Some random sports reflections...
*I'm not really a big golf guy (that and tennis are probably the two sports that I enjoy the least watching) but this year has been interesting to say the least. So far in the two major tournaments (the Masters & the US Open) that have been played, the two winners (Bubba Watson & Webb Simpson) are strong & vocal followers of Jesus. Simpson's twitter profile describes himself as this: " *sinner* loved by a Savior". I really am encouraged that more and more athletes are vocal about their faith in Christ, and that they are using the platform that God is giving them to point back to Him. Very cool indeed.
*After my last post about Manny Ramirez, he recently asked for his release from the A's. It didn't seem like they were going to promote him from AAA and so he wanted to see if he can get back into the big leagues another way. I don't know if he will find another team but I do wish him the best.
*The NBA finals are going on and for the first time in my life I've not watched one game of the Finals, even though I am able to (I wasn't able to watch any back in '09 because I was in Poland and it's like a 7 hour time difference). The reason? Simply put Oklahoma City is in the finals. Anyone that knows me, knows that I lived in Seattle and did ministry work there for 3 years. I was there the final years that the Sonics were in town before they moved. So I know better than a lot of people how people in Seattle feel right now about the Thunder, because I saw a lot of what went down firsthand. I can't bring myself to root for the Thunder let alone watch the games. Because I remember what the ownership did. To me, they brought to light the ugly side of sports. As much as I didn't like LeBron James and how he handed "The Decision", that wasn't as bad as what the Thunder ownership group and David Stern did to the city of Seattle. Growing up I was a huge NBA fan. But now, the NBA is like 4th or 5th (behind NFL, MLB, NHL & soccer). I hope that someday Seattle gets a franchise back. But the consequences of what happened with the Thunder still continue to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
*Speaking of soccer, right now in Europe there's a major tournament going on called Euro 2012. The top 16 European countries are competing in a tournament to decide the top team in all of Europe. The tourney is held every four years and this year it's being held in Poland & the Ukraine. I'm happy that Poland is getting to co-host the tourney (sad that they got knocked out of the tourney a few days ago). I loved going over there a few years ago and spending the summer as an intern doing ministry work. I continue to pray for the people of Poland (specifically those in the city of Krakow) and major international tournaments like this are a great reminder to pray for countries.
Showing posts with label a's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a's. Show all posts
Monday, June 18, 2012
Thursday, May 31, 2012
New Manny Being New Manny? Manny Ramirez and New Focus
I saw a tweet yesterday from Tim Ellsworth, author & news director at my alma mater, Union University. It said the following: "Manny Ramirez becomes a Christian? Hope this is genuine." I was like "Huh?"
To give a little background for those who many not know. Manny Ramirez is a baseball player. In his time, a really good baseball player. He played for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox & Tampa Bay Rays. He had most of his success in Cleveland & Boston, including helping the Red Sox win 2 World Series in 2004 & 2007 with a little in L.A. He was also known as a kinda eccentric player. There was a phrase that followed him. That phrase was "Manny being Manny". When there was an off the wall news story, most sportscasters would say "Well it's Manny being Manny." In time, that phrase seemed to overshadow his talent.
Something else that seemed to overshadow his talent was being busted by MLB for violating the drug policy. The first time happened in 2009 and he lost 50 games. After jumping around to the White Sox & the Rays in consecutive seasons with bad performances, Ramirez was busted again by MLB for violating the drug policy in 2011 just 5 games into the season for the Rays. He faced a 100 game suspension if and when he returned to the big leagues. Instead, Ramirez abruptly retired. At that point, it seemed like a sad ending to a career of a player who had a lot of talent but his antics seemed to get in the way.
However, last fall, Ramirez went to MLB officials and wanted to be reinstated. This reinstatement would come with the provision that he would serve a reduced suspension of 50 games (instead of 100) with whatever team signed him. The Oakland A's ended up being that team. He became eligible to join the A's yesterday. Right now, he's at their AAA affiliate the Sacramento River Cats.
So I knew that he was in AAA & that at some point he could be called up if the A's felt like it. But when I saw that tweet I had to find out about that story. So I googled to see and came across a couple of articles. One that was really interesting was one from the A's website, (there's a link to the article here). Initially the article talks about Manny and his minor league stint. But further down in the article, it talks about how he's changed as a person. He cites his wife and his newfound faith in Christ as huge parts of that.
Several quotes that Ramirez said that stood out included:
"It's hard to be a Christian, because when God comes inside your heart, you don't do things that you used to. Nobody can walk the perfect path, because nobody's perfect."
