Way back a million years ago I was interviewing for what would become my first settlement as a UU parish minister. It had been a long day of interviewing and related, we’d had dinner and this was kind of the sweep up, mostly visiting but with some important questions.
One member looked at me and asked, “James, what do you think of football?”
I wasn’t exactly sure where this one was going. It was Wisconsin. And I knew this was in some sense football country. But I was in a weakened state and so I said what I really think. “I believe federal funding should be withheld from any school that has a football team,” said I.
They laughed.
They laughed and laughed.
I wasn’t sure what this meant. I mean I’d said this before in other situations and the most it got was a wry smile. And usually it was a disdainful smirk at my pointy headed anti-American prejudice.
Turns out the person who would end up being my predecessor was a footballer in college. And the game and various aspects of it were his favorite metaphor. Seems they were ready to give it a rest for a few years and knew I would provide that respite…
So, sports.
I have my competitive edge, no doubt. But at least as much for the fact we moved nearly every year and I never had any instruction in any sport and was a runt, too boot, as for any other reason, I never channelled any of that competitiveness into athletics of any sort.
In my late middle age I’ve come to be a mild fan of baseball. I claim a team, although I only can name three players and recognize two out of context. I very much enjoy the triple A version of the game & like to take in a couple of games every year…
I still consider American football disgusting, organized thuggery without a shred of social redemption about it. To those who claim it’s cathartic I say bull pucky! It’s about organized brutality & the stories of what players get up to outside the game only makes sense to anyone who thinks about what they’re encouraged to do for their livings…
And I do understand it is basic human nature to divide up into teams.
That part I get.
But, also, I think we need to be more than cautious about it.
Great things flow out of our being together and caring for one another. This ranges from fun to powerful opportunities to be better than we would otherwise be.
And bad things, sometimes very bad things come out of our thinking the team has anything real about it, anything that counts in the long run…
Sort of like other groups we belong to, I suspect…
(and thank you, Adam, for the cartoon!)
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