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The season of Spring has sprung!  For us in the Christian tradition, these are the seasons of Lent and Easter.  For the rest of American culture, however, Spring means Baseball season. 

 

 When I was in New York last month visiting my family, the NY Yankees signed Alex Rodriguez, also known as "A Rod", to play for their team. 

“A-Rod” has, by far, the most lucrative contract in baseball, which fits well on the team with the largest payroll in the league and in history.  Years ago I watched A-Rod's agent defend the contract on PBS's Charlie Rose Show and when he was finished, I had to agree that A-Rod certainly had the statistics to justify his huge contract.  One NY sports commentator I heard calculated that A-Rod would get about $36,000.+ with each at-bat. (I was not sure if that was what he was getting from the Yankees alone or if it was a combined price tag with the Texas Rangers who are still paying many millions on his initial contract.)  The number has stuck in my head… over $36,000. for each time at-bat in the next season.

 

 I started to wonder what others or I could do with that kind of money.  If with each swing, a student could afford another year of college education, with each swing a life-saving operation could be performed, if with each swing a homeless family found the stability of affordable housing.  We value sports so highly in our culture and yet devalue people as merely cogs in an economic machine. 

 

 It has caused me to see sports as the opiate of the people.... Once again.  The observation mimics a quote of Karl Marx, (yes, the father of communism), who made a very poignant observation and critique when he called religion ‘the opiate of the people’.  For those of us who hold to the liberating, sobering yet exhilarating power of the gospels, we find the concept an oxymoron. There is, however, more than a ring of truth to this in the way religion has often been used as a tool of the Empire, regardless of which empire we're talking about.  [For example, the German nobility used the religion of the Reformation to gain power against the Papacy. Nazis used religion to justify their extermination of the Jews; the Spanish used religion to colonize South and Central America while mining gold and silver to pay their war debts and while the English

and Dutch used religion to justify the slave trade.]   

There is also a parallel argument for the use of sports as an opiate and tool of the empire. We are learning much more about how sponsoring festivals and games for Roman leaders was an essential part of the Quid pro Quo world of Roman patronage.  Writ large, the Roman world was no more than a glorified mafia, and the games and banquets were all about gaining and securing privilege.  Think back to how many times in Scripture we hear discussion about where one sits at a banquet.   

 

 There are those who argue that, in fact, Sports has become the new American Religion, drawing parallels between religious seasons such as Christmas and Easter, etc and the rhythmic and religious significance of American Sports Seasons.  Here are titles of articles on the theme:

The Super Bowl as Religious Festival

The Final Four as Final Judgment: The Religious and Cultural Significance of NCAA Basketball Championship

The Pitcher’s Mound as Cosmic Mountain: The Religious Significance of Baseball

 

 Do you become a role model in this society because you can dribble and shoot a basketball better than most? I lost any respect for Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan when they both refused to answer questions about Nike’s use of child labor overseas to produce Nike products. How Nike made the millions they were giving to Michael and Tiger did not concern them.  What truly offends is not about jobs leaving America; but of the abuse of child labor to cheaply manufacture products that are then marketed to poor, inner city kids who want to ‘be like Mike!’ 

 

 For me, the real heroes in our community are social workers like Claire O’Garro of Lutheran Social Services who tirelessly serves those made poor in our society, season after season.  With dwindling donations and severe cuts in funding, this heroine still manages to feed, clothe and house the growing number of people who approach our Church for assistance.  I am embarrassed to tell you that less than 1% of LSS/SC funds come from donations by Lutheran churches.  What does this reveal of our own priorities and values?  Would we be willing to match what we spend for season tickets, or even one game, to help LSS/SC do its quiet, humble service? Claire doesn’t want fanfare, she needs our help, now!

FALLEN FROM THE DESK OF PASTOR WAYNE