Sports

  I love sports.  I'm going to admit that up front.  I've loved them as long as I can remember.  I've played them ever since I was old enough to hold a bat or stand in a tight-knit circle of young kids and kick at a soccer ball in the middle.  I've enjoyed going to major league baseball games for decades, and I've been to NFL games, to professional soccer games, hockey games, etc.  I've spent countless hours watching sports on television, although I watch far less now than I used to watch.  I love sports.

  Yet I struggle with the economics of sports.

  From stltoday.com: With pitchers Sean Marshall and Johnny Cueto and budding All-Star outfielder Jay Bruce also signed long-term, the Reds have more than $400 million committed to what Jocketty and others called their "core."


  Obviously, they're not writing checks for that sum today--it's spread out over a number of years, but that number jars me.  Over the next 10-12 years, the Reds will probably pay $1 billion just in salary.  (The Yankees probably reach that number in 4 years, but this isn't about comparing payrolls.  It's more about principle.)

  Where I come from, that's a lot of money.

  And I can't help but wonder if sports is the best way to invest that kind of money.  The numbers are getting so big that it seems outlandish to pay someone $10 million a year to play sports.  What does it say about our society's values that we pay people who play games for a living (even though they do it well) far more than those who are engaged in other vocations?  Joey Votto will struggle to spend $225 million over a hundred years, let alone ten, even if he buys everyone on the team a new Lamborghini.  (I hear his is black.  Yes, I am jealous.)

  Now, I don't believe that what these athletes do isn't a vocation.  They are using the gifts God has given them and they are doing what most other people in the world do--negotiating for the highest salary possible. Many give very generously to charity and are pillars in their communities.  It's not about the people.

  It's about the statement we as a society make--how societies spend their money makes a statement about what we value.  And we are stating that we value those who entertain us more than anyone else.

  That bothers me.  It bothers me that we invest billions in athletes and rock singers and movie stars while millions go homeless and unfed.  It bothers me that so much attention is slathered on the rich while so little is invested in the poor.  It bothers me that we have 316 television channels to air sports and another 857 to watch movies while I don't believe we have too many focused on the least of these.

  How do we change?  It begins with individuals reading God's Word and demanding change.  Our Wednesday night Bible studies have been fascinating--reading the words of the minor prophets is certainly a convicting place to begin.  I think we all need to examine our values and examine Scriptural values and see how the two differ.  It's not acceptable for us to shower our money and energy upon athletes and celebrities while the poorest are left to glean in the fields--we need to work to change this.  I don't believe we have to give up baseball and movies and whatever they show on E!--but I do believe that we need to examine ourselves and ask how Christ would have us invest our time, money and energy, so that we might join in with what God is doing in the world, rather than idly let the opportunities to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed pass us by while our eyes are glued to our televisions.

  Can we appreciate the beauty in baseball in healthy relationship to how we appreciate the beauty of a just society, where no one goes hungry?  And if we start doing so, perhaps the economics of our society will begin to be brought back into balance, and cities will only approve millions to build baseball stadiums after they have invested billions in fair housing and free health care clinics.

  Perhaps.