"I know a lot of people talk about the Hall of Fame, blah, blah, blah. But you know something? The Bible says that it's better to be in the Book of Life. And that's where I want to be. If it [getting in the Baseball Hall of Fame] happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it's not a big deal.
"I'm going to give 100 percent. If it [getting in the Baseball Hall of Fame] doesn't happen, I've got God, and I've got my family. That's all I want."
Personally, I have liked Manny Ramirez, especially when he was in Boston. And I do hope that he's a follower of Jesus now. Sometimes, people can be skeptical of people that say they've changed. But the cool thing is that God can definitely do the changing. Maybe now on Manny being Manny can instead be Manny being more like Jesus.
To give a little background for those who many not know. Manny Ramirez is a baseball player. In his time, a really good baseball player. He played for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox & Tampa Bay Rays. He had most of his success in Cleveland & Boston, including helping the Red Sox win 2 World Series in 2004 & 2007 with a little in L.A. He was also known as a kinda eccentric player. There was a phrase that followed him. That phrase was "Manny being Manny". When there was an off the wall news story, most sportscasters would say "Well it's Manny being Manny." In time, that phrase seemed to overshadow his talent.
Something else that seemed to overshadow his talent was being busted by MLB for violating the drug policy. The first time happened in 2009 and he lost 50 games. After jumping around to the White Sox & the Rays in consecutive seasons with bad performances, Ramirez was busted again by MLB for violating the drug policy in 2011 just 5 games into the season for the Rays. He faced a 100 game suspension if and when he returned to the big leagues. Instead, Ramirez abruptly retired. At that point, it seemed like a sad ending to a career of a player who had a lot of talent but his antics seemed to get in the way.
However, last fall, Ramirez went to MLB officials and wanted to be reinstated. This reinstatement would come with the provision that he would serve a reduced suspension of 50 games (instead of 100) with whatever team signed him. The Oakland A's ended up being that team. He became eligible to join the A's yesterday. Right now, he's at their AAA affiliate the Sacramento River Cats.
So I knew that he was in AAA & that at some point he could be called up if the A's felt like it. But when I saw that tweet I had to find out about that story. So I googled to see and came across a couple of articles. One that was really interesting was one from the A's website, (there's a link to the article here). Initially the article talks about Manny and his minor league stint. But further down in the article, it talks about how he's changed as a person. He cites his wife and his newfound faith in Christ as huge parts of that.
Several quotes that Ramirez said that stood out included:
"It's hard to be a Christian, because when God comes inside your heart, you don't do things that you used to. Nobody can walk the perfect path, because nobody's perfect."
"I know a lot of people talk about the Hall of Fame, blah, blah, blah. But you know something? The Bible says that it's better to be in the Book of Life. And that's where I want to be. If it [getting in the Baseball Hall of Fame] happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it's not a big deal.
"I'm going to give 100 percent. If it [getting in the Baseball Hall of Fame] doesn't happen, I've got God, and I've got my family. That's all I want."
Personally, I have liked Manny Ramirez, especially when he was in Boston. And I do hope that he's a follower of Jesus now. Sometimes, people can be skeptical of people that say they've changed. But the cool thing is that God can definitely do the changing. Maybe now on Manny being Manny can instead be Manny being more like Jesus.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Random Sports Reflections
*It seems that even with the NFL in the off-season, it is still dominiating headlines. The main thing being Peyton Manning going to Denver. After a couple of weeks of meetings with different teams, Peyton decided to go with Denver. In some ways it wasn't surprising but in some ways it was given that the other two teams in the running was San Francisco (which was in the NFC Title game last year) and Tennessee (the state where he went to college). The domino effect was that Tim Tebow was then traded from Denver to the New York Jets, which in and of itself was kind of a shocker given they already have a starting QB in Mark Sanchez & there was a team in Jacksonville which seemed like a great fit (not far from where Tebow went to college, could step right in and be the starter). It will be interesting how Tebow will fit in with the Jets. I know he'll want to be the starter but it'll be hard to supplant Sanchez unless he gets hurt or plays really really bad. It'll also be interesting how the faith aspect will come into play given the Jeremy Lin phenomenon that took place for a few months before dying out. Will Tebow garner as much or more than Lin did? Will it be for a sustained period? It's only March but there's enough stories that'll probably last until training camps start.
*I've been keeping up with March Madness and my brackets have been decent to poor. One of these days I'll have a bracket that's like top notch. The final four is Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas & Ohio State (out of which I consensusly picked 3, missed out with Louisville). I do get the feeling this is shaping up to be another 2008. That year of course Kansas beat UNC on it's way to the title game. Kansas also faced off against a team coached by John Calipari. Kansas wasn't thought of to win the title. John Calipari's team had the best player in the country. See what I mean? Don't be surprised come Tuesday morning if it's Rock Chalk Jayhawk being bantered about. What would be even more eerie is if Calipari then decided to take the NY Knicks job and then it's found out that Anthony Davis had some kind of academic issues and then Kentucky was put on probation like Memphis was with Derrick Rose. Food for thought...
