{"id":762,"date":"2012-05-17T11:33:20","date_gmt":"2012-05-17T16:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/?p=762"},"modified":"2012-05-17T11:53:22","modified_gmt":"2012-05-17T16:53:22","slug":"762","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slowchurch\/2012\/05\/17\/762\/","title":{"rendered":"The Official Sport of the Slow Church Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I think baseball should be the official sport of the Slow Church movement.<\/p>\n

I love baseball. When I can, I listen to or watch games at home. I read books about baseball. (I\u2019m currently reading Bruce Weber\u2019s magnificent\u00a0As They See \u2018Em: Travels in the Land of Umpires.<\/em>) I\u00a0play catch or wiffle ball at home with my daughter. And I like to take in games at the high school, the local short-season single-A team, and even the very occasional big league game. The two things I have most on mind these days are Slow Church and baseball. Here is my first, albeit ham-fisted (and self-indulgent!), attempt to connect the two.<\/p>\n

Baseball is slow. Back in 1956, the sportswriter Dick Wade timed a nine-inning, high-scoring big league game and found that the ball was in play \u2013 defined as the time between when the ball leaves the pitcher\u2019s hand and when it reaches the plate, and, on balls that were hit, the time before the hitter was either safe or out \u2013 for just 8.5 minutes. In 2000, Rick Reilly, a cranky\u00a0Sports Illustrated<\/em> columnist, famously used a stopwatch and determined that, in a Yankees-A\u2019s game that lasted three hours and 15 minutes, the ball was in play for 12 minutes and 22 seconds. Reilly ended his column<\/a> this way:<\/p>\n

Percentage of time that the ball wasn\u2019t in play: 94.<\/p>\n

Percentage of time my cerebrum wasn\u2019t in play: 94.<\/p>\n

Number of baseball players crushed by unexpected fiery chunk of Planet Zorbig hurtling to earth: Not nearly enough.<\/p>\n

Times I plan on watching baseball on TV ever again: 0.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s okay, I had stopped reading his stuff years before.<\/p>\n

The slow and measured tempo of baseball appeals to me, as it does for many folks. The time between pitches and innings gives the fan time to chat with their neighbors, not to mention the time to think (Reilly\u2019s inactive cerebrum notwithstanding), which is maybe one reason why baseball inspires so much philosophy and poetry and literature.<\/p>\n

When I think about the connection between Slow Church and baseball, George Carlin\u2019s famous comedy routine comparing baseball and football also comes to mind. \u201cBaseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game,\u201d he starts. \u201cFootball is a twentieth-century technological struggle.\u201d Carlin says it better than I can. You can read the transcript of his routine here<\/a>. But I recommend watching the video. I bring it out every year when I want to tease my pacifist Mennonite friend about being such a big football fan:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qmXacL0Uny0<\/a>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think baseball should be the official sport of the Slow Church movement. I love baseball. When I can, I listen to or watch games at home. I read books about baseball. (I\u2019m currently reading Bruce Weber\u2019s magnificent\u00a0As They See \u2018Em: Travels in the Land of Umpires.) I\u00a0play catch or wiffle ball at home with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[279,280,281],"class_list":["post-762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-is-slow-church","tag-baseball","tag-football","tag-george-carlin"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Official Sport of the Slow Church Movement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I think baseball should be the official sport of the Slow Church movement. I love baseball. When I can, I listen to or watch games at home. 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