SPORTS December 18, 2006 Issue

A YEAR OF COURAGE AND CAMARADERIE

KIM SHIPPEY, SENIOR WRITER

WE MEET FRIDAYS and Mondays. My friend Chris is a thirty-something who seems to love sports almost as much as he loves his wife. He plays a robust game of soccer, two-hand touch football, and softball. He supports the Michigan Wolverines, the New England Patriots, and the Boston Red Sox.

Chris has a neat sense of humor. He smiled when I suggested, after the Red Sox had failed to make the 2006 playoffs, that St. Paul could have had Sox fans in mind when he said, "We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (Rom. 5:3, 4, New Revised Standard Version).

Chris followed up later with an impetuous, heartfelt e-mail. "We thrive," he wrote, "on sensationalism as entertainment to the point where we don't even recognize the true accomplishments anymore. It takes something truly amazing before we recognize these as good—when, in reality, it's the little accomplishments as individuals—and as teams—that make up all the good that is sport. Sport isn't about world records, winning dominance, or money. It's about love for the game."

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