Denard Robinson (center) became the first player in NCAA history to pass for 2,500 yards and rush for 1,500 yards in a single season in 2010. He is pictured above in the Wolverines’ 40-34 victory over Ohio State this past season. Photo courtesy of University of Michigan Photo Services

By Gary Curreri

Denard Robinson has been making a name for himself on the football field since he was a member of the Deerfield Beach Packer Rattlers.

However, not by his birth name of Denard Xavier Robinson, but “Shoelace,” a nickname he got when he was 10 and playing for his Pee Wee team with his shoelaces untied. That practice has still continued to this day and Robinson hasn’t been tripped up from making noise on the college gridiron.

Robinson, who led the University of Michigan to an 11-2 record this year and a 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl Championship as he threw for two TDs in a 23-20 overtime victory over Virginia Tech at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, recently announced he would forgo the NFL draft to return to school for his senior year.

“It’s been a dream to play in the NFL, and, hopefully, after next year, that becomes a reality,” Robinson said. “But, I wouldn’t pass up being here with my teammates and coaches for anything. It’s my second family. I love my teammates. I love Michigan.”

“Seeing how the seniors led our team this year, I want to be that type of leader,” Robinson added. “We made steps and had a good season, but we didn’t accomplish our No. 1 goal. We’re still hungry.”

Robinson, who threw for 2,173 yards and ran for 1,176 in his first season under new coach Brady Hoke, is one of the early favorites for the Heisman Trophy.

From his Pee Wee coach Sammie Huggins to his Deerfield Beach High School football coach Art Taylor, his coaches knew they had a special athlete in Robinson, the son of Thomas Robinson, Sr., and Dorothea Robinson.

“He listened,” Huggins said. “That was the difference … Denard’s attitude was always great. That’s why you knew he’s going to go somewhere.”

In his junior year (2007) at Deerfield Beach High School, Robinson was one yard short of taking the Bucks to the state championship game and an upset victory over the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, Miami Northwestern.

Taylor marveled at the athleticism and the leadership of Robinson.

“As soon as he stepped on that field his sophomore year playing varsity, we knew we had something special,” Taylor recalled. He also laughed at the nickname. “After 25 years coaching, if the kid can throw it 90 yards in the air and is accurate and the kid can run as fast as he does … as long as he feels comfortable not lacing his shoes, fine with me. The kid’s been doing it all his life, why mess with it?”

Robinson has made quite an impression at Michigan as well. He became the first player in NCAA history to pass for 2,500 yards and rush for 1,500 yards in a single season in 2010, and just the fourth player in NCAA history to gain 2,000 yards passing and 1,000 rushing in a season twice in his career (2010, ’11) – joining Missouri’s Brad Smith, UAB’s Joe Webb and Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick.

There is even a YouTube video out, put together by The Friars, an a capella group at the University of Michigan, that is a unique way of honoring the Wolverines quarterback.

During a concert on Dec. 3, the group performed a parody of Simon & Garfunkel’s Mrs. Robinson, set to the Michigan star. To view it, go to: tinyurl.com/72pklav

By Dave Montalbano

AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com

Robin Williams took on his first serious role in The World According to Garp, though his costars Glenn Close and John Lithgow earned Best Supporting Oscar nominations. Lithgow portrayed Roberta Muldoon, an ex-NFL football player who became a transsexual. Thirty years later, Close has been nominated for best actress for Albert Nobbs, which explores the issues of sexual identity.

As the title character, Close portrays a woman who is identified as a skinny but reliable butler in 19th Century Ireland. Since it is not safe to be a single woman in that land, Nobbs blends into the scenery of an upper class household.

When handyman Hubert Page (Janet McTeer) takes on a job, Albert is forced to take in a roommate. This chance encounter forces the repressed Albert to think about other possibilities in living an authentic life.

With an attention to detail and a steady pace, Albert Nobbs is a thought-provoking movie in line with James Joyce’s short story, The Dead. A passion project produced by Close (who also co-wrote the theme song), this film captures the thin line between Irish tragedy and comedy.