*The MLB regular season started today in Japan with the Mariners and the A's. I caught the game from about the 6th inning on. A couple of things: 1) I love watching live sports in the morning. It's nice to be able to tune in and see sports live while eating breakfast or getting ready for work. 2.) I am getting old. There was a statistic given during the game that Ichiro was the first M's player to get 4 hits in an opening day game since Ken Griffey Jr. did it in 1990. 1990 as in 22 years ago. Yes I am getting old. 3.) For what it's worth, the M's are in 1st place. 161 games to go but it's a good start.
*I've been keeping up with March Madness and my brackets have been decent to poor. One of these days I'll have a bracket that's like top notch. The final four is Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas & Ohio State (out of which I consensusly picked 3, missed out with Louisville). I do get the feeling this is shaping up to be another 2008. That year of course Kansas beat UNC on it's way to the title game. Kansas also faced off against a team coached by John Calipari. Kansas wasn't thought of to win the title. John Calipari's team had the best player in the country. See what I mean? Don't be surprised come Tuesday morning if it's Rock Chalk Jayhawk being bantered about. What would be even more eerie is if Calipari then decided to take the NY Knicks job and then it's found out that Anthony Davis had some kind of academic issues and then Kentucky was put on probation like Memphis was with Derrick Rose. Food for thought...
*The MLB regular season started today in Japan with the Mariners and the A's. I caught the game from about the 6th inning on. A couple of things: 1) I love watching live sports in the morning. It's nice to be able to tune in and see sports live while eating breakfast or getting ready for work. 2.) I am getting old. There was a statistic given during the game that Ichiro was the first M's player to get 4 hits in an opening day game since Ken Griffey Jr. did it in 1990. 1990 as in 22 years ago. Yes I am getting old. 3.) For what it's worth, the M's are in 1st place. 161 games to go but it's a good start.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Buck Night & Fireworks Friday: Fifth Royals Game of 2011...In Review
Yesterday was my second Royals game in a row to attend and fifth of the season. I went with a couple of guys from church and got to take in another Buck Night/Fireworks Friday. Buck night is $1 hot dogs, peanuts and small cokes and then Fireworks Friday is a fireworks show after the game.
Yesterday was also a Baseball Equipment drive that the team was doing to collect money and used baseball gear for those who need it. And for a $20 donation, you could get a brown bag with an autographed baseball inside. I tried it and ended up with a Jason Kendall autographed ball. Eh, not who I wanted but it's something.
It was also the debut of superstar prospect 1B Eric Hosmer. He was called up after Thursday's game and the sports world was buzzing afterwards. His name became a trending topic on twitter. People were making up "Hosmer Facts" in the same was as they're "Chuck Norris Facts". For his first game, he didn't do too bad. He helped turn a double play in the 1st inning. He had two walks & a stolen base. He did strike out looking two times to finish the night 0-2 (I will say at least one of his called third strikes looked like ball four).
The game itself was a good one for the most part. Alex Gordon hit a home run. Sean O'Sullivan pitched a pretty good game (a quality start). Unfortunately one bad inning proved to be the downfall as the Royals lost 3-2. They now have a record of 4-1 in games I attend.
It was a fun night for the most part and I'll miss going out to the K once I graduate in a few weeks.
Yesterday was also a Baseball Equipment drive that the team was doing to collect money and used baseball gear for those who need it. And for a $20 donation, you could get a brown bag with an autographed baseball inside. I tried it and ended up with a Jason Kendall autographed ball. Eh, not who I wanted but it's something.
It was also the debut of superstar prospect 1B Eric Hosmer. He was called up after Thursday's game and the sports world was buzzing afterwards. His name became a trending topic on twitter. People were making up "Hosmer Facts" in the same was as they're "Chuck Norris Facts". For his first game, he didn't do too bad. He helped turn a double play in the 1st inning. He had two walks & a stolen base. He did strike out looking two times to finish the night 0-2 (I will say at least one of his called third strikes looked like ball four).
The game itself was a good one for the most part. Alex Gordon hit a home run. Sean O'Sullivan pitched a pretty good game (a quality start). Unfortunately one bad inning proved to be the downfall as the Royals lost 3-2. They now have a record of 4-1 in games I attend.
It was a fun night for the most part and I'll miss going out to the K once I graduate in a few weeks.
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