Archive for the ‘sports’ Category
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
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a few items for you wait for Matt Walsh’s videos to show up on YouTube…
+ a short piece on a New York High School senior, Jerry Ntumba, whose faith in God has helped him return from a 2005 car accident to compete in the Pentathlon. (written by Alanna Stage for the Democrat & Chronicle)
+ The Memphis Tigers baseball team is teaming up with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to put on a baseball camp for 8-12 year olds in June. Kids who attend “will receive proper physical baseball skill development that includes instruction in fielding positions, mental and emotional game training, relational and teammate tips and spiritual development.” (CBS College Sports)
+ Binghamton University freshman Cazal Arnett just broke the school’s record time in the 200 and 400 meter race. A member of BU’s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Program, Cazal was first introduced to track in high school when the track coach happened to see him run a mandatory fitness test. (Michael Sharp, Press & Sun Bulletin)
+ I just found Jamie Whitmore’s blog today, and it makes for inspiring reading. Jamie is an extreme athlete with pretty impressive credentials. Six weeks ago she underwent surgery to remove a large, cancerous tumor from her hip. Today, she is overcoming the challenges associated with her rehab, and trusting in God to help her get through. She details much of it in this post from a few days ago. Good stuff.
Posted in sports | 3 Comments »
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Over at my personal blog I shared some thoughts yesterday on a friend who passed away due to complications from cancer surgery. Dale was a manager in the softball league I am president of, and he will be sorely missed.
This one is a bit personal, but since it is absolutely sports/faith related, I thought I’d link to it.
If you have a moment, please say a quick prayer for Dale’s family as they lean on God and each other to deal with their loss.
Posted in sports | No Comments »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
On my way in to work this morning I was listening to the First Team on FOX on XM and they had a 5-minute interview with Amy Grant. As you might have guessed, she was doing sports radio solely because she is promoting something. And as you also might have guessed, what she was promoting seems like a great cause.
(fyi - yourfamilytable.com - where you share a small change you are making in your diet, and they donate a meal to someone in need)
Here’s a few tidbits about Amy from the interview. Most of them are true…
+ Amy and Vince have season tickets to the Titans, but often can’t make it because of other commitments.
+ Amy was an avid golfer for about five years before becoming obsessed with something else (she mentioned camping and biking as more recent hobbies).
+ Amy once ran a marathon with a guitar strapped around her shoulder…dragging a fender amp behind her in a red wagon.
+ Amy’s husband, Vince Gill, is a darn good golfer.
+ Amy is a big Nashville Predators fan, and recently had Preds Right-Winger Jordin Tootoo over her house. Apparently her country friends had him square dancing (or was it line dancing) in the front hall.
+ Amy hates Christmas.
Posted in sports | 5 Comments »
Friday, April 11th, 2008
The following post was written for PFB by Jason Boyett, author of the Pocket Guides to the Bible, the Apocalypse, and Adulthood (among others). If you’re not subscribed to his blog, you better have a really good excuse.
Forgiveness is a powerful thing. Nothing better soothes the sharp edges of sin than the mercy and restoration that forgiveness provides, and sometimes it takes the sporting world to show us that.
Earlier this week, Bill Buckner threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Boston Red Sox home opener, and by all accounts, it was a profound moment for everyone involved. A few quotes from coverage of the event:
“I’ve probably never almost been in tears for somebody else on a baseball field. I think that was just the most unbelievable thing,” [Red Sox first baseman Kevin] Youkilis said. “I wanted to shake his hand, because that’s a true man in life.” (USAToday)
The experience, Buckner said, was “probably about as emotional as it could get.” (ESPN)
“It was kind of neat. I know he was emotional on the mound. You know, it was emotional for me, too.” (Dwight Evans in the Boston Globe)
Buckner was one of my favorite players as a kid. My brother and I were Cubs fans, and we loved the great mustachioed one. I was sad when he left the Cubs in 1984, but I was even sadder for him when he made the error that cost Boston the 1986 series. I wasn’t surprised, though. As the Cubbie faithful, we learn to expect that kind of thing. (It wasn’t even that surprising when it was revealed that, underneath that fateful first baseman’s glove when Mookie Wilson’s ball passed through his wickets on October 25, old Billy Buck was wearing a Cubs batting glove. Figures.)
So I was thrilled to read that the whole ugly episode might be put to rest at Tuesday’s home opener. And by all accounts, it was. Buckner almost didn’t come — he knew the questions about the play would come up, and after having had that scab ripped open time after time after time over the last 22 years, he wasn’t interested in doing it again. But finally he agreed to do it. And the crowd cheered for the goat. An entire ballpark got goosebumps. Eyes turned red. Grown men got a little weepy. At the press conference afterwards, it took Buckner several seconds to gather himself enough to speak.
