{"id":5420,"date":"2015-11-05T06:14:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T11:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5420"},"modified":"2015-11-05T06:34:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T11:34:05","slug":"a-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5420","title":{"rendered":"a game?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1413919873593-061d76ec8452\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a game\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Or so we say.<\/p>\n

Sometimes my sense is we\u2019ve got the games and the non-games all mixed up. We discern some activities as a form of play or sport \u2014 and other activities as serious and life altering \u2014 when maybe they belong in the other so-called category. Once again, we have made something more important than perhaps it should be.<\/p>\n

I look at the reactions of last weekend \u2014 a typical fall weekend featuring a full slate of college and pro football, the start of hockey and the NBA, and\u00a0including baseball\u2019s annual World Series. Then I look at the downcast reactions of those who lost the game\u2026<\/p>\n

From NY Mets manager Terry Collins and pitcher Matt Harvey, both disparagingly blaming themselves for allowing the Kansas City Royals to tie in the 9th inning and eventually win the Fall Classic\u2026 to Steelers QB \u201cBig Ben\u201d Roethlisberger after a tough loss, saying he\u00a0“let this team down” and “this one is on me\u201d\u2026 to all the anger and frustration in the Duke\/Miami college football match up, in which an 8-lateral, loose, last-second play with all sorts of errors and inefficiencies (absent a meddling marching band)<\/em>\u00a0led to a suspension of the officials.<\/p>\n

I get it. I mean no criticism of any of the above; I would be equally frustrated, as we are a competitive people. And as one who also enjoys winning, I understand the deep disappointment. I simply wonder if that disappointment has gone too far in us \u2014 and we\u2019ve made games into something more than they actually are. We see it in adults. We see it in our kids. We see it in ourselves.<\/p>\n

Let me not act, however, as if a game has no value\u2026<\/p>\n

Sports are of great value because they are a venue in which God can work on us to teach humility, hard work, and determination. They are a place where we can learn teamwork and selflessness; we learn to support one another. Also, when we fail, we can turn around and try again. We learn, too \u2014 hopefully \u2014 to turn around and congratulate the person next to us, knowing no one wins forever \u2014 and some will never win; not everyone gets a trophy. Sports are a venue in which we can see the manifest reality that life is not \u201call about me.\u201d The value is actually in the humility and hard work \u2014 not in the winning.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s hard, I think, for most of us to handle \u2014 especially when we see the economic impact of sports and the big business it\u2019s become. Note how \u201cfantasy football,\u201d for example, has even crept into our presidential debates. Millions of dollars are now exchanging hands there; hence, you know that some will declare a need to regulate or be involved (and, uh, get a piece of that).<\/em> My point is that our games have become far more than games. No, it\u2019s not just a game.<\/p>\n

I think of Kansas City Royals pitcher, Edinson Volquez. Volquez started two games en route to the Royals championship last weekend. Yet nine days\u00a0ago, hours before his first World Series start, Volquez\u2019s father, Daniel, passed away in the Dominican Republic after struggling with heart disease. His family made the decision not to tell Edinson until after he was pulled from game one. Edinson then flew home to the funeral before returning to start Sunday\u2019s final game.<\/p>\n

Upon his return, Volquez was greeted overwhelmingly compassionately by his teammates\u2026 \u201cWow\u2026 I\u2019ve got a lot of people that really care about what happened to me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Said teammate Eric Hosmer, \u201cI know he\u2019s going to be thinking about his dad and we\u2019re all going to be thinking about it. We\u2019re all going to try to do it for everyone on this team \u2014 everyone that\u2019s lost a family member on this team. We\u2019re all in this together.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Teamwork\u2026 selflessness\u2026<\/p>\n

The Royals were determined to play hard and make people proud \u2014 utilizing the humility and hard work that helped them reach this moment. While no doubt winning was their desire, something tells me, too, the Royals realized what was a game\u00a0\u2014 and what was not.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s just a game\u2026 Or so we say. Sometimes my sense is we\u2019ve got the games and the non-games all mixed up. We discern some activities as a form of play or sport \u2014 and other activities as serious and life altering \u2014 when maybe they belong in the other so-called category. Once again, we … <\/p>\n

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