a Greater Glory

Talk about a stirring title! Now that I have your attention, we are going to take a look at James 3:5-10 to see what exactly I am talking about:

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

The tongue a muscle that we use for chewing and swallowing and the main organ that we use for tasting.  This muscle is one of the main reasons you are alive, without it you would be unable to process the nutrients you get from food that hasn’t been broken down yet.  While the tongue may be an important part of your body, it is also a part of your body that causes more controversy and can destroy everything that you have worked for in your life.  What will Bill Clinton be remembered for? Lying.  What will Ken Lay (Enron) be remembered for? Lying. What will Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens be remembered for? Lying and Baseball.

The ways in which each of these players have handled this has been different.  Sosa all of a sudden couldn’t speak English when he was asked about it.  Mark McGwire simply didn’t want to talk about the past.  Rodriguez lied about it, then kind of told the truth only once he was caught in his lie.  Palmeiro, Bonds, and Clemens well they still adamantly deny taking anything, or if they did they took it unknowingly.

In a recent ESPN interview Palmeiro still denies that he knowingly took anything and even hints at being “set-up”.  I am not saying that Palmeiro is lying or lied, but let’s use our imaginations a bit.  If I am a world class athlete and I work all year round to keep my body in peak condition and a  teammate offers me a “pill” don’t you think I might ask what it is? Second, let’s just say I don’t ask what the pill  is and just take it.  What percentage chances are there that on that specific day MLB is going to be doing drug testing?

To be quite honest and frank I beleive that Andy Pettitte handled this the best, he admitted to taking them and apologized.  What Pettitte did doesn’t make it right, but he at least handled it and spoke the right way about it.  When these players adamantly lie and say they didn’t do it, it only darkens their credibility more and more.  Eventually some new report comes out and implicates them further.  Then they have to back pedal and reword what they previously said.  It would be good if all athletes took the verses from James and memorized them or put them inside their locker.  The tongue can destroy so much of what they have created and it is a shame to see such great careers get taken through the mud.

So here’s one for you, Michael Vick may be joining football faster than originally thought.  An article by ESPN.com shows that the new United Football League is interested in bringing Michael Vick into the fold.  The league is obviously interested in the marketability of Michael Vick (think MLS bringing David Beckham into the league).  While the move is not definite it provides another opportunity for Vick who is still awaiting a decision from the NFL regarding reinstatement.   To read the article by ESPN click here.

What if church were treated like an NBA game?  How would it look, how would it sound?  Well, it might sound and look something like this.  Enjoy!

I like Shaquille O’Neal, I really do.  I am not sure if it’s because he looks like a big teddy bear, or he just has a good time with his job, but I like him. In light of his recent trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers, I would like to link to a funny interview that Shaquille just gave to Cleveland reporters that was featured on ESPN.  The video is worth your time, as you can see just how funny Shaquille is, I have included it below:

Dany Heatley, who has averaged 45 G, 46 A in four seasons with the Ottawa Senators, has asked to be traded.  Because Heatley has the power of a “no-movement” clause, a classic sports’ drama has ensued between him, his agent, the GM, and the owner.  The crux of the matter had Heatley going to the Edmonton Oilers for 3 players late Tuesday night.   Supposedly Heatley had all but signed off on the deal, but decided later to deny the trade.  Because of his denial, the Senators were forced to pay Heatley his $4 million bonus July 1.

This is where the perverbial Jenga tower begins to shake.  Heatley is due $8 million in salary next season, so any team willing to make a trade would only have to pick up half of that (the bonus is included in next year’s salary).  So you can imagine the market for Heatley in a few weeks:  $4 million a year for a player worth around $8-10 million?  Seems like an easy answer to me.  A more interesting question lies with the Senators.  You’ve already been played for fools.  After paying the bonus, are you already too invested that any trade would double your folly?

Read the full article here:  Only one word for Heatley drama:  mess

ESPN has awarded the Los Angeles Angels as the Ultimate Franchise.  Be sure to read the article here on ESPN.com and you can also read about the methodology they used to come up with the Ultimate Franchise here.  The top five looked like this:

1. Los Angeles Angels (MLB)
2. Carolina Hurricanes (NHL)
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL)
4. Detroit Red Wings (NHL)
5. Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA)

I have to be honest, these rankings seem a bit ridculous.  Four of the top five franchises have to be the Steelers, Phillies, Penguins, and Lakers.  The reason: THEY WON.  If you are basing an Ultimate Franchise based off of fan experience, then that is the number 1 thing.  The fact that four of the top five did not win their respective championships is nuts.  Only the Redwings even made it to the finals (other than the Steelers).  You have to love the way that ESPN conducts polls, I feel like I am watching American Idol for sports now.  Here are the rest of the standings.

Being an athlete who excels in professional sports is tough, maybe one of the most difficult things in the world.  That is why there are so few of them.  But something that may be even more difficult than being a professional athlete, is being the coach of those professional athletes.  In no other job are you criticized for the failure of your team and then forgotten about when your team does well.  Being the coach of a professional team is a job that requires you to shoulder the blame when things aren’t going well and then step into the background when your team is doing well. Coaches must love to coach and must be willing to do just that, coach.

While coaching is important, it seems that we have now entered a time in professional sports where a coach can no longer coach or attempt to bring about change on a team.  Typically when a coaching change is made it is a chance for players to hear another person’s voice and allow for the new coach to do some things differently, but how often is to often to change? A New York Times article highlighted the short leash that NBA coaches are on, that article can be read here.

