20 is a pretty big number. That’s more than a third of the Lions 53-man roster (unless, of course, that number includes members of the Lions’ practice squad.)
Even Bill Simmons’, ESPN’s Sports Guy, couldn’t resist commenting on it in his October 5th NFL Power Poll piece:
Clearly, SOMETHING is going on with the Lions here, right? Twenty teammates???? Don’t we need more information about this? Did any beat writers convert? What about ball boys and trainers? It’s the single most fascinating story of the 2007 season other than Moss’ comeback and Turner and Cottrell slowly turning Tomlinson into a serial killer.
The article paints a seemingly fair picture of Kitna, saying of him, “His responses to questions about his faith and leadership are mostly tinged with humility, perspective and openness.” in one paragraph and then calling him “…a fanatic for Christ, [who] often prays on his way to the line of scrimmage…” in the next.
You really get the sense from the piece that Kitna’s consistency as a man has earned him the respect of his teammates, which is exciting to hear. From the way he mediated a locker room dispute over music last year to his availability as a listening ear for other teammates, he has established himself as a true leader on the team he promised would win 10 games this year. (they are 4-2 so far this year). It’s a fascinating read, I encourage you to check it out if you didn’t read it last month.
———
One specific quote in the Kitna article that really piqued my interest was this:
“People feel football is too trivial for God to care about, especially with so many bad things happening in the world,” says Tim Pitcher, a spokesman for Athletes in Action, which uses sports to push Christianity. “For a lot of people, the worlds shouldn’t mix.”
It’s a topic I’ll be tackling in the book I’m working on, the idea that sports aren’t important enough for God to ever affect them. Here’s a sampling of my thoughts on this issue, (keep in mind that this is coming from a rough draft, so be gentle)
Additionally, who’s to say that God cannot save the life of a starving child in Africa at the same moment that he is filling a financial need for a widow in London and clearing the head of a football quarterback in Michigan? When we start prioritizing the needs throughout the world based on importance, what we are saying is that God is not capable of handling them all at once. So is He, or is He not capable of changing every situation in the world at the same time if He wanted to? I believe He is, which suddenly makes the issue a matter of “where does God choose to meet a need?” and not “Where is the need the greatest?”
If you have any comments on the Kitna article or on my thoughts, I’d love to hear them.
Monday Reset is a weekly feature that obviously runs on mondays, but only if we have time to bother with it. It contains no references to Borat’s offspring, no commentary on Dumbledore’s sexual preferences, and no giveaways for World Series tickets.
THE CARNAGE OF YESTERWEEK - making sense of the last seven days
Last week we saw…
…the Rockies get hotter than the fiery furnace, sweeping the D-Backs and earning themselves an 8-day vacation before the World Series.
…the Red Sox win their 7th straight playoff game when facing elimination (going back to 2004) over the Indians to earn the ALCS ticket into the World Series.
…ALCS Studly Stud: Josh Beckett, for singelhandedly taking momentum back in his brilliant Game 5 start.
…ALCS Dudly Dud: Travis Hafner, who flat-out disappeared in the 3-hole for Cleveland in this series: he went 4 for 23, with 2 runs, 2 RBIs, 12 Ks and 15 LOB.
…The Patriots win and blah blah, Tom Brady blah blah, 7-0 blah blah blah, blah blah blah
…Joe Torre and the Yankees part ways after 12 good years together. Torre offers to manage the Yankees for free for every year that he missed the playoffs. (that would be zero).
…The Bears, Broncos, and Bills kept their seasons afloat with big wins as underdogs while things are slipping away for the Eagles,Vikings, and 49ers.
…More Poll shiftage in College Football as #2 South Florida, #6 South Carolina, #7 Kentucky, #12 Cal, #17 Auburn, #24 Texas Tech, and #25 Kansas State all lost.
