Shock because she dared stare in the face of convention, and applause because the Gazette didn’t succumb to the masses and deny her position because it’s a guaranteed unpopular one. Moreover, I’m delighted it received front-page status.
This position is one that I have shared for almost two decades, sans a short stretch where I pretended to care for the purpose of fitting in. Those who see me would never suspect I feel this way because apparently if you’re thick and tall, the go-to assumption is that you must have been a linebacker, or at least a “Monday Night Football” couch warmer.
Don’t believe those stereotypes.
I occasionally wonder where life might have taken me had I chosen that path, but more often than not I wonder what we’ve lost as a society in the pursuit of such athletics.
Great things could be accomplished if we could cull the billions of dollars spent watching and worshiping these titans and direct those monies to more benevolent endeavors. One is left with visions of curing cancer, AIDS, world hunger, building Habitat for Humanity homes or colonizing Mars.
Sadly, such nobility cannot hold a candle to the false idolatry that takes place in stadiums, fields, courses and tracks all over the world. Those who consider themselves both religious and sports fans spend significantly more time discussing sports than their God. And while not a single one would admit to worshiping their team or players more than their God, the fact that these folk most likely spend more money on fan gear than their tithe leads me to a different conclusion.
Perhaps I am looking at this all wrong; but while Jesus turned water into wine and was a huge fan of fellowship, somehow I doubt that translates to getting drunk and eating the world’s least healthiest foods while you and your buddies revel in groups of people beating up on each other for the sole purpose of moving a piece of pigskin down a field.
We might not be feeding Christians to the lions anymore, but somehow this doesn’t seem much more civilized.
—Brandon Wertz
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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