He had been forgiven, but he had to forgive, too.
“I really had to forgive…not the fans of Boston per se, but I would have to say, in my heart, I had to forgive the media…” Buckner told reporters. He stopped again to collect himself. “… for what they put me and my family through. So I’ve done that. I’m over that. And I’m just happy that I just try to think of the positive. The happy things.”
The guy made one mistake, and it defined the last two decades of his life. That’s incredible. That’s horrible. Hopefully he can put it behind him. Hopefully Boston can let it go, too. Hopefully we can remember how good it is to forgive, and to be forgiven.
Next in line? Steve Bartman. Someday.
Tags: Bill Buckner, Forgiveness
Posted in MLB, sports | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 7th, 2008
+ Rob Bradford has a good interview with Curt Schilling over at the Boston Herald. When asked about his ability to pitch inside without hitting many batters (52 batters in 3261 innings) Curt had this to say:
“…I would like to think I’ve conducted myself the right way on the mound. Of the 52 guys I have hit I would say roughly half were guys that deserved it and know it, and I never aimed high. When I hit someone on purpose the intent was to make sure they knew it, their teammates knew it, and the offending pitcher knew it as well. That and I wanted it to hurt after the game so I would always aim for the hip to the arm pit.”
+ Billy Packer is catching a lot of grief today for saying that the UNC-KU game was “Over!” when Kansas led by 26 with 7 minutes and change left in the first half. As you all know, North Carolina got as close as 4 points towards the end of the game, but could never completely erase the Jayhawk lead. Maybe Billy should have consulted Bill James, who recently submitted a formula for determining exactly when a basketball game is completely out of reach. Or maybe not, after all, Billy was right in the end. The lead was too big, and the Jayhawks did win.
+ Geof Morris over at IJSM.org has some thoughts on the reasons behind the one-and-done rule for young ballers wanting to make their millions in the NBA as soon as possible. I heard a rumor on Steve Czaban’s FOX morning radio show that David Stern might be looking into extending the rule an additional year, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
+ My brackets are amazing this year, I’m not gonna lie. I had 6 of 8 Elite Eight teams, 4 of 4 Final Four teams, and I have Kansas beating Memphis in the Finals. I’d feel better if I had Memphis winning it all, but still, my entry is tops in our Facebook Bracket challenge.
+ Finally, imagine if ESPN would have ran this poll a few months ago: “Which is the most likely opening for the respective seasons of Tiger Woods and the Detroit Tigers?” and the answers were:
- A) Both start 6-0
- B) The Detroit Tigers start 6-0 and Tiger Woods starts 0-6
- C) Tiger Woods starts 6-0 and the Detroit Tigers start 0-6
- D) Both start 0-6
I’m guessing the results would have been B-47%, A-27%, D-24%, and C-2%.
Correct Answer - C.
Posted in sports | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 4th, 2008
I apologize for the un-plethora of posts this week…it’s been a busy one here at PFB Headquarters.
We’ll be back next week was some great material, including a Sports Survey with a notable author.
Enjoy your first full weekend of Major League Baseball, a #1 seed-filled Final Four Saturday Night, and hopefully some good weather, wherever you are…
Posted in sports | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
As Awful Announcing pointed out today, ESPN’s choice of Dana Jacobson as the person to interview Tiger Woods over his poor word choices over the weekend seemed a bit “pot-kettle-black-ish” to me as well.
As you probably remember, Jacobson got into some trouble back in January when at a celebrity roast she reportedly said “Jesus” and the the F-word, but not necessarily in that order.
If you hadn’t heard about Tiger’s slip-up, he allegedly used some salty language when a cameraman snapped a photo during his back swing at Doral over the weekend. The sound of the shutter caused Woods’ ball to miss the green on the par-3 9th, and Woods eventually bogeyed the hole. The LA Times’ Rick Morrissey wrote today that Tiger said “The next time a photographer shoots a [expletive] picture, I’m going to break his [expletive] neck,”
Does Dana Jacobson have a right to interview Woods? Of course. Her past sins shouldn’t be held against her for the rest of her career. But ESPN had to know they were opening themselves up to this by choosing her to conduct the interview.
As for Woods and his cussing, I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t gotten very angry on the golf course a time or two. And when you consider that Woods was trying to do his job, well, I suppose I’d also get angry if someone was distracting me as I tried to circulate a critical TPS report. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m neither encouraging or excusing Woods for his word choices, but I won’t rake him over the coals for it either.
