I notice that in past years, sports have taken over this nation. Now, I'm not against sports. It's the attitude that the populace sometimes shows toward them.
I realize that sports are highly rated in the world today, and I can think of nothing that they must give way before. For instance, on the day of the 9/11 disaster, several football games were scheduled and carried out. And the answer to that from avid sports fans was, "No matter what happens, we still have to go on." That's right. We do have to go on, however, I think that it would have been appropriate for the schools and colleges to cancel their football games on 9/11, out of consideration and respect toward those 3,000 souls who perished within the walls of the Twin Towers.
Now, I'd like to ask a question.
Are sports sacred?
On the football field at Notre Dame, a banner flutters in the breeze with the inscription: "Touchdown Jesus." Then I read somewhere that, one afternoon, a group of church people were to hold a meeting in the church at the same time that an important football game was to be played. So, the churchgoers stated that they would attend the meeting if they could take time out to watch the football game. They set up a TV in the church, and I gathered from the picture I saw in the paper that the sports enthusiasts were having an enjoyable time in church rooting for their favorite football team.
Then, there was the sportsman who informed his wife that he wouldn't get up and go to church on Sunday morning because he had worked hard all week and had to have his rest on Sunday morning. A little later, there was a knock on the door, and there stood one of the sportsman's cronies who invited the sportsman to play 18 holes of golf. Quick as a wink, the sportsman snatched up his golf clubs and, in nothing flat, he was out the door and on his way to the golf course.
Now, again, I ask, "Are sports sacred?"
If they are, I retract every critical remark that I have stated regarding the matter of sports.
I guess, where sports are concerned, I am a little bitter because of the effect they had on me during my growing-up years.
While in school, I hated Fridays because that's when we had physical education. When I was a kid, I had weak arms. Naturally, every sports activity I indulged in was very difficult for me.
Whenever we played basketball, and I aimed the ball toward the basket, my arms didn't have strength enough to throw the ball far enough for it to hit the basket and then my teammates would laugh at me.
Whenever we played baseball, I would little more than tap the ball with the bat and the ball would go nowhere. Again, the guys would laugh at my incompetence which was anything but easy to take.
And push-ups. How I hated push-ups, especially with my weak arms. One day my athletic coach grew tired of observing me and my attempt to do push-ups. So, he grabbed me by the seat of my pants, and every time I pushed up, he pulled up, and the more he pulled up, the more embarrassed I became until I was ready to throw up. After I left school, I never did another push-up. So, in regards to sports and athletics, that's the story of my life.
Don Kaiser
Warsaw
Editor's Note: Sept. 11, 2001, was a Tuesday. No professional or college football games were played that day. There is no "Touchdown Jesus" banner at Notre Dame Stadium.
