A Contrarian View of History and Events

What we liked about Charlie Weis was that he called the unexpected plays, like a general ordering his armies to attack where the enemy least expected it. When it worked it took our breath away. When it didn’t work we thought it was idiotic. There is a reason why the opponent was expecting a run, because a pass is stupid right now.

Charlie Weis exploded on the scene because he had the one thing that the team at that time was so desperately missing, namely good offensive schematics. But all the other things that were in place were not of his making and after they wound down he couldn’t seem to get them back again.

Reading the tea leaves of Tom Pagna’s revealing columns over the years, we can guess that Charlie didn’t know how to adequately teach college level football to high school graduates, took for granted the basics of blocking for the offensive line, didn’t reach out enough for counsel and information from his own coaches and staff and considered motivating his team to be sophomoric and unnecessary.

Charlie tore down players, cussed them out on national television. I guess he thought that it would build character. And while he obviously had no control over his own temper, he professed amazement when his team on the field lost it and personal fouls cost yards. Maybe such boot camp anger works on multi-million dollar players in the NFL who need to be shocked into reality. But maybe it doesn’t work for 19-year-old kids, who are still battling acne and low self esteem.

He was terrible at the expectations game, putting enormous pressure on his teams. Typical was the prediction that Monti Te’o would have a field day against Navy. I suppose Charlie thought it would inspire the youngster. Needless to say, it didn’t. In that respect, Charlie was the anti-thesis of Lou Holtz. Lou would go into a game making it sound as if ND was playing a team out of its league, that it was an impossible, uphill task. The boys would be loose, have fun and usually won. Then Lou would brag about the magnificent upset. Charlie, on the other hand, went into games fearlessly, unimpressed, “we should beat them,” and only bragged on them after he got beat.

So now what? Who is the best coach for Notre Dame?

He should be someone with college coaching experience. Lee Corso made that obvious point last Saturday when he said that the odds were against Charlie from the beginning, that no one should come to Notre Dame as a first year college coach. Dan Devine, who came from the Green Bay Packers and led ND to a national championship, had coached at Missouri and Arizona State. Parseghian had coached at Northwestern. Holtz had coached at William and Mary, North Carolina State, the New York Jets, Arkansas and Minnesota before coming to Notre Dame. So yeah, a little experience is a good thing.

He should not necessarily be a Catholic. Frank Leahy, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz were Catholics, but Knute Rockne came to Notre Dame as a Lutheran, Ara Parseghian a Presbyterian.

There is speculation that Jon Gruden will get the nod. I hope not. Anyway, he signed a two year contract extension as an analyst for ESPN. Gruden has a very complicated pro style offense. Who does that remind you of?

Paul Johnson of Georgia Tech? A Baptist at Notre Dame? And he has those wonderful triple option schemes that worked so well for Navy and now for the Yellow Jackets. Problem? The black suits of Our Mother could take a Lutheran, maybe even a Presbyterian, but never a Baptist. And it’s just as well. His options plays would virtually guarantee annual top ten finishes, even without five star recruits, but it would be such boring television that the school would lose its glorious NBC contract.

Most now speculate that it will be Bob Stoops of Oklahoma. He is Catholic, like most of the others on the ND fan wish list. He has been the head coach at Oklahoma. But if you talk to Oklahoma fans they are a little miffed over his last three bowl game losses. Still, the university likes someone who badly wants to come and Stoops is already campaigning for the job.

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has bad-mouthed Notre Dame, which ironically makes him attractive to some. And they like the last coach who came from Northwestern. He brought two national championships to South Bend.

Kirk Ferentz of Iowa would be hot. And he is Catholic, which would please the black suits.

And finally there is my favorite, Brian Kelly of Cincinnati, who has landed his team in the top ten with only two and three star talent. It’s got to make you wonder what could he do in South Bend?

Oh sure, at Notre Dame they believe in miracles, so someone is bound to stop by the Grotto and light a candle and pray a prayer for Urban Meyer. They had him, you know. He was quarterback coach for Bob Davie, but got dumped. If Davie, who developed some good defensive teams, had kept Meyer on staff he might still be the Head Coach at Notre Dame.

But barring that miracle, I vote for Brian Kelly. An Irishman leading the Fighting Irish? Now that’s an idea.

Yesterday’s election demonstrates that the GOP is not dead and when the electorate has even three more years to forget George W. Bush, they may just get sick of Obamanomics.

Sarah Palin threw away her chances and continues to do so daily, demonstrating to her most enthusiastic supporters that the Katie Couric interview may not be the fault of Katie Couric.

