While the NFL
playoffs forge on towards the Super Bowl, passion for this football
season came to an end for me when my Minnesota Vikings fell to the
Washington Redskins in the next to last game of the season. Playoff
hopes – what little existed for a team with no passing game – were
dashed.
So, it’s time to fire
up the Hot Stove League and look to baseball. While the heart of
this fan rests with the Cincinnati Reds (anyone know of an available
veteran starter?), I can watch a baseball game anytime, anywhere,
and between any teams.
Baseball? I can hear
the protests.
After all, hasn’t
baseball been disgraced (again, some might say) with revelations in
the Mitchell Report of widespread steroid abuse, including by some
of the game’s best, such as allegations against pitcher Roger
Clemens?
Congress, of course,
is getting in the act, with the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform holding a hearing on January 15 in which MLB
Commissioner Bud Selig, players union chief Don Fehr, and former
U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who authored the Mitchell Report, were
rather mildly grilled. A second day was supposed to include Yankees
pitchers Clemens and Andy Pettitte, former Yankees second baseman
Chuck Knoblauch, and two sources for the report – former Yankees
strength and conditioning coach Brian McNamee and former New York
Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski. But that has been pushed
back to February 13, as Congress apparently digs deeper. One has to
wonder why Congress is digging around this topic, that is, other
than to take an opportunity for some grandstanding.
We’ll see what comes
out of this. The March 2005 congressional hearings on steroid use in
baseball had three basic results: 1) Slugger Mark McGwire’s
declaration that he was “not here to talk about the past” likely
cost him the Hall of Fame, 2) Rafael Palmeiro’s adamant denial was
followed up 10 months later with a positive test for steroids
(again, bye, bye Hall), and 3) Sammy Sosa’s vagueness did not serve
him well.
So, how should those
of us who love the game respond?
I have a friend who
was a huge baseball fan. But the 1994 strike ended his love affair
with the national pastime.
Regarding the
steroids scandal, consider a couple of opinion pieces written in
Newsday at the end of last month. On December 28, columnist James
Klurfeld wrote: “Sports is a make-believe world. To me, it’s an
escape from the deadly consequences of tragedies, wars and conflict
that make real news… I would love to believe Clemens’ denials.
Wouldn’t it be great if he pitched like this into his 40s because of
hard work and God-given talent? Wouldn’t it be great if he were a
real sports hero? But I have a bad feeling about it and his
stonewalling. And, besides, a real story, about human greed and
weakness, has intruded on my make-believe world. Too bad.”
A Long Island
resident, Henry E. Bockrath, followed up the next day with an op-ed.
The writer reflected fondly on his boyhood days playing baseball.
But now when he thinks of his youthful baseball dreams, it is “with
tears in his eyes” due to human growth hormone and steroids. He
bemoaned that baseball, in his view, is now all about
self-absorption, materialism, a drug culture and money grubbing. The
76-year-old writer concluded: “As for me, my 50-year-old leather
pitcher’s mitt, which I kept soft every year with Neetsfoot Oil and
tucked away with a baseball in the pocket, has a new home. It’s in
the garbage with my nighttime dreams.” Whew, that’s tough.
What to make of these
comments? And why the heck am I writing about this in a column
titled “On the Church & Society”? Well, Christianity provides a
much-needed reminder about human nature in the midst of this
baseball mess.
I certainly share the
frustrations and sadness of these fellow fans. But perhaps they
misplaced the essence of their baseball love. One should, of course,
admire baseball skills, and especially appreciate those who play the
game and conduct themselves with integrity. But hero worship is
misguided.
Many people ask me
how a lifelong New Yorker came to be a Cincinnati Reds fan. The
answer is Pete Rose. As a child, how Rose played the game made me a
Reds fan. So, I know something about disillusionment when it comes
to baseball players and managers.
Christianity provides
a necessary, sober reminder that we are all sinners. When news
breaks about some pastor or priest caught in a scandal, that should
not shake our faith. Our hope, faith and focus lie with Jesus
Christ, not in a flawed person or personality in a particular
church. Even pastors and priests are weak, sinful, and in need of
forgiveness and redemption, just like the rest of us. Yet, we still
go to church. We still believe.
It’s similar with
baseball (though obviously nowhere near as important). Those who
play the big league game are sinners. Many will do things that will
hurt baseball and the fans.
But the wonders of
baseball make it worth keeping and relishing. Christianity teaches
to hate the sin, love the sinner. When it comes to the challenges
that now face baseball, what’s needed is to beef up policing, dole
out penalties where appropriate, and, bottom line, hate the sin,
love the sinner – and love the game.
Raymond J. Keating, also a columnist
with Newsday, is the editor and publisher of the “On the Church &
Society Report.” This column is from the latest issue of the
“On the Church & Society Report,”
which also features “God and Taxes,” “I
Am Legend, the Message, and Finding God,” “Veggie Pirates,” and “The
Terminator is Back.”To receive a
free four-issue trial of “On the Church & Society Report,” send
an e-mail request to
ChurchandSociety@aol.com.