THE BIG THREE - if you only watch three things this week, make it these:
1. Colts @ Jaguars, MON, 8:30pm (ESPN) - Who would have thought that the Super Bowl champs being 6-0 would be a non-story? I’m sorry, but with the way that the Patriots are dismantling teams, it is a non-story. Until November 4th, that is, when it becomes THE story.
2. Rockies @ Red Sox - Game 1, WED, 8pm (FOX) … If the Rockies can be cooled down, it will be Beckett, and not the layoff, that does the trick. (by the way, early forecast for the weekend games in Denver show no precipitation and moderate temperatures).
3. (2) Boston College at (8) Virginia Tech - THU, 730pm (ESPN) … Will the #2 team in the country fall on Thursday night for the second week in a row? Most New Englanders won’t even tune in to watch with World Series Game #2 on at the same time. Most pundits are predicting a Virginia Tech win, mostly because the thought of an Ohio State/B.C. Championship game makes them ill.
Via ESPN.com, here’s Paul Byrd responding to the San Francisco Chronicle’s report that he purchased almost $25,000 worth of HGH from 2002 to 2005.
here’s essentially what Byrd says in the video:
“I have never taken any hormone or any drug that was not prescribed to me by a doctor. I was prescribed a hormone, I did inject it, and I did have the temptation to take more of it that what was prescribed so that my fastball would reach into the 90s on a consistent basis. I never succumbed to any of those temptations, I never took any more than what was prescribed me. I didn’t start to throw the ball a lot harder…I was taking it for my well-being and for general life circumstances that were made known to me…I have never done anything that has disrespected the game…I don’t want to show up at a stadium and have people think I cheated…I’m one game away from the World Series and now I’m dealing with my medical history.”
ESPN’s Buster Olney, who refers to Byrd as “…a very religious guy, a very thoughtful guy…” says that there are still some lingering questions raised by the SF Chronicle story, such as:
+ If this use of HGH is approved, why did he stop taking it?
+ Why did one of the prescriptions come from a dentist?
+ How much does he think HGH helped him as a pitcher?
+ Were there other alternative treatments for the sleeplessness and adult growth hormone deficiency than HGH, something that has been linked to performance enhancing drugs?
I really don’t think this is much of a story anymore, but I wanted to put Paul Byrd’s response out there for everyone to see. Even if Byrd had used the HGH to come back from injury, it was before baseball had banned it, so it falls into a huge gray area.
Because Byrd appears to have legitimate reasons for taking HGH, and because he stopped taking them before they were banned, and because his stuff as a pitcher never drastically changed, I don’t see anything more happening with this story. Did the HGH help him recover from the injuries that he sustained over the time frame he was taking HGH? Probably, but we don’t really know.
I’ll track the story in case anything else happens, but I think we can move on…
“Religion can go over into every area, like whether I should cheat out on the field. I write about the desire to just make money at any cost. I share about my temptation to spit on the ball, put KY jelly on it or scuff it, to win more games and make more money. That’s a big temptation for me, being a guy who throws 82, who relies on movement. You have a pull, because you have a certain window up here that stares you in the face. Are you willing to take steroids? Because that’s available. People viewed that as me being weak. Like, ‘This guy doesn’t want to win.’”
According to Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, the writers who penned the SF Chronicle piece, “Byrd has never commented on athletes’ use of growth hormone, but he has publicly denied using steroids and said he believes they pose a problem for baseball. He also has said baseball’s problem with performance-enhancing drugs is not nearly as serious as critics say.”
As the story develops we’ll have more to say about it, but for now here’s my initial thoughts (I’m headed out the door for the day):
Paul Byrd screwed up. He joins the list of Christians that have screwed up that includes, well, EVERY Christian. This will be tough for him to deal with, but from I read in the ESPN.com interview, he should be able to get through it.Even if HGH wasn’t banned at the time, I don’t think it was right for him to be using it. But that’s something we’ll get into further as the story progresses.