With a strong ensemble cast, it shines with reliable performances. Upon first stereotypical appearances, both Close and Janet McTeer manage to invest audience empathy through nuanced performances. Both actresses have earned their actor’s kudos on the awards circuit.

Floating around at local art house cinemas is The House of Pleasures, writer/director Bertrand Bonello’s ode to the last brothel in Paris. A French film with English subtitles, House of Pleasures examines the business of lust. Like an employee primer, one is given a textbook procedure on how to seduce a person for cash.

Many characters cross the fine line between fantasy and reality in this film. One Madam scars her face into a permanent smile in a quest for eternal happiness. Both Albert Nobbs and House of Pleasures explore this fine line between fantasy and reality with stunning results.

There is a wonderful joke about a pastor who tells his congregation that his sermon for the upcoming week will be about those who lie. He tells them to go home and study a particular chapter from the Book of Mark.

The next Sunday, the pastor begins his sermon with, “Last week, I asked all of you to study the 17th chapter of the Book of Mark; could those of you who did so please raise your hand?”

And, sure enough, almost every person in the congregation raised their hand, and that is when the Pastor says, “You are the ones I need to talk with today because there is no 17th chapter in The Book of Mark!”

I recently talked to my own flock about those who lie. I asked them what the opposite of lying is and, sure enough, one of them immediately called out, “truthing.”

What a great word, although, if you look it up in the Dictionary or Thesaurus, you probably won’t find it. Instead, you will find that the opposite of “lying” is “standing,” perhaps that is why when someone is known for telling the truth, we call him a stand-up guy!

Of course, the opposite of lying is telling the truth, but, as we all know, “To Tell the Truth” is not necessarily a reality, it is more of a game show, at least, it was a game show.

While I am making light of it, I really don’t think that telling the truth is something that should be taken lightly. In fact, we should be on a steady diet of truth, and by diet, I’m not talking about what we put into our mouths, but rather what comes out of our mouths and what we let into our ears.

I was with a couple of math teachers the other night around dinner time, and it got me thinking about a mathematical equation for the truth I had learned long ago. It is found in the Talmud (Sanhedrin, 29a) and the formula reads, “When you add to the truth, you subtract from it.” Wow, how’s that for a mathematical conundrum? And, I will be brazen enough to use a bit of New Math by continuing the equation with, “And when you add to a lie, a small one becomes bigger and bigger.”

During my sermonette last week, I asked, “When you think of a profession known for lying, which profession comes to mind?” (I’ll let you come up guess what they came up with).

And then, I reminded everyone that we are in the midst of an election campaign and in unison everyone called out, “POLITICIANS.”

Maybe, just maybe, that’s because politicians seem to make more promises during a campaign than anyone can possibly fulfill; or maybe it’s just that the politicians really don’t have the power to put their promises into effect. I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Do the math and wash … I mean watch … what comes out of your mouth!

Shalom My Friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is a member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and serves in this capacity in a number of Health Care settings in the area including Advocate Home Care Services and L’Chayim Jewish Hospice in Partnership with Catholic Hospice of Broward County.

Local beach volleyballers Mark and Steve Van Zwieten (right), said the competition on Deerfield Beach could be fierce. Photo by Gary Curreri

By Gary Curreri

With the Ranse Classic and the Red Bull Spiked Tournaments, Deerfield Beach has been making a name for itself both locally, nationally and now internationally as four Olympic teams have recently practiced on the local sand.

The most recent were the Canadian women and Russian men, who have spent the past two weeks at the local beach honing their skills and going through vigorous workouts and even playing against some of the top local competition.

Mark Van Zwieten, 24, of Pompano Beach, has been playing volleyball competitively for the past 15 years and played against the Russian team.

“I started in the backyard when I was 3 and that was because my family was into it,” said Van Zwieten, who graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in 2005 and led his team to a 31-0 mark and a state championship. He was named the MVP.

“It is really nice that the beach is attracting top teams. It is something that I haven’t utilized as much as I would like to and it is something I am ready to start. I’ll be able to get out here more on weekends.”