I can say for the record, though, that I’ve never threatened to break anyone’s neck, so yeah, Tiger should probably relax a little on the ‘threatening physical harm’ front.
(h/t: Awful Announcing)
Tags: Dana Jacobson, Tiger Woods
Posted in morality, sports | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
+ The 14-18 Elon University Phoenix basketball team was one win away from an automatic bid into this year’s NCAA Tournament before losing to Davidson on Monday night. As Deadspin points out, the Elon athletic teams used to be called “The Fighting Christians” until 1999 when they went D1.
+ Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Chandler, AZ is hosting a leadership seminar on April 18th called the Maximum Impact Simulcast. The event will include over 80,000 business professionals participating via satellite downlink in 600 churches across North America. The stage will be populated by the likes of leadership guru Dr. John C. Maxwell, former Nike creative katalyst Kevin Carroll, author Andy Stanley, and ESPN analyst Dick Vitale. The event will be hosted by CBS sports analyst Spencer Tillman.
+ Pastor Mark Batterson, who we’ve ribbed here before, was talking to some Wisconsin pastors when Brett Favre’s retirement was announced.
+ Michelle Campbell was told she couldn’t do her job last month when she showed up for work on Groundhog Day. Her job: refereeing boys’ basketball in Kansas. The reason: she’s a woman. Campbell was told she could not ref the game because it would put her in a position of authority - something that went against the policy of St. Mary’s Academy, a private religious school in St. Marys, KS. Since the incident happened, the Kansas State High School Activities Association has stepped in to intervene. The message they sent after a meeting last night: Let women officiate.
Tags: Brett Favre, Fightin' Christians
Posted in sports | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
I stumbled onto this today and couldn’t believe I had never heard of it.
It’s an organization called “In the Zone”, whose mission (”To help men discover and maximize their Godly potential.”) lines up with just about every other Christian Men’s organization ever formed. While there “Who We Are” page mentions nothing about sports, most of the folks who are involved have some sort of sports background. In fact, their banner image on their website has rotating quotes from Roger Staubach, Lou Holtz, Mike Ditka (picture circa 1985), Mark Richt, Loren Roberts, Tom Osborne, and Spencer Tillman.
Founded by Dr. Joe Pettigrew and Kyle Rote Jr. (who was an outstanding soccer player and now owns a successful sports agency), In the Zone held 5 Events in the Southern U.S. in 2007, but has yet to schedule any dates for 2008. They are partners with teh Fellowship of Christian Athletes, among others.
I found the organization through this article, which lists sports personalities that were expected to appear at some of the events held last year. Among them were NFL players Mike Minter and Patrick Ramsey, ESPN personalities Chris Mortenson and Mike Gottfried, and Illinois football coach Ron Zook. The article quotes Mortenson as saying:
“When I first heard about In The Zone, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear more - commitments scare me. I’m glad I got over the fear – there’s no question God quickened my heart and opened my eyes to a great opportunity. We get to talk about our real Christian life in a sports-like setting? That’s too good to be true for a guy like me. Sign me up.”
Raise your hand if you had any idea that Chris Mortenson was a Christian. Yeah, I had no idea either.
If you’ve ever been to one of these events, or know anything about the organization, I’d love to hear more about it. One thing’s for sure though, they need a new video on their front page. Those NFL clips are over ten years old. The Buccaneers in those Orange uniforms? Yikes.
UPDATE: Reader Tim Ellsworth pointed me to an article he wrote in 2006 about Mortenson’s conversion. It’s a great little piece. Thanks Tim!
Tags: Chris Mortenson, In the Zone
Posted in Christianity, Sports Media, sports | 3 Comments »
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
Here’s an interesting read for you while you’re trying to make sense of what happened on LOST last Thursday. It’s an article from the archives, published in February 2005 on msnbc.com, that talks about the role of Christianity in collegiate and professional sports. Some stats I found interesting…
“The figure commonly cited by those who work with them is that about a third of the players in the major American team sports are born-again or evangelical Christians — a little more in the NFL, a little less in the NBA and significantly more in NASCAR. Grant Teaff, the former head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes who is now executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, has said as many as two-thirds of college football coaches are devout Christians.”
The article also talks about athiests in sports who feel like they can’t be open about their views because of the generally pro-God culture in locker rooms. I think the same thing applies to the rest of the world though. Most people, in general, have a negative connotation with the word “athiest”.
But back to the numbers, one-third of all athletes seems a bit high to me. Only because the number is nowhere near one-third at any job I’ve ever worked at. What do you think? Is this number high or is there a reason that many athletes are spiritual?
Tags: Athiests, Athletes, Christians
Posted in Christianity, sports | 2 Comments »