I have compassion for him, while still thinking that he did something he shouldn’t have.If you’ve been in a spot like Paul is, where you’ve screwed up and folks are finding out about it, perhaps you can say a prayer for him that something good comes out of it all. If you want to pile on him, you are free to do that to i suppose.More on this as the story develops
The Kansas City Star is reporting that FOX has booked Kansas City Chiefs coach Herm Edwards to be on their show, “The Best Damn Sports Show Period.” Why is this news? Because up until now, Edwards has refused to go on the show because of a certain word that the show uses in its title.
Edwards said, “this show is not the ‘best’ sports show on tv”, when asked why he refused to appear, “so for me to appear on the show for ten minutes would be akin to me lying for 10 straight minutes. And I don’t lie!”
“We were willing to do anything to get Herm on the show, including renaming it,” said the show’s host, Chris Rose. “Herm is such a good interview and we’ve been wanting to get him on so long. We can’t wait.”
As an interesting aside, I sort of predicted something like this in a piece I wrote for Burnside earlier this year. That story, Survey Says, featured the following phony survey Q&A:
I asked 100 Christian sports fans the following question, “When talking about the FOX Sports TV Show, The Best Damn Sports Show Period, what do you refer to the show as?”
71% said they had never heard of such a show.
19% said that they referred to the show as ‘The Best Darn Sports Show Period’, because as one respondent put it “you avoid the cuss yet it still rolls off the tongue like Goliath’s head down Mt. Sinai.”
8% of everyone asked told me I should wash my mouth out with soap.
2% said they used the actual name, “The Best Damn Sports Show Period”, although most of these folks admit to lowering their voice somewhere between the words ‘best’ and ‘sports’.
While many sports sites are asking “Would your change your show’s name to have Herm Edward’s on?”, I’m wondering the opposite. So i pose this question:
Would you as a Christian (if you are one), go on the show with it’s current name? (and if not, would their temporary name change convince you to do it?)
Also, if you’re not a Christian, what do you think of Herm’s stance on this? Noble, ridiculous, or somewhere in between?
I’m not looking for moral absolutes here, just your own infallible opinions
Each week The Schnoz Report will get you ready for the upcoming slate of games in the NFL, providing angles (both acute and obtuse, but never right) that you won’t get anywhere else.
As always, if you hate sports, especially football, then reading this post will only make you bitter and angry. Why don’t you go read about the latest disturbing thing to come out of new york city: naked chocolate Jesus.
First Thing’s First
What we learned last week:
1. The Patriots could conceivably clinch the AFC East in 4 weeks on November 18th. If they are still undefeated (which is a big “if” with Indy on the schedule) they will be 10-0 with 6 games left. The Jets or Bills would need to be 4-6 at that point to be mathematically alive for the division crown. The Jets would need to win 3 of their next 4 (@CIN, BUF, WAS, PIT) or the Bills would need to win 3 of their next 5 (BAL, @NYJ, CIN, @MIA, NE). Even if they lose at Indy, the Patriots look like they will clinch the division before December starts. Can they keep the intensity up during the last few games of the year? We shall see.
2. Speaking of the Pats, they were who we thought they were (and so were the Cowboys). Dallas played well, and can take a lot from the fact that they hung with the Patriots for 3 quarters. Not sure if the Patriots will cover the 17 points they are favored by in Miami this week (just because everyone is so sure they will), but they should arrive in Indy on November 4th undefeated if they can beat Buffalo and Washington (more on the Redskins in a second).
3. Tampa Bay continues to play great defense and win games. At 4-2, they are tied with Carolina at the top of the NFC South, and are looking more and more like a playoff team each week. Consider this: Tampa Bay has 5 road games left on their schedule, against opponents who are currently a combined 10-17. At this point it’s hard to see them finishing below 10-6, and in a wide open NFC, Jeff Garcia and their defense could propel them far in the playoffs. Imagine if they had drafted Adrian Peterson with the 4th pick in the last draft? (They’re getting 30:1 odds on winning the super bowl right now in Vegas, in case you were wondering.)
