On the face of it, I don’t really dislike the Cardinals for any sincere reason, such as being a Cubs or Braves fan. While I am not a particular fan of baseball, that is not really the rub either. Initially I disliked the Cardinals just for spite. Stephen refuses to like or watch the Arkansas Razorbacks, so I in turn began to dislike the Cardinals. However, that “surface hatred” per se has grown into true dislike of all things regarding professional sports. NFL, NBA, MLB, Tennis, etc., I am not discriminating. I don’t any of them! Or maybe that is not a fair statement. It might be best to say instead that I dislike what they have done to our society. Please let me explain further.
Do you realize how many people watch professional sports? According to http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/15/comment-of-the-day-how-many-people-really-watch-mlb-games 1.65 billion Americans watch the NFL and an estimated 1.01 billion watch the MLB. Wow, really?? Isn’t that just amazing? All those folks who gather to watch a man throw, catch or run somewhere on a field. All those people who pay big bucks to attend games and buy different memorabilia with their favorite team(s) displayed on them. While it is mostly men who tend to be diehard fans, women are also guilty of obsessing over professional sports teams also. There is no telling how many parents (dad & mom) who put off chores, rush home from family events, turn on the radio to listen to the games, etc. They are DEDICATED, hardcore, not going to miss a game type of fans. At this point you are probably asking “And your point is?” My point is how many of those same dedicated, hardcore, not going to miss a game fan also attends church or opens up their Bible on a daily, let alone weekly basis? Huh? How many???
According to http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/15/comment-of-the-day-how-many-people-really-watch-mlb-games while 49% of Americans report attending church on Sunday mornings on a weekly basis half of them are lying. They estimate that really only 20% of American attend church on Sunday mornings on a weekly basis. 20% people!!! Am I the only one who is bothered by that number? If you look at http://www.gallup.com/poll/1786/More-Americans-Fans-Pro-Football-Than-Any-Other-Sport.aspx 31% of Americans claim to be a fan of professional hockey! Professional hockey, are you kidding me?! Both of these sources are based on 1999-2001 numbers so it wouldn’t surprise me to find that even fewer people are attending church and more are now fans of hockey. Pretty sad, isn’t it?
When you look up “idolatry” on dicationary.com it says the following: 1. the religious worship of idols; 2. excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc. Does that sound familiar to you? I never thought of this type of thing as idolatry until my childhood preacher gave a sermon over the subject of idols one Sunday morning. I don’t remember the details, but what I do remember is that he pointed out how young people today (and that was 15 yrs ago) tend to put music artists, ball players, NASCAR drivers, or just famous people in general on a type of pedistool in which they are the ultimate role model in society. Kids hang posters of their favorite ball player or music star in their rooms, buy all the magazines with them on the cover, buy their cds (or download it to their i-Pod), wear their clothes, etc. I am sure you get the point. Do you have any idea how many Cardinals t-shirts I saw Wednesday, the first game of the world series? Unbelievable the dedication people have to this team! That is all they talk about. Who hit what, who pitched or didn’t pictch, what Tony LaRussa “shoulda, woulda, coulda” done and when the next game is. It is absolutely amazing, and yet very rarely is anything mentioned about God. You don’t hear about what the preacher spoke about on Sunday or didn’t say, what Sunday school was about, what your current Bible study is. Nope, those things are either “mum” or just not on our agenda at all.
Uh, oh? Did I ruffle some of your feathers? Well, good! I have ruffled plenty of my own to be honest with you. While I feel that many have put professional (and college, to be perfect honest) sports in the idolatry category, I truly believe it was unintentional. I am guilty of the same sin. While I was thinking about this blog, it hit home that I have done the same thing, just not with sports. My idol is currently TV shows in general or sleep. I turn on the tube instead of opening the Bible or just lay my head down on the pillow instead of teaching my 2 year old how to pray to her Father in Heaven. So, while I am scolding many of you for your over zealousness for sports, I am also scolding myself. I have also realized that if I am not careful I will create an idol for Hadley: Dora. After her birthday party I realized just how many things we bought for her that had Dora on it. So, I am going to have to cut back on that stuff and remedy myself as well.
I hope this blog has made you reexamine your life and love affair with your “idol.” We all have them, what is yours? It could be reading a book, looking at magazines, keeping up with your facebook or email, your job, or all kinds of things that you put before our God. Exodus 20:14 states: And God spoke these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing hte children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments." Keep in mind that dictionary.com lists "god" as the following: any person or thing to which excessive attention is given. Hmmmm.......given much attention to something besides God lately?
The next time to strike up a conversation about the Cardinals or something else, why don’t you ask yourself when was the last time to talk about Jesus to someone? Or wore something about Him? Or read something about Him? Or attended Church?
Please look at the picture below. When is the last time you saw or have you ever seen this many people crazy over the Lord? The point of this blog is that people "worship" professional sports more than they do God. We spend more time watching TV in general than we do in a pew or reading out Bibles.
However, for the record, good luck tonight Cards!
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