Any sports fan would undoubtedly meet my closet with a perplexed, maybe even angry, expression. Within my belongings are an Oakland A’s hat, a New York Mets’ jersey, a Los Angeles Dodgers cap, and various items displaying the Los Angeles Angels’ famous red logo.
Slave to fashion? Team hopper? Bandwagon junkie? No. No. No.
Though most sports fans avidly cling to one team and will not understand this – I simply love baseball. I love everything about the game. I love the technique, the smell of a new mitt, the intensity of the seventh inning, the family embedded in each team’s fanhood… everything. If you ask which team is my favorite, I will tell you the Mets; but the truth is, I would go to any baseball game on earth and choose one team to support, but would enjoy myself no matter the outcome. As long as I can hear the crack of the bat hitting the ball and can smell the cheap hot dogs, my life is good.
In many things in life, we tend to choose a team and stick by it till death do us part. Baseball is not the only victim of this mindless worship, though. When it comes to choosing a religion, we often fight for ours with such viciousness that we forget the game that brought us all together in the first place – love. Growing up in a non-denominational Christian church, I often felt like I had to defend my denomination against others. Those Baptists are too conservative. And those Pentecostals, just way to charismatic. I had the right denomination, the right way to love.
But the thing is, in my understanding as a Christian, Christ didn’t live and die for us to fight for specific rules of doctrine and creed. No, Christ came and shared a message to love. When asked which was the greatest commandment, Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself'” (Matthew 22:36-39).
If we teach and practice a message of love – of loving God and of loving each other – specifics don’t matter. Let us all love in our own ways, on our own teams, as long as we are not hurting another. For me, there will be no more rooting for the non-denominationals, or even just rooting for Christianity; my life will be focused on loving everyone, even the basketball gurus and dodgeball devotees.
Nice job Ms. Paulsen. Interesting analogy.
Thanks, Sarah.
Like you, I might be dubbed an “at large” baseball fan. I cite the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets as “my favorite teams,” but, no matter what two teams are playing, I love a good game. That said, I’m distressed by the sight of bench-clearing scuffles and the ugly epithets too often shouted by fans. More often that not, sports, like religion, foments the division. Rather than see the greater tribe, we identify only with the particular, and we further divide within that group (i.e., “The manager is fine, but the general manager is terrible! We should can ‘im!”) Neither sports nor religion, however, necessitates such divisive behavior or belief. It’s important to remember that. Thank you.
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