4. I keep waiting for the wheels to come off in Baltimore and it keeps not happening. Their games are maddening to watch, they can’t sustain a drive to save their lives, and yet they find ways to win. With San Diego, Kansas City, and Jacksonville all playing well lately, those two wild cards in the AFC are going to be tough to earn. My Top 5 in the AFC right now: NE, IND, PIT, JAX, SD.
5. Other than Pittsburgh (9.4 ppg) and Jacksonville (11.6 ppg), guess which team is giving up the fewest points per game in the league this year? They lead the NFC in fewest points allowed per game this year and they’ve only given up 2 passing touchdowns all year. Answer: the Washington Redskins, who fumbled away a win and a potential 4-1 record last week in Green Bay. If i had to rank the top 5 NFC Teams right now, it would look like this: DAL, TB, NYG, GB, WAS. (Who gets that playoff spot from the NFC West? Seattle, who can’t even beat the Saints at home? Arizona? San Fran?)
Angle(s) of the Week
In the AFC, the Big 3 all need to try and win on the road.
New England has the easiest test by far, even though they historically struggle in Miami.
Denver has lost 2 in a row at home, and could easily be 0-5 right now. Maybe they’ll make a stand for their season against Pittsburgh at home?
Indianapolis at Jacksonville is the game of the week. A Great D versus Peyton and company. Look for this game to turn on Special Teams. (which is another way of saying i have no idea what will happen.)
This has Nothing to Do with Football
All day on Thursday I told folks that Beckett was going to have to be brilliant if the Red Sox wanted to win. I had no idea that he actually would be. Without him, the Sox would have been trailing 5-2 in the middle innings instead of being up 2-1. His domination kept the Sox in the game until they were finally able to break through and add insurance runs.
With the series relocating to Boston, the Indians still have a great chance to advance. Last night aside, the Indians lineup looks much more daunting top to bottom than the Red Sox right now. The Red Sox are like a bad NL lineup, with Crisp and Lugo sucking the life out of any rally like a pair of black holes. There’s HUGE pressure on Francona to start Ellsbury in CF over Crisp on saturday night, and I think he has to. Crisp’s body language last night when he failed to get a bunt down and then struck out told the story.
Fantasy is the New Reality
My Fantasy teams are so bad right now that they have revoked my license to hand out advice.
Instead, let me give you some thought on naming your fantasy team, which you can use if you’re getting involved in fantasy basketball this month.
(this is from the book I’m working on right now, so it’s my sneaky way of trying to whet your appetite for it. ain’t i clever?)
DO feel free to use alliterations whenever possible. Not only do they look good, but also they make for great nicknames. For example, “The Amish Are Angry” is a great name because it is visually appealing and you have the option of referring to your team as ‘The Triple-A’ if you like. (Plus, major bonus points any time you can incorporate the Amish into your name.)
DON’T use your team name to make derogatory references to your spouse or pastor. “Nagging Wife For Sale” or “Shut Up, Pastor Jim” will only get you into trouble in the long run.
DO use your team name to make childish references to bodily functions and noises. You’ll get your opponents chuckling, which will distract them from the fact that you are about to pummel them. You can’t go wrong with names like “Fart Like You Mean It”, “Will Belch for Touchdowns”, or “The Ferret Broke Wind”.
DON’T use the name of your favorite professional team in your fantasy team’s moniker. Names like “Steelers Power”, “Mets Rule”, and “Giants4Life” make you sound like a 14-yr-old girl fawning over her pimple-faced boyfriend.
DO feel free to incorporate pop culture references whenever you can. Incorporating characters or dialogue from recent television shows or movies is a great way to get a laugh and show you’re still on the ball. Personally, I don’t think you can ever go wrong with a Seinfeld reference. In the past few years I’ve gone that route more than once fielding teams names like “The Marine Biologists”, “I Was in the Pool!”, and “The Pretend Architects”.
