Baseball

Today i read a piece "life is like baseball". Writer, Howard Butt, describes baseball batting ...

You hold a rounded stick. From 60 feet 6 inches away, a sphere hurls your way at 90 miles per hour. In less than one-half second you must judge the pitch and give it your best swing. If the pitcher adds spin, curve, or drop, it's that much harder. And if you hit the ball? Nine skilled athletes do all they can to stop your progress.

Put like that, it's no wonder that a player is considered a champion if he succeeds one time in three. Often the situation is difficult. Perfection may be out of reach, but we aim for the best possible result.

Honesty Stroke

This morning I watched televised golf.

That's not something i'd normally say. For that matter it's not something i'd normally do! But there was an ad break in the cartoons, and even tv golf is better than ads.

Anyway, a guy was lining up a putt when, for no apparent reason, the ball moved. He didn't touch it, hit or kick it - it just moved. Now golf being golf, there's a rule that basically says once you've taken up your stance and the ball moves - it counts as a stroke (doh!).

So this guy goes and tells the course official what has happened. He gets a ruling that it is a penalty stroke, and he has to re-place the ball. So he put the ball back to where it was - a whole 3mm away! That's a rotation of about one dimple on a golf ball. It only just showed up on the replay.

So the player would have been the only person in the world who knew what happened. He could have played on. No-one would have looked at the replay. No-one would have known. But this is clearly a guy who knows about honesty, and only wants to win if it's fair and square.

For me that's real character. He may not collect the trophy, but he has integrity. And there's plenty of people who don't have either.

Super Tyree in SuperBowl

OK, it's a month or two ago, but Superbowl fans would remember David Tyree's amazing catch from Eli Manning's pass to set up the NY Giants 17-14 win in the 2008 Superbowl.


What we didn't know, and what's even more amazing, is Tyree back-story. As covered by the NY Times, Tyree has turned his life around - with God's help. Bigger than any superbowl comeback, "It’s more than just a feel-good story. It’s about destiny and purpose."

"My life was oviously in disarray". He describes his former self "at the pinnacle of sports. But I had no joy. I had no peace." Apparently it all changed when he picked up the Bible.