Baseball is about to annoint a new home run king who has allegedly boosted his late-career stats with the help of steroids. Basketball is coping with a referee accused of betting on the game, including games he worked. Football is figuring out what to do about a star quarterback arrested on federal charges of dogfighting. And two leading Tour de France teams have withdrawn from that competition because of doping suspicions.
That’s four sports mired in scandals. Am I the only one who thinks it’s time to reconsider the central place we give sports fandom in our lives and our culture–not to mention the amount of money we spend on it?
I can’t help thinking of the time I was a rookie reporter covering a middle-class suburban community. The school budget was subject to a public referendum, and one year voters rejected the proposed budget–meaning the district’s schools would function for the year on an “austerity budget” with funding only for essential educational programs. No orchestra, no class trips, no school bus service, and no sports. Unwilling to accept the consequences of their decision, voters went back to the polls and overwhelmingly approved emergency funding for two items: school buses and sports programs.
In arguing for the latter, school officials, parents, and students all offered what have become standard arguments in favor of organized athletics: They teach children values, such as teamwork and preserverance, they build character, they channel energy that would otherwise go to mischief or worse.
I didn’t disagree with a single one of those arguments but couldn’t help wondering how the debate team, orchestra, and any number of other extra curricular activities–all of which were popular in this school district–accomplished these goals any less. Yet they remained unfunded, while a full sports program was reinstated into the otherwise shoe-string budget.
All this is to say that, for reasons I don’t totally understand–despite the fact that I am an avid, life-long baseball fan–sports has a hold on our imagination and our culture unrivaled by virtually anything else. We give our time, energy, money, focus, and hearts to sports teams and hold up athletes, deservedly or not, as exemplars and role models. Yet the behavior of so many of our professional athletes betrays the pedestal on which we’ve put them.
It’s true that plenty of them are exemplary human beings who use their wealth and their platform to better the world. But maybe, just maybe, this confluence of scandals can help us put athletics in perspective and make it a bit less central to our universe. I know it’ll never happen, but right now, this sports fan is disgusted every time I pick up the sports pages.
Tennis, anyone?
posted August 23, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Hi,
This Press Release is in memory of the animals tortured and slaughtered in dog fighting. As personally satisfying as it would be to spay and neuter Michael Vick (with no anesthesia), we prefer to teach people how animals SHOULD BE TREATED, and what a blessing they are in our lives. Thanks for reading it and passing it on. ~ Nancy Cronk at http://www.Animal Chaplains.com.
Press Release August 22, 2007
“Animal Chaplains To Honor and Bless All Creatures on World Animal Day”
~ from the Interfaith Association of Animal Clergy
While Americans have watched in horror as celebrity athlete Michael Vick admits being a willling participant in one of the cruelest, most horrific crimes against animals ever committed, America needs an emotional healing. That day is World Animal Day.
In what will look like a scene from the popular family movie, “Evan Almighty”, scores of Animal Chaplains around the world will bless hundreds, perhaps thousands of animals in many different settings on October 4th 2007. At a pet cemetery on the east coast, to a city park in the desert, to a sandy beach on the west coast, they will walk in on a leash, fly in on a harness, and slither in their cages. Barking, mewing, bleating, mooing, whinnying and purring will join human voices in hymns of praise and worship. World Animal Day is a day dedicated to honoring, blessing, and protecting animals all over the world.
World Animal Day was founded at an ecologist’s convention in Florence, Italy in 1931 as a way of highlighting the plight of endangered species. October 4th was chosen as World Animal Day because it is also the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, a Catholic Church holiday which is often celebrated with an annual “blessing of the pets”. Since then, it has grown to encompass all kinds of animal life and has been widely celebrated around the world. Churches and synagogues in many faiths traditions have adopted “Pet Blessing Day” or “World Animal Day” in increasing numbers every year.
The Interfaith Association of Animal Chaplains prepares for World Animal Day by referring its members and visitors to the official World Animal Day website. The site provides ideas and resources to individuals, families, community groups and congregations everywhere. People can post their pledge for volunteering at a World Animal Day event. In addition to blessing pets, volunteers will work at animal shelters, zoos, rescues, and other nonprofit organizations. Dogs will be walked, cats will be brushed, horses will be groomed, and fish will benefit from freshly cleaned tanks. Donations will be given to animal welfare agencies, and pets will be adopted. School children will collect pet food to be donated to charities, and bake sales and car washes will be held as fundraising events. Veterinary clinics will hold free spay and neuter days, or may offer to vaccinate pets at no charge. All over the world, on the very same day, the well-being of animals will be on the minds of millions of people.
Interfaith Chaplain Nancy Cronk feels a day honoring animals is very important at a time when the headlines speak of animal cruelty such as athlete Michael Vick’s alleged ties to illegal dog fighting. Animal Chaplains would like everyone to know that every major faith endorses the responsible stewardship of the earth and all of its creatures. “Deliberate harming of animals is in direct opposition to teachings in all of the major world faiths. Caring for animals is our global spiritual responsibility. If we can teach this ethic to all of our children, animal abuse and suffering will someday become a distant memory”.
To find out how to get involved on World Animal Day, go to http://www.WorldAnimalDay.org.uk. To find out more about Animal Chaplains, go to http://www.AnimalChaplains.com.
(This article may be reprinted.)
Nancy J. Cronk
Founder, Chair and Chaplain
Interfaith Association of Animal Chaplains
http://www.AnimalChaplains.com
Email: AnimalClergy@aol.com