DON’T try to convert people to Christianity with your team name. While I’d never say that God is incapable of using a fantasy team name to change someone’s heart, I’m pretty sure that there are better ways God can use you to get a hold of someone’s life. If you’re thinking of naming your team “No Christ, No Heaven” or “Only Goalies and Jesus Save”, please reconsider.
No Ticket, No Problem
If your wife thinks the Sunday Ticket is what you use to get an ice cream at Friendly’s, here’s what you’ll be watching on sunday.
CBS - CBS is only broadcasting 1 game this week. If you live near NE@MIA, TEN@HOU, or BAL@BUF you’ll be seeing it in the early slot. KC@OAK and NYJ@CIN will be shown at 4pm EST.
FOX - FOX has the doubleheader this week. Most folks will get SF@NYG in the early spot and MIN@DAL late. Also of note, as of right now the ATL@NO game will not be in HD.
If you’d like to take a peak at the NFL coverage map with your own corneas, be my guest.
Household Chore to Ignore
Each week I’ll be helping you find something around the house that you should feel guilty about not doing because you’re watching football.
This week it’s time to think about those things that should be dealt with a few times a year. Should you change the batteries in your smoke detector? Should you clean out the filter on your HVAC unit? Should you flip your mattress over? Should you check the chimney? Should you stock up on ice melt? Should you refill the chip bowl and get back on the couch?
Answers: No, No, No, No, No, and Yes.
Upset Specials
Each week I’ll pick an underdog that i think can win its game outright.
Last Week’s pick: WAS over GB (LOSS! thanks to a stupid late turnover by washington)
Record for the Year: 4-2
This week I’m picking Tampa Bay to beat the Lions in Detroit. If you’ve read this far you know that i like how their defense is playing, and Jeff Garcia is doing what he knows how to do: win games.
Mascot Wars
The best mascot matchup of the week:
Titans @ Texans - Everything is bigger in Texas huh? Well your biggest warriors are still not as big as titans. According to Wikipedia, Titans are huge beasts of men capable of eating chainsaws and popping beehives in their mouths like mentos. (well, not really, but i could go add that to the Wiki page right now if it made you feel better). If the Titans were driving around Texas, i might not pick them to win. Driving around Texas can get really boring. But since they are playing football, I like the beehive eaters to defeat the texas residents, 21-10.
Conspiracy Theory of the Week
I’m sick and tired of bands announcing to the world that “we feel like this is the best record we’ve ever made”.
Just once I want to hear a band come out and say “You know, we’re actually disappointed in how this thing came out. It’s nowhere near our best stuff. We still hope you buy it, but don’t expect it to be better than the last album. That last album was great.”
Every album that every band puts out is apparently their “best record yet”. I realize why this happens, but it’s getting old and tired.
Or maybe I’m just getting old and tired. Let’s move on.
1. If it’s been a while since you’ve changed the batteries in your smoke detector, you should probably get on that.
2. ALCS Prediction - Cleveland beats Boston. I just have a bad feeling about this. I think both of these games could be 7-4, 8-6 type games and i think the Red Sox might end up on the wrong side of the score because of their shaky middle relief. Man, i hope I’m wrong.
3. My hot water heater stopped working on wednesday. We had it fixed wednesday night and it stopped working again last night. Talk about something you take for granted until it’s gone. This morning’s cleaning was painful. May the fix be easy, cheap, and completed by dinner time.
4. Ever since my birthday a few weeks ago, my 4-yr old son Parker is obsessed with my age. It’s pretty cute. Every time he sees a player with the #31 on his back , he reminds me that I’m 31 years old. Yesterday I came home and he handed me a card he made for me (with my wife’s help) that said “I love you Daddy. You used to be 30. Now you’re 31. Love Parker”. I’ll keep that one for a long time.
If you think she’s making her claim based on what she’s seen in pickup games and unorganized practices, think again. Up until last year she didn’t even know Kentucky had a basketball team.
That’s the sports equivalent of not knowing McDonald’s sells hamburgers.