Since when did coaching in any major sport become something that changes when the weather patterns do?  An interesting study although extremely time consuming would be to look at the number of coaching changes that have occurred in the major sports (football, baseball, basketball, and hockey) over the past five years. For basketball Jerry Sloan has been coaching since 1988. During that time there have been over 225 coaching changes.  Did you read that number??? That means that there is on average 11 job changes every season.  Remember, there are only 30 teams in the NBA so that is a little over a 1/3 of the teams every season.

By no way am I saying that every coach should be kept, but the firing of Michael Curry that occurred yesterday is a bit frustrating. Curry wasn’t a great coach after only getting the team to a 39-43 record, but look at what he was given.  He had to deal with Allen Iverson in a mid-season trade that was anything but beneficial to the Pistons. Joe Dumars is quickly becoming the Matt Millen of the NBA with 5 coaches now in 9 years.  Dumars needs to make sure he gets it right with this next coach.  Typically, the most successful franchises are the ones who “stay the course”.  In the NFL you have the Pittsburgh Steelers, MLB you have the NY Yankees, in the NBA you have the Utah Jazz.  Does consistency mean you will win and make the playoffs every year?  Of course not, but there is something to be said about consistency.  All I am asking is that given the current state of our country, economy, and speed of life, one would think that consistency and staying the course would be appropriate and important.

Michael Vick, fresh off his two-year stint in federal prison, was recently put on a construction crew in Virginia.  Once the NFL’s highest paid player, Vick is now making $10 per hour working in the hot sun.  This has got to be a humbling experience for the former Falcon.  Some will put the question out there, “Should he really have served that long of a sentence for what he did?”  While this question is alright to entertain, it’s not going to matter.  It is what it is.

For his own sake, I hope things turn around.  Although when asked to liquidate his assets in order to pay unsecured creditors, Vick was reluctant to give up one of his two homes and other luxuries.  One verse comes to mind when I read things like this:

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”  James 4:10

I can say from experience that the Lord humbles the proud, that he breaks us down in hopes that we search Him out.  My prayer for Vick, if he does not know Christ, is that he will recognize the fact that there is hope.  No, it’s not in football, money, or fame – but in Christ alone.

Follow this link to see the full article:  Vick to work at Boys & Girls Club

A Yahoo! article that I Read stated that Yao Ming could possibly be done playing basketball…forever, that’s quite a hit to the Rockets.  The article even goes as far as saying that the team should pretty much be blown up and start fresh.  That is of course after the team went to game 7 agains the Lakers this year in the Western Conference Finals (I love sports authors who think it’s easier to start over versus building on what you have).  Here is the article: Rockets could lose Yao for season or more.

It’s hard to believe that over 13 years have passed since Mariano Rivera recorded his first save of his career.  How long ago was this?  Well for starters, Braveheart had just won the Academy Award for best picture, Bob Dole had yet to pick Jack Kemp as his running mate, and I was in Mrs. Hampton’s third-grade class, banging out state capitals like it was my job.  Maybe the most impressive stat of that time was the attendance at Yankee stadium the night of Rivera’s first save:  19,087.  To put that number in perspective, the Washington Nationals are currently averaging 23,030 this year alone.

Anyway, back to Rivera.  It’s difficult to measure his worth to the Yankees over the last decade and a half.  Granted, the save has been a watered down statistic for the past 20 years or so and the modern era has been very lenient on pitching statistics general.  But still, there are several reasons why Rivera has been the MVP for the Yankees (yes, I said it) during their dynasty reign.

Reason #1:  Being the man during the steroid era while pitching in a bandbox

Maybe the main reason why we can say he has ice in his veins.  Rivera broke into the league amidst the pruning of baseball’s biggest juicers.  No names will be mentioned (thanks Raul Ibanez) although we can assume that Rivera pitched against some of the biggest juicers in the American league at that time.  Just in case that wasn’t enough, this guy had to pitch in little-league field they called Yankee Stadium – 315 ft. down the lines and 380 in the gaps.  You wouldn’t be able to tell from the results because he posted a lower than 2.00 ERA in each of his first three seasons as the closer.

Reason #2:  Being the man when it counts:  October

Most people have heard how money Rivera has been in the postseason, but the numbers say it all:  8-1, 0.77 ERA, 117.1 IP, 0.750 WHIP (which is ridiculous by the way).  Again the result is four World Series rings.

Reason #3:  The Cutter

Maybe the most devastating pitch in baseball.  Experts like to talk about Joel Zumaya’s fastball, or Brad Lidge’s slider, Francisco Rodriguez’s curve, or Trevor Hoffman’s changeup.  The difference between these closer’s and Rivera?  He has ONLY thrown one pitch his entire career.  It hasn’t mattered how much film a hitter can possibly watch, he has no chance.  Yankees reliever Brian Bruney sums it up:  “Let’s say you get a guy who comes into the league today, let’s say he throws 110 miles an hour, he will not be as good as Mo because his pitch is better than anything you could ever imagine.”

It’s almost as if this guy was born to pitch.  When asked if he ever feels threatened on the mound, Rivera responded “Never.  I’ve always loved the competition. I’m not afraid of it.”  That’s why we’ve loved to watch you pitch Mo.