Van Zwieten has also excelled on the beach. He has played in four FIVB Beach Volleyball Junior World Championships and competed in the Under 19 Beach Volleyball World Championships in France in 2005.

In October, Mark Van Zwieten and his partner, Andrew Fuller, placed fifth in the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“It’s nice to represent the country,” Van Zwieten said. “I’ve gone to a lot of places through volleyball. The Pan Am games was an amazing event and I got to see the top players from around the world.”

Van Zwieten said the attraction to Deerfield Beach is simple since everything is so close.

“People can come down here and spend the whole day here,” he said. “You could play for a couple of hours, go grab lunch and come back and play some more. You don’t have to go and try and find parking or anything like that.”

The “pickup games” are very competitive.

“It varies throughout the year, but they can get really competitive,” Van Zwieten added. “There are consistently top level players coming through Deerfield and it is nice to see the variety of players from throughout the world.”

His brother, Steve Van Zwieten, 27, of Coconut Creek agreed:

“It is really cool,” said Steve Van Zwieten, who recently played in the USA Cuervo pro tournament with Mike DiPierro and placed 13th after losing to the second ranked team in the U.S. in Nick Lucena (Ft. Lauderdale) and Matt Fuerbringer. Van Zwieten’s wife, Kendra, is also a top player. “Just growing up here and being able to play all over the world. You go to California and Europe. It’s been great. California is definitely a little bit stronger, but everything is spread out. Everything on the east coast is here. Teams from Brazil and teams have come from California come here on a regular basis.”

Steve Van Zwieten believes the sport can continue to grow because of the juniors now playing.

“When I was 18, there was no juniors tour,” Steve Van Zwieten said. “Now, alongside our tour, there are junior kids. The sport is starting to grow, especially with the economy. It is a really cheap sport to play. Here, you just need a ball to play. You have to really be in shape because of the heat and the beach sand …  running around all day.”

Captain Lee Magnuson, who has a court dedicated in his name, helped get the courts built. Now, roughly 100 volleyballers, ranging in age from 14 to 72, will filter through Deerfield Beach on a weekly basis.

“Instead of going to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, they will come to Deerfield Beach,” said Jimmy Mason, 54, who spends four months a year from Michigan. “It has a lot to offer – the restaurants, the pier and seven regulation courts and one futbal court.”

Local veteran volleyballer Hank Hoffman, 70, of Deer-field, said the sport got a boost locally when former Deerfield Beach resident, Cindy Phillips, started with Beach Dig and offered clinics.

By Dave Montalbano

AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com

War Horse is a modest motion picture; it raised $67 million since it’s Christmas Day release. It got shut out of last weekend’s Golden Globe Awards, but earned Best Picture Award through the National Board of Review and the AFI Movie of the Year Award.

Given these under-publicized honors, War Horse is destined to become a literary cinema classic for years to come.

Based on Michael Morpur-go’s award-winning juvenile fiction novel, War Horse tells the story of Joey, a horse raised on a farm in Ireland. Joey and Albert (Jeremy Irvine) develop a symbiotic relationship that saves the farm from a greedy landlord (David Thewlis) for one more year. When World War I raises its ugly head, Ted’s father sells Joey to the military effort.

Being the last war involving a Calvary charge, Joey is put in the front line against the German Army. Through war’s inferno, Joey ends becoming a German War Horse, but not before encountering such interesting characters as two war deserters, a farmer and his frail granddaughter.

Director Steven Spielberg is the perfect director for this type of motion picture, with echoes of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Schindler’s List. The most powerful violence occurs off-screen, but the consequences of war are presented without blinking.

Being a student of film master John Ford, Spielberg’s visual homages are apparent.

The human actors are perfectly cast. If young Albert Narracott keeps his nose clean, War Horse will be a launching pad to a long career as a leading man.  Emily Watson and David Thewlis provide reliable support. While Joey is portrayed by 17 horses, the fictional character becomes real in War Horse.