According to the article, Legion “…also puts “holy oil” in the basketball shoes of her son and his roommate, fellow freshman Patrick Patterson.” Not on the shoes, in the shoes.
While I’m not in a position to confirm or deny her prophetic gift, I can tell you this much: If these kids start getting blisters, the team trainer is going to be knocking down her door. (Then again, if she sees it coming she should be ok.)
Sports radio is all abuzz this morning over Manny Ramirez’s comments yesterday regarding the must-win situation that the Red Sox have found themselves in. Here’s the quote from Manny, on the prospect of the Red Sox losing tonight and being done for the season:
“It doesn’t happen, so who cares? There’s always next year. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”
As a sports fan in general, and a Red Sox fan specifically, let me break down his 3-part quote.
“It doesn’t happen, so who cares?” - I care Manny. So do the folks who have given a lot of time, money, and energy into following the team. To me, this was the only stupid thing he said. The rest was just careless. (And yes, I would care A LOT more if we hadn’t won in 2004.)
“There’s always next year” - Hey, you don’t have to tell that to Red Sox fans. That was our life mantra for most of this century.
“It’s not like it’s the end of the world” - Can’t argue with this, unless Jesus splits the eastern sky on a white horse following a 1-2-3 Joe Borowski ninth inning. Then, maybe I’d have qualms with it.
Bottom Line: Everyone knows that losing a playoff series is not the end of the world, but no one wants to be told that by their team’s clean-up hitter on the eve of the biggest game of the year.
Will Manny get a pass on this one? Yeah, i think so. He always does for two reasons. 1) He can rake with the best of them and 2) He’s a likable guy. You might think the former is the most important part of the equation, but i would argue it’s the latter.
It’s the same reason that T.O. gets so much bad press while Chad Johnson gets a pass for all of his goofy antics. Both are gifted wide receivers that love to make themselves the center of attention, but for every time T.O. comes across as a good guy, there’s an incident where he comes across as a jerk. Same could be said of Randy Moss coming into this season. Chad Johnson, on the other hand, always seems to be having fun, and we like that. We like people who don’t rock the boat and don’t make us uncomfortable.
[reality tv interjection]Same thing happened last night on Survivor when the losing tribe kicked off their hardest working member because he was grating on every one like 20-grit sandpaper. This happens everywhere, folks. Those who play well with others get extra slack.)[/reality tv interjection]
Folks in the media don’t want to admit that Manny gets so much slack because he is so likable, they’d rather chalk it up to his hitting prowess. But the fact remains that even after a statistically down season, Manny still seems to get away with posing after home runs, goofing around in left field, and saying dumb things about losing.
The fact of the matter is, no one wants to admit that we are swayed more by our emotions than by the logic of statistics, but we are. The media certainly doesn’t want to admit it, which is why they so often fall back on the “Manny being Manny” line. What they are basically saying is, “We like Manny, so he is allowed to do things that others might not get away with”.
I’ve been hearing a lot lately about “the most important statistic” of the various sports we all watch. I’ve heard it on the radio (Mike & Mike), I’ve heard it on TV (FOX MLB Broadcast), and I’ve even seen it in print (somewhere…trust me).
In baseball, apparently the most important statistic is Batting Average with 2 Outs and Runners in Scoring Position. Most recent proof: Through their first 8 post-season games this year, the Indians have a .383 BA in these situations, while holding their opponents to a .136 average in that scenario. So yeah, it seems to be working out well for them.
In football, I’ve heard time and again that the most telling statistic in determining how a teams fares is Turnover Differential. Most recent proof: The league’s 2 undefeated teams, the Pats and the Colts, lead the league with a (+7) turnover differential. The Rams, on the other hand, have a league-worst (-8) differential to go along with their 0-6 record. Again, it seems that this stat does a good job in predicting success.
But let me submit to you a statistic that i feel trumps them all. Not only does it work in football and baseball, but it also works in hockey, soccer, and basketball too. How accurate is it? How about 100% accurate? It never fails to predict the winner.
