Some Memorial Day free time

Ahhhh. Finally a chance to relax a little and write something. First, thank you! Thank you to all who have served in our armed forces, and their families, who must also make sacrifices so we can live in a free society. Thanks especially to those whose loved ones paid the ultimate price. Thank you and God bless you.

Krista took Kris out for a birthday outing. Jeremiah is at a friend's house. Jonathan is at a friend's house. I have some precious peace and quiet. Well, except for the sounds of me coughing up my lungs. Still, its good to get a little break. Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone!

Now, back to what I started several weeks ago. I was talking about how sports have really become an idol in American culture, for sure here in the south. My thesis stems from that. It is that we have really created a monster out of children's sports. We have made sports for kids so ridiculously serious that it is not good for the kids or the parents or the coaches. It has become a place in our society where our depravity frequently gets the best of us.

I gave a couple of examples in the previous post and I feel they are very typical of where we are in America with kid's sports. There is a lot more to say about the issue. However, before delving into more of it, lest you think I'm anti-sports, I want to offer a little personal testimony.

I really like sports. I would say that I "love" sports, but that is part of the problem. I have great parents and they gave me a wonderful childhood. My father really likes sports too. He was an all around athlete in high school. In fact, I'd venture to say he is still one of the best 84 year old golfers around. Because of his interest in sports they were always on in our house on weekends (remember this was back when there were just three channels and sports only aired on Saturdays and Sundays). Actually, one of my fondest childhood memories is that of lying in the living room beside Dad on Saturday nights while he tuned his old transistor radio between college football games. We lived in Oklahoma, but with careful tuning he could listen to several Southwest Conference games in an evening. It was fun!

Couple that with the fact that the kids in my neighborhood were always playing football or basketball or baseball or kickball and the result is that my first grade teacher said I knew more about sports than any little kids she had known. I don't say that to brag but to make the point that I am a sports fan. I am not against sports. They can/should be fun. They can/should be healthy.

However, there can be a dark side to sports as well. By the time I was in junior high football was my idol. I can remember if the Cowboys lost a big game I would become incredibly upset; even to the point of crawling under my bean bag chair and crying. Crying over a game is ridiculous. Thankfully, though, God convinced me of my sin. Between eighth and ninth grades the Holy Spirit really got my attention and showed me that the position of sports in my life (specifically football) rightfully belonged to God. With His help I repented and actually quit football.

Now, I cannot honestly say that I never again gave sports an improper place in my life. However, that was the first big step in getting my priorities straight. The more I have matured intellectually and spiritually the better I have become at keeping sports in their proper perspective.

So, please don't think that I dislike sports or that I look down on those who idolize them. Been there done that. I'm not making these posts to condemn anyone. Hopefully, God can use the ideas here to help put sports in perspective for someone else who needs it. In turn, hopefully, that will allow some children to play sports for the right reasons and in the right atmosphere without overzealous parents and coaches making it a miserable experience rather than a fun one.

Kids and sports

I live in the Bible belt; in fact, pretty much the buckle of the Bible belt. There are a whole lot of born again Christians in Texas. However, we are not a majority by any stretch of the imagination. In the culture at large God is still popular, but it is more akin to the way Santa Clause is popular than to a true widespread recognition of the God of the Bible. Anyone who lives here can tell you that the true objects of worship in this neck of the woods are beer and sports.

Making idols of beer and sports is bad enough, but down here we've developed an especially sad version of sports worship. We have combined the need that many parents have to vicariously live the life of a sports hero through their children with the notion that sports are worthy of worship. This has created a monster of sorts that I have long found to be disturbing. I have wanted to write about this monster often but never seem to get around to it. The other day, however, I heard a story that is very typical of the monster about which I speak. It hit so close to home that I got pretty riled up about it and decided to finally write, or begin writing, some of my thoughts on this monster.

A friend has a child involved in a local Little League baseball program. The child's coach is a man who previously coached one of my kids. I felt at that time that this man took kids' sports way too seriously. Well, the coach said something to the child that bordered on a threat. When the parent confronted the coach he denied it saying that the child had simply misunderstood. A few days later one of the parents witnessed the coach treating several of his players in a way that bordered on physical abuse. Let me take a moment to note that this parent is not an over-reacting whimp like some of you are thinking right now. This man was a soldier and is a sports fan himself. He was not over-reacting.

At this point the parents had knowledge of two extreme incidents in a week's time, their child was rapidly becoming disenchanted with the coach and the sport itself, they wanted to make sure that things did not get any worse. Therefore, they decided they ought to take matters to the league officials. They phoned the league president. The man admited that they had received other complaints about this particular coach. However, he said that he also had parents request this coach for their children because this coach gets results. Furthermore, he stated that his own son was on the coach's select team and he would not offer any type of reprimand. He also refused to transfer the player to another team.

There ya go. There's a perfect example of what has gone wrong with sports. We have adopted the attitude that in the sports world, even the sports world of nine year olds, that the ends justifies the means. The coach, by virtue of the good ol' boy club (which is also prevalent in Texas), gets to use unethical methods because he wins. The boys learn that its okay to break the rules as long as your team wins.

Think this is an isolated incident? Think about the NCAA basketball tournament that we watched all during March. What happens at the end of a game when one team has a slight lead and the other team needs the ball back? The losing team fouls.

"So what?" you say. "That's just strategy."

Ya, the strategy is that you break the rules if it gives your team a shot at winning. That's what we're teaching our children. Then we are surprised when we hear about individuals at all levels of the private and public sectors who willingly engage in unethical or illegal behavior if it helps them "win" at making money or getting elected or getting a job or whatever.

I'm sleepy. More on this subject soon.