Mitt Romney all but announced that he was too important to waste on a run for the presidency unless he could be assured of that win. For months he has been privately telling friends that all of Obama’s spending will likely prompt an economic spike, and thus a Republican win in 2012 was unlikely.

Bobby Jindal has bowed out. And Tim Pawlenty must first pass through the evangelical gateway of Iowa, where his only hope of victory is if Hucakabee and Palin devour each other.

The latter is a very real possibility. Huckabee is a street fighter. And Palin will throw a punch first and talk about it later. The Iowa caucus could turn out to be as messy as the Russo-German front in World War Two, as the only two “born again” Christians duke it out. The one left standing will likely get the nomination. If Huckabee wins - and he has already demonstrated that he will not give Sarah a free pass - then it will be hard to beat him in the South, where he almost pulled off an upset last time with the media arbitrarily writing him off.

Newt Gingrich was counting on being the FOX candidate, but the emerging story of his hypocrisy in attacking Clinton-Lewinsky while he was having his own affair is hanging over him like Chappaquiddick. Every day he must ask himself, “If I run, will that sword fall?”

Karl Rove, looking for a candidate, assures him that no one remembers or cares. But Sarah Palin does. And so does Mike Huckabee. Yes Newt, it will fall.

Besides, Gingrich also hesitated - stopped flying his plane - and Huckabee slipped past him with his own FOX TV Show, debuting in the inglorious, lowly, awful, Saturday night slot. He was too nice, critics said. There was no conflict, he cannot be both a successful entertainer and a political candidate, one make audiences laugh and cry, and the other better not or he will lose elections.

But Huckabee did not forfeit his future for ratings and a paycheck, he kept flying his plane, he stayed nice and the audience came to him anyway, and now he not only has a successful television show, he is the front-runner for the GOP nomination for president in 2012.

Oh, how they would all like to relive the last twelve months. Keep flying that plane Mike. Anything can happen, including a safe landing.

Rasmussen Public Opinion Ratings

Mike Huckabee 29%

Mitt Romney 24%

Sarah Palin 18%

Newt Gingrich 14%

Tim Pawlenty 6%

Numerous controversial, independent Pentecostals, some of whom spent less than three years in the Assemblies of God, are listed but Sarah Palin, who grew up in the denomination all her life is not. In fact, rather than be forced to list Palin as a member of the denomination, Adherents fails to list her at all. Palin, who appeared on the cover of TIME magazine, is regularly mentioned as a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Most serious of all is the charge that Adherents allows persons of one faith to use the website to attack persons of other faiths and with false information. According to this charge, enemies of the Assemblies of God are turned loose to attack without correction or oversight for their sources. While the site promises that “we are always striving to increase the accuracy and usefulness of our website. We are happy to hear from you. Please submit questions, suggestions, comments, corrections…” repeated attempts to correct false information have remained unanswered for many months.

While posts for other religious groups include input from their leaders and officials, the post on the Assemblies of God does not. “They don’t even do a spell check for our entry,” a pastor told me in Orlando. For example, Adherents posts a link to “Famous Mormons,” a site ran by the Church itself. The site is careful to respect non-Christian faiths. According to Adherents, there are now 5.6 million Jews in the United States and more than 13 million worldwide. Its site now rates more than 9,000 famous Jews. Meanwhile, Adherents says there are 2.8 million members of the Assemblies of God in America and 52.5 million worldwide, making it the fourth largest Christian religious body, and yet it lists only 31 famous members – almost all of them negative. Adherents lists close to 100 famous members of the Christian Scientist denomination, all positive. Its list of “Famous Catholics” numbers beyond 20,000.

Included in the lists of other denominations, but missing for the Assemblies of God, are the founders of the Church and all major ecclesiastical leaders. Adherents ignores the A-G General Superintendent and Mission’s Director. C. M Ward is not famous enough for the website. Ward was a friend of presidents. His ABC radio show lasted 25 years and rivaled Paul Harvey for audience size. His books line the shelves of pastors’ studies worldwide. Thomas F. Zimmerman, who led the denomination for almost 30 years, is not mentioned. Don Argue, friend of the Clintons, who was president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was appointed to the United States Commission on Religious Freedom and Jerry Rose – who served as President of the National Religious Broadcasters Convention – are likewise considered unworthy by Adherents.

In general, names on Adherents Assemblies of God “Famous List” must have been the subject of negative publicity or conform to a rigid, rightwing Republican stereotype. The talented, Joshua Dubois, a member of the United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God, a small, predominantly black denomination, was Barack Obama’s choice to direct the Council for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a White House position. He is ignored by Adherents.

