I have always enjoyed following baseball. I am not some kind of huge fan or even a fanatic. I can’t tell you some long string of stats. Even as I write this (and it is early), I can’t even tell you who won the World Series last year. Nevertheless, I grew up in Orange County, in the Long Beach, CA area and so I began a “California Angels” fan (now of course more simplistically – the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). At least if this pastor is going to follow a team, that team should be the “Angels” (okay – it doesn’t matter). My point is, that while I will listen to some games and watch even fewer (not a big demand in Arkansas for Angel’s games), I simply like the game in a generic sense.
All that said, there have been a number of things that disturb me about Baseball and professional sports in general, one of the chief of which is just the utter greed - outrageous salaries that make attending many sports out of reach of the general population. But another thing that has bothered me lately is even in light of drug abuses by players and coaches; the general sports population not only tends to ignore such abuses, but even applauds it.
The latest case in point is St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. I have no bone to pick with the man. I have always appreciated him as a baseball manager, and while it has taken me some time to tolerate being a Cardinal fan (because that is the team that is big around here, and there are many ex-Angels on the team), I cannot believe the response to La Russa’s faux pax. Did I say faux pax? How about gross negligence and sin? According to Yahoo News, “manager Tony La Russa was arrested Thursday on a drunken driving charge after police said they found him asleep inside his running sport utility vehicle at a stop light.” “La Russa had a blood alcohol content of 0.093 percent, Jupiter police said in a statement. Florida's legal driving limit is 0.08 percent.”
Okay, let me set this straight. I don’t think that La Russa makes any claim to be a follow of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I would not seek to hold him to any standard of Christian behavior that he is, by nature, unable to pursue. It was a gross mistake; potentially dangerous to both himself and others and thankfully nothing more than his falling asleep at a stop light was the result. But what really got to me when I heard the story was that the next day, when he showed up at the stadium in Jupiter, Florida, it was reported that the “players stood behind their manager, and fans at Roger Dean Stadium received La Russa with a warm ovation prior to Thursday's game.” Another source reported, “when La Russa walked onto the field before Thursday's game, many fans stood and applauded.”
I know that the fans just wanted to “support” La Russa. But what are they supporting? Drunken driving. Would they have done this if he had hit and injured or kill another person? I don’t know exactly what is appropriate, by the world’s standards, as his punishment for such behavior, but what a twisted world to give an ovation to a man who purposely got himself intoxicated and then was dumb enough to get behind the wheel of a car.
Now, in case you think there is not a spiritual point to all this – let me quote from Isaiah 5:20 which declares:
The word “woe” expresses great grief and lamentation. It is a terrible thing for a people to call evil good and good evil. Not that any of this should surprise us, but in a world where a teacher in Oregon was fired for interjecting some Bible references into a Biology class while discussing Evolution; in a world that is seeking to make it a hate crime to publicly declare homosexuality is a sin, I guess it should not surprise us when people will applaud a man who intoxicated himself and then got behind the wheel of a vehicle. We live in some interesting times that call for much courage and discernment.
I close with a paraphrase of a statement I once heard. I am sorry I cannot site where I came up with this, but consider it well:
“Nothing reveals the character of a man more than what he laughs at.”
What do you laugh at? What do you approve? Do we either knowingly or even inadvertently call evil good and good evil?
Soli Deo Gloria,
All that said, there have been a number of things that disturb me about Baseball and professional sports in general, one of the chief of which is just the utter greed - outrageous salaries that make attending many sports out of reach of the general population. But another thing that has bothered me lately is even in light of drug abuses by players and coaches; the general sports population not only tends to ignore such abuses, but even applauds it.
The latest case in point is St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. I have no bone to pick with the man. I have always appreciated him as a baseball manager, and while it has taken me some time to tolerate being a Cardinal fan (because that is the team that is big around here, and there are many ex-Angels on the team), I cannot believe the response to La Russa’s faux pax. Did I say faux pax? How about gross negligence and sin? According to Yahoo News, “manager Tony La Russa was arrested Thursday on a drunken driving charge after police said they found him asleep inside his running sport utility vehicle at a stop light.” “La Russa had a blood alcohol content of 0.093 percent, Jupiter police said in a statement. Florida's legal driving limit is 0.08 percent.”
Okay, let me set this straight. I don’t think that La Russa makes any claim to be a follow of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I would not seek to hold him to any standard of Christian behavior that he is, by nature, unable to pursue. It was a gross mistake; potentially dangerous to both himself and others and thankfully nothing more than his falling asleep at a stop light was the result. But what really got to me when I heard the story was that the next day, when he showed up at the stadium in Jupiter, Florida, it was reported that the “players stood behind their manager, and fans at Roger Dean Stadium received La Russa with a warm ovation prior to Thursday's game.” Another source reported, “when La Russa walked onto the field before Thursday's game, many fans stood and applauded.”
I know that the fans just wanted to “support” La Russa. But what are they supporting? Drunken driving. Would they have done this if he had hit and injured or kill another person? I don’t know exactly what is appropriate, by the world’s standards, as his punishment for such behavior, but what a twisted world to give an ovation to a man who purposely got himself intoxicated and then was dumb enough to get behind the wheel of a car.
Now, in case you think there is not a spiritual point to all this – let me quote from Isaiah 5:20 which declares:
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil ; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
The word “woe” expresses great grief and lamentation. It is a terrible thing for a people to call evil good and good evil. Not that any of this should surprise us, but in a world where a teacher in Oregon was fired for interjecting some Bible references into a Biology class while discussing Evolution; in a world that is seeking to make it a hate crime to publicly declare homosexuality is a sin, I guess it should not surprise us when people will applaud a man who intoxicated himself and then got behind the wheel of a vehicle. We live in some interesting times that call for much courage and discernment.
I close with a paraphrase of a statement I once heard. I am sorry I cannot site where I came up with this, but consider it well:
“Nothing reveals the character of a man more than what he laughs at.”
What do you laugh at? What do you approve? Do we either knowingly or even inadvertently call evil good and good evil?
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
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