Besides being technically proficient about the horrors of war, War Horse is a heartwarming movie about peace. Without special effects, explosions and computer animation, the thematic climax involves scared enemies in the trenches, barb wire and Joey trapped in the neutral zone. Resolution of this subtle scene is real.

For stoic people who shield their emotions, animals serve as a conduit. For me, the loss of Bill Elliott, who graduated with me from Deerfield Beach High School, became real when I saw his dog, Dinghy, standing guard over the dearly departed master during the memorial.

In today’s culture, we struggle so much with letting go. The “Self-Help” industry is booming, and yet no one seems to act like their lives are getting any better.

It’s like we bounce from one self-help fad to another, always blaming the last theory or maybe our approach to that theory. It seems to me, however, that what’s really missing is the power to change. I believe that all of us have something about our lives that we would like to change.  But how do we accomplish this change?

There are others who want no part in change, but believe their life would be infinitely better if everyone else would change. We all know people like that, they drift from one crisis to the next, always giving responsibility for their problems to everyone else in their lives, never once realizing that the only thing their problems have in common is them.

But what’s the solution? How does one really change? How does one really “take control of their lives,” as many would say, and make change. Change, of course is the topic of the day. It’s January!

Consider this analogy. Suppose you live in a village where electricity is supplied by a generator on a nearby hill. Each evening, the owner of the generator regulates which houses receive the power. He gives two conditions for receiving power for the lamps in your house.

First, he says, “If you plug the cord in the socket firmly, you will tap into the power of the electricity for your light.”

Secondly, “If I see light in the house, I will keep the power flowing to your house, but if I do not see any light for a while, I will assume you are not home and turn off the power to your house.”

Okay, cute story, but how does this apply to my life? Plugging into the power is the condition of believing in the promises of God. It connects you to the power of God. That’s the primary condition of surrendering to God. If you do not plug in the lamps and there is no light, the power source is cut off. The same is true of our relationship with God. If we are not “plugged in,” by the reading of His Word and prayer, then we have no hope of having the necessary power to bring about real change.

This light in the house is the secondary condition of our attitude towards others. You don’t have light first in order to get power. Your light proves that the lamp is plugged in. And your attitude proves that your faith is genuine – that you are really connected to God as one who is satisfied with all that He is for you in Jesus. Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This is what we’re missing. We’re not plugged into the power source.

There is a great God of grace, who magnifies his own infinite self-sufficiency by fulfilling promises to helpless people who trust him. And there is a power that comes from prizing this God, which leaves no nook and cranny of life untouched. It empowers us to love in the most practical ways.

Want real change for 2012? Then, get plugged in.

Deron Peterson is is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach.

Since our family, the Eller family, has lived in Deerfield Beach since 1923, I’ve often been asked to put in writing some of the history of the area, either experienced personally or that I heard from my parents or grandparents. For some of you old timers who might be worried about certain old “scandals,” don’t worry. I won’t be writing about those (smile). To read previous historical essays, go to www.observemewspaperonline.com and click on “The History of Deerfield.”

David Eller, Publisher

Birth of a newspaper

Deerfield Beach got its first newspaper in 1930 called the Deerfield News.

The first issue was on July 4, 1930. My father, Marlin Eller, 14 years old at the time, was featured in the first issue on the front page with his picture and a caption for having built a large model military airplane.

There was also a lot of local news like “Mrs. Butler had guests from Texas, the Longs, visited her last Thursday.” The Deerfield News folded after a short time.

Deerfield’s current  newspaper, The Observer, was founded in 1962. In reviewing some of the early Observer 1963 issues, the big stories included the fact that Hillsboro Boulevard, which had been dead-ended, was being extended with a crossing over the Florida East Coast Railroad tracks going directly west, rather than having all the traffic winding around Dixie Highway to head west, as it had been before. Hans Pufahl, Deerfield’s mayor, dressed western style in a cowboy hat, is shown cutting the ribbon, along with State Senator A.J. Ryan and Broward County Commissioner Bill Stevens.