My interest was piqued by my own entry. I had left the Assemblies of God 25 years before. When I organized the Charity Awards, receptions held in the White House, six first ladies and presidents serving as honorary chairperson, spinning off Mercy Corps as a prominent worldwide charity, Adherents ignored me. As they should have, I had not been a part of the A-G for much of my adult life. And as a presidential advisor, serving in the White House they continued to ignore me. When I wrote New York Times bestselling books and appeared on dozens and dozens of television shows there was nary a mention. Appropriately so. But suddenly, when the Bush taping controversy erupted, presto, I appeared as a “famous member of the Assemblies of God” on Adherents, even though my link to the denomination was 25 years cold.

The site about me was written by a person of another religion who attacked my motives and implied that I made money. What is interesting is that my accuser was herself embroiled in scandal and forced to withdraw as a nominee to the George W. Bush cabinet. None of her controversy appears on her own Adherents site, she is in one of their “protected” religions. As to her information and implications? They are false. I took no money from the taping controversy, went off television for six months, took no related speaking fees or book royalties, nor have I since published a book.

All of this raises the question, who is behind Adherents? Who runs its vitriolic Assemblies of God pages? Speculation in Orlando centered on enemies of Pastor Karl Strader, who were seeking revenge online. Others suggested that it was a writer for the independent Charisma Magazine with a denominational vendetta. (Highly unlikely, since the pages are riddled with grammatical errors and misspellings.)

Meanwhile, irritated by its critics, who hound Google and other search engines with complaints about the bigotry, Adherents only rubbed salt in the wounds by appending to their list of famous church members the following disclaimer. “[Note: Although some observers may consider the history of the Assemblies of God to be tainted by such famously scandalized televangelists as Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Gene Scott, and others, we would urge people to not judge the denomination only by these famous few. Although the denomination has more than its share of unsavory preachers and leaders, the general membership of the Assemblies of God is, for the most part, a bastion of strong values and sincere religious commitment. Statistically speaking, Assemblies of God members exhibit a higher than average (sic) commitment to Christian living and striving to live ethically.”

According to complaints, the modus operandi at Adherents continues unabated. Duane Chapman, star of the reality show Dog and the Bounty Hunter, was ignored by Adherents when his show was a hot feature of A&E. Chapman had gained notoriety for hunting down Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir, who had fled to Mexico after being charged with drugging and raping women. When Mexican officials tried to throw Chapman in prison for violating Mexican extradition laws, bragging that he would not last a year, 15 members of congress and the Secretary of State rushed to his defense. All ignored by Adherents. But when a negative controversy erupted over Chapman’s use of a racial slur, Adherents suddenly decided he merited inclusion in their famous members of the Assemblies of God list. Apparently, Chapman, who by his own admission has not been an active member of the denomination, once attended an Assemblies of God Sunday School as a child.

Hmmm… Well, okay, if Duane Chapman had to be rushed onto the Famous Assemblies of God list for using a racial slur, what about Bernie Madoff, who pulled of the biggest white collar crime in history? Does his name appear among the 9,000-plus “famous Jews” of Adherents. Nope. Not famous enough for Adherents.

Nor does the website, which felt compelled to say that “[the Assemblies of God] has more than its share of unsavory preachers and leaders,” make any mention in its Catholic section on the pedophile crisis that has erupted twice in modern times. Nor are any of the names of the accused priests mentioned among the 20,000-plus “famous Catholics.” In June, 2002, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The so called “John Jay Report”, which came out of the work of the Conference, found 11,000 allegations against 4,392 priests. Not a mention in Adherents.

The Adherents website, which has ignored repeated attempts to correct inaccuracies and offer some balance, apparently remains committed to the vilification of the Assemblies of God. While other sections have been co-opted by leaders of the religious groups named or have substantial input to guarantee accuracy, or at the very least, employ spell check, Adherents has given its anonymous Assemblies of God editor free reign to vent his or her anger. This is what happens when a website becomes hi-jacked by an agenda.

What can you do?

1) Register your complaint to Adherents for its bigoted coverage of the Assemblies of God.

2) Encourage professional websites, such as Wikipedia, which make an effort to get their facts right. Or new religious sites such as Ascension Gateway, which insist on strict factual guidelines, with no theological or socio-cultural agenda.

3) Register your complaint to Google for giving special status to a site that is inaccurate and bigoted. Not to mention rife with grammatical errors.

While Google does not normally interfere, employees tell me that they sometimes remove special search engine enhancements for sites that are deemed “junky”, inaccurate, libelous or intolerant. Google celebrates diversity, which is what the internet is all about, and is sensitive to attacks on gays and other minorities, but this includes religious groups, especially if a website is misrepresenting its purpose. Here is a page about how to get things removed by Google.