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Hockey Chat: The chest protectors that goalies wear are essential to protecting them. They allow for 100+ miles per hour vulcanized rubber biscuits to bounce off them with no pain to the goaltender. That keeps him confidently in the game.
When I played little league football for the Sharks, we had an undefeated season. We were so good that not a single team even scored against us. Not bad for eight-year-olds!
Needless to say, teams feared the Sharks. After our games, Coach Buckley would hand out the coveted “110%” helmet stickers to players who had played with all their heart and had given that extra effort on the field.
As competitors, we can sometimes be tempted to hold back what is God’s for our own pleasure. But God wants us to give Him what is right, not what’s left. In Luke 6:38, Jesus says:
The gym was packed with screaming fans. You could cut the tension with a knife. It was late in the fourth quarter and Luke had just come into the game—his first game as a varsity player. With time slowly ticking away, the ball was passed to him. He began to dribble toward the basket and . . . bounced the ball off of his foot and out of bounds. I am so out of place, Luke thought. Why did Coach put me in the game?
It was an ancient custom to shoot an arrow or cast a spear into the country which an army intended to invade. We see this in college football when the Florida State Seminole rider hurls the spear into the ground or when the USC Trojan warrior pierces the soil with his sword.
An open window in the pasage above symbolizes a variety of opportunities that come to us during the course of a competitive contest. The release of the arrow in this opportune moment is our ability to capitalize on the opportunity and turn into a surge of momentum for the team. The bow and arrow represent the strategic development of our talents and deployment of our assignments.
Let’s consider the most reckless, dangerous, and risky thing we’ve each done. (Please don’t answer out loud.) If we said it was love our family, friends, and teammates, we’re thinking like Jesus. In John’s gospel we read these challenging words, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.”
These words are remarkable for more than one reason. First, Jesus said them while Judas, who would betray Him that very evening, was in the room. He also said these words to His disciples—His teammates—who, within hours, would go into hiding or deny knowing Him. His love was rather risky, but very deep.
The atmosphere was filled with tension. Players from both teams had been encouraged to protest the game. An outside source was trying to convince players that they were being exploited by big-time college sports. Everyone—including the 74,000 fans watching—was anticipating a conflict, but what people didn’t expect was some risky prayer.
In sports, rivalries are huge. And there is no bigger venue than college basketball. North Carolina vs. Duke, Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State, Kansas vs. Missouri, and my favorite rivalry, Indiana vs. Purdue. They have had some battles over the years when Gene Keady used to face Bobby Knight. Remember the chair-throwing game in the early 80's? And even without Knight, the rivalry continues. Who could forget the exciting double-overtime victory for the Hoosiers this year? This year is different for the rivalry, though. Coach Gene Keady walked into Assembly Hall for the last time as a coach this week. Often, rivalries produce ill will and bad feelings, but nevertheless, Keady was greeted with great applause and appreciation before the game.
I was watching an interview on ESPNews with Barry Bonds. The topic was steroids. Bonds' personal trainer was one of four men recently charged in a steroid-distribution ring that allegedly supplied dozens of professional athletes with banned substances.
Athletes at all levels these days are doing all they can to get the edge. Nutritional supplements — some legal and healthy, others not — are widely used to give athletes an extra boost, better workouts and faster strength gain. I was thinking, what are the supplements of our spiritual lives? What does the spiritual steroid (without the negative connotation) look like? How do we get a boost?
Hockey Chat: You may not remember Ned Harkness when you think of hockey’s greatest, but he truly was. His name is not inscribed on the Stanley Cup but it is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He didn’t run up the scoreboard with goals but filled the hearts and minds of the players with knowledge and passion.
Hockey Chat: Some guys know just how to get under the skin of their opponent. Sometimes it’s with a discrete cheap shot. Maybe a whack of the stick. All for the purpose of getting the guy to swing back. With retaliation comes consequences. Those couple minutes spent in the box might cost the team a goal. All because they had to get ‘em back.
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