The event was further celebrated by declaring it the “Westward Ho Day” with participants, including  Mr. and Mrs. Charles Parton, who had recently founded the Deerfield Beach Country Club, shown (right) in front of the Deerfield Furniture Company Store. Their nephew, Bob Parton, is the current president of the club.

Learning about stockings in college

Meanwhile, this writer, a son of Deerfield, was still off in college in northern Florida, first at Stetson University and later the University of Florida, studying engineering, but also learning much about certain social graces.

My first date in college was arranged by my roommate, Bob Hutson, who had a date and wanted me to go with his dates’ roommate to a drive-in movie in DeLand, Florida. Bob was driving, so my date,  a girl from New York, was in the back seat with me.

We had hardly settled in to watch the movie when I felt her hand take my hand and put it on her knee. The skin on her knee felt funny, kind of like snake skin, so I pulled my hand away.

A little while later, she did it again, and I pulled my hand away again. This continued a few more times until she gave up and left me alone. I thought the evening would never end.

Finally, we took them back to their dormitory. As I’m walking her up to the door, I finally got the nerve to ask her, “What’s wrong with the skin on your leg?” She said “What do you mean?” I replied, “It feels very rough, like scales!” She started laughing at me and said, “I’m wearing stockings, you idiot!” I must have turned bright red in the face. After all, Florida-bred boys didn’t know anything about girls wearing stockings.

By Dave Montalbano

AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com

Grief is a confusing emotion. One reacts differently under each situation.

Last December, I lost my Uncle Paul and my buddy (“Scary”) Gerry Carter within three days of each other. The only emotional release I found was Matt “Guitar” Murphy’s Blues performance at Satchmo Blues Bar in Ft. Lauderdale a few nights later (see picture pg. 1).

A member of the original Blues Brothers Band who performed with Howlin’ Wolf and Etta James, Murphy was backed-up by Albert Castiglia.

Castiglia will be performing at the Florida Blues Film Festival at Satchmo on Martin Luther King weekend. Presented by BlueAtHeart Productions, this festival features three documentaries that have been honored in the past year, Full Moon Lightnin’, Hard Times and M is for Mississippi. While the Blues acknowledges pain and suffering in the world, it’s often also the first step toward redemption. (www.bluesfilmfest.com).

For many, The Mill and the Cross could be considered a transformative motion picture. Featuring Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling and Michael York, this Art House motion picture details Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s masterpiece The Way to Calvary, circa 1564.

The film is an entertaining art history lesson that looks at many phases of putting oil on canvas. It opens with models being positioned, while Bruegel (Hauer) provides commentary about character placement.

While the suffering of the Christ is the focal point, Bruegel explains why he hides Jesus in the painting while characters vie for the spotlight. A hit at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, The Mill and the Cross is the next best thing to going to an art museum this weekend.

For more traditional movie-going fare, The Adventures of Tintin is a fun diversion. The first of a planned trilogy, Tintin was produced by Peter Jackson, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the much-loved European comic book character created by Brussels-born artist Herge.

From the opening notes of John Williams post-modernist score, the viewer is plunged into the animated world of Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his loyal companion Snowy, a dog. After purchasing a model ship at a street fair, Tintin learns about a valuable secret inside the vessel.

Unfortunately for Tintin and Snowy, the evil Sakharine (Daniel Craig) wishes to obtain the same secret.

With the exception of the visuals, this adventure may not contain an Oscar-winning narrative, but is 107 minutes of pure cinematic escapism.

If anybody was hoping that after a 1-11 Football Season that there would be better results for the FAU Men’s Basketball Team, then think again. Going into Monday night’s road game against Arkansas State, FAU was 5-11, 1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference.

FAU’s latest loss, the Owls offense failed to show-up in Little Rock, as Arkansas Little Rock won a 40-38 contest Saturday night. That’s correct, 40-38, as both teams combined to score a mere 78 points. FAU scored 20 points trailing 22-20 at half-time.

Thus far, the highlight of the 2011-2012 FAU Season occurred at the Orange Bowl Classic, as the Owls lost a 93-90 double overtime contest to the Miami Hurricanes. Omari Grier led FAU with 27 points.

