Professional Toddlers

by Dan Bouchelle

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t a sports fan. I can’t think of much good that comes from it. It takes up time I could spend on more important things, but I just can’t help it. I love sports.

But I may be coming closer to overcoming my addiction—at least to some sports. When you look at what is happening in the professional sports world, it gets harder and harder to cheer for anybody.

Take Major League Baseball. During the most recent strike the game lost an ageless charm it may never regain. Here we have a great sport being ruined by greed. I don’t know enough to have an opinion about who is more to blame, but I know this much—there is plenty of money in baseball for everyone involved to get far more than they need or deserve. Something about watching millionaires act like spoiled toddlers in a room packed with toys turns my stomach.

Things seem even worse in the NBA. There is plenty of greed here also, but what is more disturbing is the level of immaturity displayed on and off the court. Some of the most talented players won’t practice and publicly criticize their coaches. “Superstar” players have thrown temper tantrums, chairs, punches. Even choking a coach! Once again, I’m reminded of peeking in on a room of spoiled two-year-olds. Whatever happened to class? Whatever happened to sportsmanship?

These things matter not because sports are so important, but because sports both reflect and contribute to the collective character of our society. It is because we as a nation have cultivated selfishness, immaturity, and greed that this is happening. As a result, our cultural heroes model the very behaviors we try to weed out of their adoring young fans.

In this environment, the church needs to remember Jesus’ admonition from the Sermon on the Mount that his people are to be a counterculture. We need to be salt and light by not chasing after money like the pagans. We can be salt and light by not lashing out in anger and calling our brothers and sisters, “Fool!” We can be salt and light by turning the other cheek instead of chunking chairs and swinging fists.

Indeed, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Perhaps if the world can see our good deeds, they will indeed praise our Father in heaven.  They may even want to be part of a loving and gentle people where character means something. It’s worth a try, don’t you think?