What is it, you ask? It’s Points scored. You might not believe this but look it up and see for yourself. For as long as records have been kept, the team that scores more points than the other teams always wins. Every single time.
We can try to create obscure measurements to predict success, but in the end the only thing that matters is scoring more than your opponent. Everything else is just a symptom of winning, not the cause.
So the next time someone tries to tell you that basketball games hinge on 4th quarter free throw percentages or Player Efficiency Ratings, whip out “The team who scores the most points wins 100% of the time” and blow their minds.
The most important statistic has always been, and always will be, the score.
Last night the Cleveland Indians took a 3-1 Series lead, thanks in part to the right arm (and left arm) of Paul Byrd. The Red Sox are on the ropes, and even as a die hard Red Sox fan I’m not sure that they can escape Cleveland with a win on Thursday night. Beckett is going to have to be brilliant again.
But back to Paul Byrd, who despite being the #4 starter in the Indians rotation, is the only Cleveland pitcher to win both games he has started this post season. ESPN.com’s Sam Alipour sat down with Byrd on Monday night to talk to him about the book he just finished, titled The Free Byrd Project, which details “…Byrd’s spiritual journey through the major leagues and the pitfalls that pious jocks must leap in navigating a ballplayer’s lifestyle.”
The interview was done well and Byrd comes across as a human being, not as a religious zealot or pious superchristian. I found his answers and insights to be very refreshing. Some highlights:
On why he wrote the book: “I think the last thing the Christian community needs is another person who says they have it all together, a 12-step process for being perfect. That doesn’t exist. I can help people by being honest.”
On pornography: “I’ve had a real struggle with pornography, from before I became a Christian, when pornography was the good old American way. After I became a Christian, it really began to bother me, but God didn’t really take it away. I struggle with porn one night, and somebody asks me a question about Jesus the next day in the outfield, so you feel like a hypocrite trying to share. It’s the elephant in the locker room.”
On how Jesus would play baseball: “I think if Christ goes into second base to break up a double play, he’ll do it cleanly, but he’ll try to knock the guy into left field.”
On giving God credit for the highlights: “Do you see when guys point to the sky when they hit a home run? It’s funny, I never see anyone point up when they strike out. I’m not a sky-pointer. I’m more of a chest-grabber. I feel God inside of me. People seem to give praise a lot more when they hit a home run and not strike out. I give praise regardless of the outcome.”
On blaming poor performances on God’s will: “I’ve been on a team where a guy shows no passion, and he says, “God meant for me to give up that home run.” I’m like, “What does that mean? God didn’t hang the slider, you hung the slider.”
It’s great to see a Christian giving intelligent, informed, and honest opinions on how his faith interacts with his craft. He comes across as someone who is not ashamed of his faith, but not arrogant either, which is not always easy to do. Based on the interview, I’ll probably pick up a copy of the book when it eventually gets published.
And thankfully, Paul Byrd won’t be starting another game for the Indians against the Red Sox this season, even if Boston can force a Game 7.
This story became a story before our little blog here was born, but we knew we eventually wanted to comment on it, and so now we will.
Monday Reset is a weekly feature that obviously runs on mondays, but only if we have time to bother with it. It contains no references to Borat’s offspring, no commentary on Dumbledore’s sexual preferences, and no giveaways for World Series tickets.
It was 4 days ago that 
Picking up on a story that 
I’ve been hearing a lot lately about “the most important statistic” of the various sports we all watch. I’ve heard it on the radio (Mike & Mike), I’ve heard it on TV (FOX MLB Broadcast), and I’ve even seen it in print (somewhere…trust me).
Last night the Cleveland Indians took a 3-1 Series lead, thanks in part to the right arm (and left arm) of Paul Byrd. The Red Sox are on the ropes, and even as a die hard Red Sox fan I’m not sure that they can escape Cleveland with a win on Thursday night. Beckett is going to have to be brilliant again.