Miami leads the all-time series against FAU 21-1 as FAU’s last win against the Hurricanes occurred on Dec. 3, 2002, 74-73 in Boca Raton. This game set Orange Bowl Basketball Classic records for most assists (41) and 3-pointers made (29) and tied for most field goals made (63) and 3-pointers attempted (49). This was only the second game in Orange Bowl Classic history where both teams eclipsed the 80-point plateau, joining Florida’s 94-93 double-overtime win over Miami in 2002.

FAU now stands 0-2 all-time in Orange Bowl Classic play.

When the game was over, Miami Head Coach Jim Larranaga had nothing but positive things to say about the Owls.

“My hats off to Florida Atlantic, their coaches and their team for the outstanding job they did,” Larranaga said. “Their 3-point shooting was incredible, the way they got those threes with tremendous dribble penetration and kicking it out. We were very concerned about that going into the game and it proved to be very true.”

Will there be any more Miami vs. FAU Men’s Basketball games in the future?

“Yeah, if they came to our place every other year,” FAU Coach Mike Jarvis said. “We would love to continue to play them, but they don’t want to play in Boca. So, we’ll ask them again if they’ll play home and home, and if they don’t want to play a home and home, then we probably won’t play them again.”

Since the Miami loss, FAU has lost four of the last five games. Those losses have come against Harvard, Siena, Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas Little Rock.

The Owls next home game is Saturday, Jan. 14 against Middle Tennessee State at 7 p.m. During the next month, FAU travels to Miami to face Isiah Thomas’ FIU Golden Panthers on Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. The two teams meet again on Feb. 4 in Boca Raton at 7 p.m.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.

As most of you are probably aware, it is traditional to drop the ball in New York’s Times Square. I have often wondered about that. Why on Earth would we want to start the New Year by dropping something, unless, of course, we want to drop some of our old habits. But, I have to tell you that, rather than seeing that ball drop, I would much rather see it lifted higher and higher.

What was it that the old song said, “Your love is lifting me higher and higher than I’ve ever been lifted before.”

A very short time from now, we will be observing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. I can still hear the Psalm he quoted ringing in my ears: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: From whence shall my help come.” (Psalm 121:1)

For too long, people had been knocked down and treated like something less than human. For too long, people had been treated as slaves. For too long, people have wandered in the wilderness. They need to be lifted and they need to be lifted higher than ever before. It is going to require G-d’s help, but Martin Luther King Jr. knew something that many people seem to forget. We are G-d’s helpers, or at least, we should be.

That most famous of New Year’s Songs says, “Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind…” Well, I disagree. I think we need to bring old acquaintances to mind… and not only bring them to mind, but forgive them and reconnect with them. In fact, I believe we should lift them up.

Ask yourself, “Why am I here?”

My favorite troubadour, James Taylor wrote, “…me and Melissa, well, we fell out of love, ran out of luck, seems like lightning struck. I’ve been thinking of leaving, but I can’t raise a buck. James I’m wondering could I borrow your truck?”

This lyrical request is coming from an old friend who James had long lost touch with. So, you might be wondering how James Taylor answers this old acquaintance’s request. Let me share the next part of the song with you as Sweet Baby James writes: “…that’s why I’m here, got no better reason; that’s why I’m standing before you; that’s why I’m here.”

Wow, James gets it … and I have to tell you that I am lifted every time I hear him sing. The other day, someone asked me what my job as a Chaplain entailed and, before I could get a word in edgewise, someone else in the room said, “He is here to lift us up.” And, at that point, all I could add was, “You, too, are here to lift people up.” May we all use the unique gifts that G-d gave us to lift up someone who is down … and, with each other’s help, may we be able to lift them higher and higher.

Shalom My Friends,

Rabbi Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is a member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and serves in this capacity in a number of Health Care settings in the area including Advocate Home Care Services and L’Chayim Jewish Hospice in Partnership with Catholic Hospice of Broward County.