Category: Sports
The Liturgies of Soccer
In the summer of 2013 a Bosnian man named Vahid Cehaja went on a long walk—a 600 mile walk, to be exact. He walked from his home in the town of Bugojno to the Allianz Arena, home to German soccer...
What Zlatan Ibrahimovic Taught Me About Enchantment
It’s a commonplace amongst a certain type of trad conservative to talk about the need to “re-enchant” our understanding of the world. What they usually mean by this is some version of an argument, influenced deeply by Charles Taylor, that...
The Bobby Petrino Dilemma and our Idolatry of College Football
The demise of Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino that began in the beginning of April has unfortunately become emblematic of BCS college football in the 21st century. For those who don’t click through, Petrino lied to police and university officials...
World Series Champs: Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox have won the World Series. That’s not the real story, though. The real story is that I was 4-7 in my playoff predictions this year (I actually got caught up in politics and missed making a prediction...
Playoff Picks: Reveling in Mediocrity
Thankfully, I have already bested last year’s dismal record at picking playoff games. Whereas my only correct selection came in the first round last year, this year I chose two teams correctly! That said, to the picks for round two:...
The Playoff Picks: Continuing my String of Stupendous Failure?
Last year, I experienced a level of playoff prediction failure previously unprecedented in my life. Of the seven series in the baseball playoffs, I predicted exactly one correctly. Curious to see whether I can repeat that level of incompetence, I...
Brilliant Play, Brilliant Faith
One of the world’s best footballers–the deadly Brazilian striker, Kaka–will attempt to lead AC Milan to victory today over a tough Liverpool squadfor the UEFA Champions League title. (You can see highlights of his role in dismantling Manchester United during...
Interceeding for the Irrelevant: Sports and Prayer
Watching tonight’s Suns/Spurs contest brought up all kinds of interesting questions in my mind about the efficacy of prayer. The Spurs went up by 20 with about 10 minutes left–I wanted a close game, and the Suns furious rally brought...
Moral Victories amidst Major Defeats
Jim was right. That makes twice this new year that I have boldly predicted games in opposition to my brother, and twice I have been soundly defeated (carrying on my fine tradition of picking sports from last year). The only...
Ducks Fly Together: Corporate Sponsorship and a Night with the NHL
Continuing the sports theme of this weekend, the wife treated me to my first ever NHL game tonight. And by fluke, it just happened to be a clash between two of the better teams in the NHL, the Ducks and...