so very methodically, carefully and selectively. There are certain qualities he looks for in people, and he takes an almost formulaic approach to all potential relationships. And he teaches others to do the same.

For instance, Fitzhugh says the primary quality of a close friend is that he or she is like-minded in his or her faith. The individual must have accepted Jesus as his or her Savior and must have made a long-term commitment to following Him. But that’s just the beginning of Fitzhugh’s laundry list, which also includes trust, confidence and character.

To achieve any kind of success in life takes a certain measure of courage and boldness. This is especially true for the athlete who must believe in his or her talents and abilities enough to chase after a lofty set of goals.

Jon Kitna is certainly no exception to that rule. As the Detroit Lions’ starting quarterback, he has come a long way, thanks mostly to an uncanny confidence in his ability—even when most others failed to recognize what the scrappy athlete had to offer. And it’s that same confidence—a confidence that he developed growing up on the unsavory east side of Tacoma, Washington—that Kitna believes has allowed him the opportunity to be a unifying force in every locker room he’s ever occupied.