Archive for December, 2007
Thursday, December 27th, 2007
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Though I know none of you were out there with baited breath waiting for my 2 cents on the Mitchell Report, I still feel like I should offer something up. The problem is, I don’t have much of an opinion on it. 86 players cheated in different ways and for different reasons. A few of them were outspoken Christians; namely Andy Pettite, Paul Byrd, and Brian Roberts.
Am i surprised that these Christian men were on the report? Not at all. Most Christians I know have cheated at something before. Maybe it was the foot wedge they used on the golf course, a shortcut they took at work to avoid tedious paperwork, going over the speed limit for a good (or bad) reason, or peering over at somebody else’s cards while playing poker.
Am i saying that cheating is okay because we’ve all done it? Of course not. I’m just saying that I wasn’t surprised. I’m guessing you weren’t either.
Kudos to Byrd, Pettitte, and Roberts for addressing the issue right away instead of waiting. Whatever their reasons for using the stuff they used, whether they were legitimate, illegal, or otherwise, I hope they learned something from it all. I guess I can say that about the whole league, not just about these guys. Sadly, I think the only thing that most players learned was that if you are going to do this stuff, don’t pay with a personal check and leave the clubhouse attendant out of the transaction.
Here’s 3 other things I thought about the Mitchell Report and its subsequent fallout:
1. Personally, I don’t believe Clemens for a second now that he is denying the claims. I just don’t. Does anyone? Why would McNamee lie about injecting Clemens over the course of many years? And now that Pettite has admitted that what McNamee said was true, we can take this question further: Wy would McNamee tell the truth about Pettitte, but lie about Clemens? Makes no sense.
2. I liked Bill Simmons’ point about the Clemens-Piazza bat throwing incident from the 2000 World Series. We never understood why he did that until now: Roid Rage.
3. Considering this document was constructed with only a handful of sources, I gotta believe that there were hundreds more players who tried this stuff at one time or another. Not only that, but it was both pitchers and hitters, stars and scrubs, young and old who were using it. When you think about it in those terms, maybe the steroid numbers (aside from HRs) aren’t nearly as inflated as we thought.
I won’t bore you any more with thoughts on this 409-page borefest (yes, i did skim through most of it). If you want to read some other interesting takes on it, try Tim Ellsworth’s take on things at the BP Press, Jordan Green’s humorous angle over at Burnside, or Bill Simmons’ thoughts in the first few paragraphs of this mailbag piece on ESPN.com.
Hope your holidays were, and continue to be, a smashing success.
Posted in Christianity, MLB | 2 Comments »
Friday, December 21st, 2007
reader Aaron Lewis sent us this article in the Detroit News on prayer in Detroit sports. Thought it was a good read, so I’ll pass it along to you.
Prayer is a key Player
Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy the great sports on TV, but enjoy the time spent with family and friends even more!
Bryan
Posted in Christianity, sports | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
ESPN.com senior writer Bill Simmons posted his annual NBA Trade Value Column today, and in the section on Dwight Howard (who he posits is the second-most untradeable player in the league to LeBron) he writes:
One other bonus with Howard that nobody mentions: Because he’s a devout Christian, even when he turns 35 in 2020, those will be Christian years — he won’t have any of that smoking-drinking-partying mileage on him, which means he could play at a high level until his early-40s (much like how Kurt Warner keeps chugging along at age 36). In other words, Howard could and should shatter nearly every rebounding record if he stays healthy, and even if he averages a 23-13 for the next 12 years (a conservative guess), when you throw in his previous three seasons, Howard would suddenly be in striking distance of two-thirds of the conceivable NBA records that ever meant anything. And to think, just seven months ago, I wasn’t sure if he was better than Al Jefferson.
It’s funny, and I think there might be some validity to it as well. Someone needs to do a study on athletes who didn’t drink, smoke, or party like rock stars during their playing years to see if they lasted longer than those who liked to imbibe in multiple vices. I mean, A.C. Green played forever, didn’t he?
Posted in Christianity, NBA | 7 Comments »
Thursday, December 13th, 2007
I found this interview with Kurt and Brenda Warner on the CBN website.
It’s about 5 years old, but I thought his comments on post-game Jesus talk were very interesting:
When you stand up and say, ‘Thank You, Jesus,’ they think you are saying, ‘Thank You for being here. Thank You for moving my arm forward and making the ball go into that guy’s hands so that we could score a touchdown and win the game.’ But, in essence, it is a matter of thanking Him for the opportunity, thanking Him for being there in my life, for being the stronghold, for being the focus and the strength to accomplish all things, to accomplish anything, and to be where I am at, to have gone through everything I have gone through. It is a constant thing in my life. It is not just for something specific He did on the football field to help us win; it is for everything that He has done in my life up to that point and for everything He will continue to do in my life from here until eternity.
