The PFB Sports Survey: Jim Palmer
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The PFB Sports Survey is a weekly feature here at Prayers For Blowouts where we throw a few sports related questions at some of the most notable voices among Christian authors, pastors, musicians, and farmers to see if they like sports as much as we do.
Today’s spotlight is on Jim Palmer. No, not that Jim Palmer, this is the Jim Palmer who quit playing baseball after a bad hop at the hot corner sent him to the emergency room.
Jim Palmer has been called an amalgamation of Don Miller, Anne Lamott, and Brian Mclaren (try to wrap your head around what that might look like). He is the author of “Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God (and the unlikely people who help you)“, and “Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-by-Number Christianity“. He blogs at divinenobodies.com, and can be reached at jim@divinenobodies.com
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1. What number best describes the role sports play in your life on a scale of 1 to 10?
JP: If you’re talking about doing sports, I’d have to say 8ish on the scale. My wife Pam might say 10 because I’m currently training for a Half Ironman in October. I also do various running and cycling events. My daughter Jessica is always active in one sport of another – soccer, basketball, tennis, etc. In terms of watching sports, these days I tune in at playoff time like NFL Playoffs, Bowl games, Final Four, Division Series, that sort of thing. The Tour de France has interested me more in recent years. I do have a few idols like MJ and the dynasty Bulls. Okay, and I’m also a clone who listens regularly to the Jim Rome show. I know what you’re thinking; this all seems to be adding up to a 10. Well, we don’t have cable and so ESPN isn’t an option. Otherwise, I’d probably be watching stuff like International Ping Pong, and the Pacific Islands Professional Bowling Tour.
2. Rank your 3 overall favorite sports, college or pro.
JP: 1. Major League Baseball, 2. NFL Football, 3. Professional Cycling, 4. Tiger Woods
3. What is the one team that you root for more passionately than any other, and is there a team that you hate, maybe a little too much?
JP: There isn’t just one. For reasons to lengthy too explain here, I’m passionate about the Cleveland Indians, Va. Tech Hokies, and Tennessee Titans. There are also several individual athletes I pull for. I don’t think I can ever forgive the Yankees for burying the Braves in the 1996 World Series after the Braves were up 2-0 and headed to Atlanta for game 3. We won’t mention what happened in 1999.
4. Do you play fantasy sports?
JP: I don’t play fantasy sports. Seems like there are too many numbers involved; I was never real good with math.
5. What is the most memorable sporting event you have ever attended in person?
JP: The Music City Miracle comes to mind. Do you remember that Titans-Bills playoff game when the Titans did their magic on a kick-off return on the last play of the game? I was there! Close behind it was my daughter’s first soccer game that she scored a goal. She was very Mia-esque.
6. What is the best highlight and/or worst lowlight of your sports playing career as a child or as an adult?
JP: Thinking of my adulthood, a highlight would be running a half marathon in 1 hour, 26 minutes. A lowlight would be taking a bad hop in the face when a baseball was cracked down the line in my direction while I was playing Third Base. Just a friendly little pick-up baseball game. Blood, ambulance, hospital…it was really ugly! I’ve never played baseball since.
7. If you could change one thing about sports, what would it be?
JP: The $ cost of most sporting events doesn’t rules out a bunch of people, especially families. In a perfect world, the number of people attending sporting events increases, and the number of people watching them on TV decreases. Also, I feel there’s a lot of room for improvement in making the Olympic Games a higher priority and focus in terms of U.S. sports interest.
8. Do you have an opinion on Christian athletes who, without being prompted, talk about their faith in post-game interviews?
JP: I don’t judge Christian athletes for speaking publicly or not speaking publicly about their faith. It’s all good, either way. Just keep it real.
9. High school gym class…your favorite 45 minutes of the day or the source of countless nightmares and embarrassments?
JP: Next to study-hall and lunch, it was my favorite 45 minutes. Hard to believe I actually got an M. Div.! However, I hated climbing that damn rope in gym class. I couldn’t do it worth a flip, and I was afraid of heights.
10. Sports are often the whipping boy of pastors and clergy because so much passion, money, time, and energy is poured into them. Do you think this criticism is valid, or are sports okay as a diversion from the stresses of life.
JP: I don’t compartmentalize God or life that way. Some of my most transformative God-experiences and many of my most significant relationships are linked in some way to sports. Whether it’s my friendships at the local YMCA, coaching my daughter’s sports team, or involvement in a local cycling club, I see all as sacred.
11. If you had to compete against other writers, in which of these 5 competitions would you have the best chance of winning? 5-mile run, 18 holes of golf, free throw shooting contest, arm wrestling match, or a game of bowling.
JP: In this order: 5-mile run, free throws, arm wrestling, bowling, golf.
12. What is your favorite sports movie of all-time?
JP: Rocky or Hoosiers
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You can click here for an exhaustive (but not exhausting) list of everyone who’s been featured as a PFB Sports Survey participant.
If you’d like to be considered for the PFB Sports Survey, or know someone who should be, send along a name and email address to prayersforblowouts(at)gmail(dot)com.
Tags: Jim Palmer, PFB Sports Survey
