Biblical Commentary in TMQ

I enjoy Gregg Easterbrook’s writing.  I read his NFC preview this morning, but the AFC preview will have to wait.  I did peek at the Chiefs preview.  Easterbrook had this to say:

Scripture note: The apostle Paul’s Letter to the Romans notes at 14:2, “Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.” Obviously Paul never played flag football with [Tony] Gonzalez, one of the NFL’s few vegetarians. The translation is from the New Revised Standard Version, endorsed by most biblical scholars. The New International Version, favored by evangelicals, renders the passage as, “One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.” Evangelical translators want being a vegetarian to sound wimpy!

Interestingly enough, in the past six months I’ve read numerous allusions to biblical passages in sports writing and news reporting, and have wondered just what percentage of people in our culture are familiar enough with some of the basic components of the Old and New Testaments to get it.  My guess: that number is fairly low.  E.D. Hirsch might agree.

Read Full Post »

Take Me Out to the Ballgame…

Tonight my wife Molly and I went out to Kauffman Stadium to watch the Royals take on the Cleveland Indians.  Gil Meche was matched up against C.C. Sabathia–at the outset it appeared to be a good matchup.  Meche had just come off a win, and Sabathia has had a rough start to the season.  At the end of the night, Sabathia pitched six innings and struck out 11.  Meche didn’t make it out of the fourth, having given up 8 runs.  Molly and I left at the end of the 5th, with the Royals down 10-0.

We didn’t take off simply because it was a blow out.  Molly is headed out of town tomorrow morning, and I’m driving her to the airport.  I wanted to get home at a decent hour.

I decided to upload a couple of pictures.  Above you’ll see how close the season tickets I split with Andrew are to the left field foul pole, and here you see the view we have down the third base line (click the photos for an enlarged view).  We’re on the front row out in section 139.  This baseball season we’ll be talking theology out in left. 

I love baseball.

Here is Billy Butler.  The more I see this guy, the more I like the nickname I’ve given him–Pancakes.  He hits the ball hard when he makes contact.  He also looks like a guy who eats a big breakfast.  When he comes to the plate, I thinking his ideal theme music would come from this YouTube video.

Tomorrow I’m preparing to teach and head up our youth group gatherings, while also continuing to work on material related to my studies at KU.  I have another couple of weeks left in the semester.  That means I have a few papers to put together.  This semester has featured an additional load as I’ve been prepping for my comprehensive exams.  Written comps are on May 2, and my oral defense will come the following week.

As I prepare, baseball will continue to be a great distraction.  Wish me luck.

Read Full Post »

Big XII Tournament Kicks off in KC on Thursday

This Thursday the Big XII tourney comes to town.  I haven’t had cable television for about the past three years (which has done wonders for my reading habits), so I don’t watch as much NCAA and NBA action as I did at one time.  I’ve been thankful for ESPN’s addition of short highlight clips to the write ups for most all televised sporting events, so I’ve kept track of my favorite teams through the web.  Since I don’t watch the full games I also get the chance to read some sports reporting, and I still look at the complete box score in both basketball and baseball.  I’ve kept up with Baylor athletics (my alma mater (did you know that is Latin for “nourishing mother”?) through the internet.  Fortunately I can still catch those games for free.  Unfortunately the voice of the Bears is a guy named John Morris.  He has little idea how to describe the game of basketball.  Football isn’t much better.  Sorry John.

Yesterday on WHB810′s Between the Lines Kevin Kietzman put together a great list of reasons to be excited that the Big XII tourney is in KC this year.  Unfortunately they did not post that list on their website.  Among his reasons were the Sprint Center, the KC Power & Light district, the competitiveness of the Big XII this year, a number of extremely talented players (first among them Michael Beasley), and the fact that KU will have to win the tourney to have a shot at a #1 seed in the Big Dance.  You can check out the matchups for the weekend here.

I have tickets to Thursday’s Baylor vs. Colorado matchup.  Baylor handled Colorado in Boulder earlier this year 68-57, and should be in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 20 years.  Winning this weekend will only solidify their bid.  The Bears went 21-9 this year and finished 9-7 in conference.  A victory Friday would put them up against Oklahoma on Friday, whom the Bears haven’t beaten in 20 years, or something like that.  Baylor lost an overtime heartbreaker to the Sooners back on February 19.

I also have tickets to the Championship game on Sunday.  A Kansas vs. Baylor matchup would be ideal, for me.  Weird stuff always happens in this tournament, so I’m looking forward to the weekend matchups, the fanfare surrounding the games, and the opportunity to take in the experience.  I’m praying for good weather this weekend!

Read Full Post »

Market or Media Driven? Celebrity Intrigue & Voyeurism

Today I was listening to Sports Radio 810 WHB broadcasting from Kansas City.  You can visit their website here.  Kevin Kietzman, Todd Leabo, and Danny Clinkscale are on each afternoon on “Between the Lines” from 2:00 to 7:00.  They run a good program, seem to have good insight into the world of sports, and seem to have fun.  I like listening to their program.

On this afternoon’s broadcast the crew briefly discussed a recent story that broke about Pedro Martinez, a pitcher for the New York Mets.  Martinez was caught on tape at a cock fighting match which was held outside the United States.  You can read about it here.

Kietzman, Leabo, and Clinkscale discussed this story with a caller, who didn’t understand why this was even relevant.  Why should we care what Pedro Martinez does during the off season?  Why should we be concerned if he’s involved in a sport that is legal in his home country of the Dominican Republic?  The caller argued that this type of voyeurism wouldn’t take place if the media wasn’t so desperate for news. With 24 hour coverage of sports and not enough news to fill the day, the media feels pressure to fill the time.  As a result we are presented with the mundane details of celebrities lives.

“Between the Lines” shot back, “You, the consumer, create the demand for such news.  If the people didn’t want it, weren’t interested, and it didn’t receive such great ratings, we wouldn’t report it.”  In essence, they said, “You made me.  I’m not culpable.”  This response reminds me of what it was like growing up with two younger siblings.

You can think of other networks that dedicate themselves to this industry.  TMZ.  Entertainment Tonight.  Access Hollywood.  The E! Network.

In this debate, who is right?  Is it the media’s responsibility to back off Britney Spears, or is it the public’s responsibility to turn it off?

Either way, our culture is guilty of amusing ourselves to death, as Neil Postman has argued so well in his book of the same name.

 Perhaps it is time that both parties step back and take a long, hard look at the state of our culture and take on their share of the blame.  Until such truth telling takes place it will be difficult for our public discourse to move forward.

Read Full Post »

Super Bowl Results

The past two weeks left me with mixed emotions.  I was constantly asked for a pick from students, friends, acquaintances, and my emotions ranged from, (a) not caring, (b) rooting for the underdog, and (c) rooting for history.  I’m sorry to say that (a) was probably the most prevalent reaction.

The game was great.  We had a couple of friends over to watch the action.  Part of our discussion centered on the Spygate scandal.  You can read an interesting article about the fallout from the Patriots illegal videotaping activities here.  Gregg Easterbrook provides some excellent commentary on why this story matters, why government should be involved in sports scandals like these, and how even if fans don’t want to hear it, the truth needs to come out.

A second article I found today was from Randy Galloway–a DFW favorite from when I lived in the metroplex.  You can find his take here.

Have a great Super Bowl Monday.

Read Full Post »