I like what Kurt is saying here, I like it a lot. I’m glad that when he thanks Jesus after a game, it’s not because he feels like Jesus helped him win. I like that there’s more to it than that. The problem is, since his lengthy explanation doesn’t accompany his comments in the post-game interview, in most cases people don’t realize what is behind his gratitude. Like he says himself, they think he is thanking God for helping him win the game.
I guess that’s the problem that i usually have with athletes thanking their creator after games. The sound bites about God that athletes stick into these interviews almost always feel forced and a little bit contrived. Not contrived in that they are being insincere, but contrived in that it seems like they were going to get in their sound bite regardless of what the question posed to them was.
Again, I’m not questioning the sincerity of the athlete’s spirituality at all, just the motive behind their unprompted confessions of faith. It’s as if they are doing it out of a sense of duty more than anything else. If the only reason you’re namedropping Jesus is because you’re on national television and you feel like you’re supposed to, then maybe you shouldn’t.
These spiritual sound bites leave a bad taste in so many people’s mouths because there’s usually no context for them when they are spoken. If the reporter specifically asks the athlete what role his or her faith played in the game, then I can understand a response about God. But in most cases the athletes will ignore the question that was asked of them so that they can get in their statement of faith while the cameras are still rolling. At best, it comes across as unrelated and unnecessary. At worse, it feels sneaky and deceptive.
Imagine doing this in other areas of your life? Your boss calls you in to her office to ask how you managed to save the firm’s biggest account and you respond, “First of all, I just want to give all the glory to God and my savior Jesus Christ,” before eventually answering her question. Or what if you responded to a neighbor looking for lawn care tips with, “I’d just like to thank my personal savior Jesus for being there with me as I applied that weed and feed.” If you spent a month doing this I can guarantee you that thirty days later you’d find yourself living like Jose Canseco: lonely and unemployed.
Most of us are careful to only introduce our faith into situations where our beliefs are being solicited or where there is proper context for the discussion to take place. I personally never look to throw random spiritual truths into conversations just because I can. Ambushing people with statements about my faith when they’re not expecting it has never really worked out well for me. If it has for you, then may I suggest you look into missions work? (No seriously, you should.) I’m not saying that God can’t use anything we say to change someone’s life, but I just don’t see a lot of fruit coming from this particular form of evangelizing. Other than the handful of Christians who get excited because someone famous just made a positive comment about God on national television, the post-game interview “Jesus Namedropping” usually does nothing more than aggravate those who are watching.
Like i said earlier, I appreciated hearing what is behind Kurt Warner’s post game spiritual thank you’s, but in my opinion they don’t come across that well on TV.
What do you all think? Should we encourage others to give Jesus praise as much as possible, no matter the context? Should athletes only mention their faith when asked about it? Would you like to see more or less positive mentions of Jesus’ name coming from athletes and celebrities? I would love to get a little discussion going on this.
One other thing…I thought it was interesting that Brenda Warner doesn’t just look like a marine with her short haircut, she actually was a marine corporal. Am i the only one who didn’t know that?
Posted in Christianity, sports | 8 Comments »
Saturday, December 8th, 2007
In an article published in the December 3rd edition of ESPN the Magazine, Chris Broussard writes of the physical transformation that Michael Redd underwent this summer after spending time with the Olympic qualifying team.
The piece, which begins with Redd making fun of himself for the “flabby arms” and “neck rolls” that he was sporting before getting serious about his physical conditioning this past year, includes this amusing anecdote:
Who is going to question an NBA star who, because of his religious beliefs, was celibate for three-and-a-half years before he tied the knot in August 2006?
Honeys knocked on his door at 2 a.m., followed him to his car after games and left seductive messages on his phone, but through it all he was faithful, to his Lord and to his future wife, Achea. His teammates thought he was crazy.
“You gay, man?” they asked. “Scared?”
Once they realized he was neither, they got behind his decision.
Redd, who scored a season-high 41 points last night in a Bucks loss to the Sonics, is the son of a Columbus, Ohio preacher. As is noted in Sports Spectrum this month, Redd viewed his opportunity to play with Team USA this past summer as more than just an opportunity to show off his game.
“I think that [was] my purpose, other than just to shoot the basketball,” Redd says. “It gives me the chance to let others know about Christ and help them through situations they may be going through. I thank God for the opportunity and the privilege to share the gospel in no matter what setting–whether it be in Vegas, in a casino, in a hotel–just somewhere I can let these brothers know that they need Christ. It’s a privilege, man. It really [was] an honor to come out here and do that.”
I’m not sure how much impact Redd’s faith had on his teammates, but his skills certainly left an impression. Redd finished the tournament as the fourth leading scorer on the gold medal winning Team USA, including a team best 29 3-pointers.
Now teamed up with rookie Yi Jianlian, Redd hopes his new lean body and improved focus can help propel the Bucks into the playoffs, “I got spoiled this summer…I got used to winning, so now I have a low tolerance for losing. I’m tired of settling for mediocrity — in the playoffs one year, out the next. I’m ready to win, and it starts with me.”
Posted in Christianity, NBA | 3 Comments »
