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Arsene Wenger and pastoral leadership...

Here are some good statements on leadership by embattled Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger. Exchange "church" for "club," "session" for "board," "pastor" for "manager"...

A strong club is people who make the right decisions. That's why I think the board is important and the manager is important in a football club. And what has gone wrong in modern society? ...


What people complain about after worship...

Yesterday after morning worship, one of the men of our congregation was mad at me for exhorting the congregation to worship God with more self-forgetful zeal than March Madness fans. He loves sports and thinks I don't, and that my exhortation was spiteful towards him and his fellow keepers of the cult.

I tried to reassure him I was just as idolatrous as the next guy. I don't think it softened him.

Now I try another tack.

Should we take basketball and bracketologists seriously? Umm.

To help your answer, here's the best bracket in our Bayly family... 


Premier League done with "hard men"...

The past couple of weeks under a variety of posts, we've been discussing effeminate men—men real men refer to as "gay," "soft," or a word beginning with "p" and ending with "y."

With that as the context, a friend just forwarded this article from ESPNFC lamenting the death of "hard men" across professional soccer leagues—especially England's Premier League. Here are a couple excerpts from "Where have football's hard men gone?...


Steve Alford should not replace Tom Crean...

People are pushing for homeboy Steve Alford to replace IU basketball coach Tom Crean. Some hope not, and for me, this is enough of a reason.

Note the intervention by Evangelical parachurch ministry Athletes in Action. Well-intentioned I'm sure, but really.


Amanda Nunes beats the shit out of Ronda Rousey...

The story topped the Google news page this morning. Last night in Sin City, Ronda Rousey was kicked, bashed, and smashed into submission 48 seconds into her mixed martial arts match with Amanda Nunes. No one went to jail for abusing a woman. The cops didn't stop the abuse. A ref stopped it and awarded the perp the match. 

This is the state of the union of man and woman in these United States today. We're a majority Christian nation and we get our jollies watching what's pictured here. Think about it. Undoubtedly you were more offended by the headline of this post than the pic accompanying it, and that's the point.

It is impossible for these perverted women to make so much money doing what they do...


Cleveland Browns OL Joe Thomas: 9,684 and counting...

Son Taylor forwarded the article to me. Good words  for Christians weary of the battle from offensive lineman Joe Thomas of the winless Cleveland Browns (named for my mother's high school's football coach in Massillon):

My mentality from the day I started playing sports was that you get up, you dust yourself off and you do it again. Some people lay on the ground after they get hurt and they say, "Boy, that hurts. I wonder if I'm hurt. I'd better get it checked out." That's not part of my thought process.

My mind is going to tell my body I can do this, and if my body can't do it and I fall to the ground, then you know it's time to get it checked out.  - Joe Thomas

Holiness is...


Best world series ever...

Good article on the sweetness last night. These Cubs in the playoffs (particularly the World Series between the Cubs and the Indians) have been the perfect antidote to the utter degradation of our national politics this election cycle. If you don't understand that, you missed it and it's not likely to return in your lifetime.

Start in Game 1 when Baez pulled Lindor's hair. I'd pay a lot to watch Hillary do the same to Donald.

They were a big-market team with a relatable, unending narrative, the most recognizable legacy of sadness in North American sports history. Now they’re just a big-market team, playing in a metropolitan area as big as that of the rest of the other four teams in the NL Central combined.

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Steph Curry on the All-Star Game: like preachers, like people...

Everyone is congratulating each other over the NBA's supercilious Adam Silver yanking the All-Star Game from Charlotte. He was taking a stand against North Carolina legislators who had passed a law against sexual predators posing as women and using women's bathrooms. People who matter had been Hoosiering the state over its law for a while, now. It took a little longer than expected but sexual debauchery won the day and the NBA canned Charlotte. The scuttlebutt is New Orleans will be the new host city.

People are morally indignant that a man isn't allowed to pee in the Lady's Room in Charlotte so they send their game over to the city where Lent is celebrated by women baring their breasts. This is our country, today—a nation filled with Christians like Steph Curry.

Turns out Charlotte is Steph's hometown... 


Johnny Manziel: Daddy tried...

Paul Manziel, father of released Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, responding to questions about his son asked by ESPN's Josina Anderson:

He's a druggie. It's not a secret that he's a druggie. I don't know what to say other than my son is a druggie and he needs help. He just hasn't [sought] it yet. Hopefully he doesn't die before he comes to his senses. That's about all you can say. I don't know what else to say.

Questioned about what he has done to help his son, Manziel's father responded...


The Christian witness of Ben Watson...

The play will never be forgotten. It was during the 2005 AFC Divisional game between the New England Pats and the Denver Broncos. Watch the video. Pats tight end Ben Watson got his man. Watson is at it again, posting this excellent response to all the sturm and drang over North Carolina passing a law that forbids men from crashing the ladies room. Here are a couple excerpts:

...claims that gender and race are analogous ...could not be further from the truth.


Deflategate: Wells Report's stats are faulty...

Keeping in mind that the only thing the American Enterprise Institute's report deals with is the statistical evidence, and not the evidence of texts and e-mails exchanged among the New England Patriot's employees, it does appear the best explanation for the difference in ball pressure between the footballs of the Pats and Colts as it was measured by the officials at halftime is not cheating, but the temperature of the room the balls were kept in and the timing differential between the measurements of the balls of each of the two teams. AEI's Hassett, Sullivan, and Veuger summarize their analysis...

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Ernie Johnson, just a Christian father...

(Thanks to Jake.) Watch this short video about Ernie Johnson, host of TNT's Inside the NBA. Watch it with your son. God bless Ernie Johnson who walks in his father's footsteps. Here's how the video ends:

Ernie Johnson Jr.: You learn from your dad well, and you pass that on to your kid. Now let's keep that going.


New England Patriots cheat... again...

If Tom Brady had not cheated, it's almost certain the Indy Colts would have lost, anyway. This is not about the Colts.

That settled, this is what needs to be stated: Tom Brady lied. And lied and lied. To cover up his cheating. 

Beyond lying time after time, Brady was so brash as to refuse to provide NFL investigator Ted Wells with his text messages or e-mails pertinent to the investigation. Refused.

Brady is so clearly a cheater and liar that the Post's Adam Kilgore summarized the NFL's report this...

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Jameis Winston and Lovie Smith...

Because of the noise of the galloping hoofs of his stallions, The tumult of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers have not turned back for their children, Because of the limpness of their hands...  - Jeremiah 47:3

The biggest name in the NFL draft this year is Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston is no Andrew Luck golden boy. He brings some baggage including a civil suit alleging sexual assault (authorities declined to file criminal charges), some pranks and tirades, and conviction a year ago for stealing crab legs from a Publix.

Naturally, then, NFL general managers and coaches are scrutinizing Winston. After last year's tsunami of criminal charges causing the season of shame that came to a fitting end with Darth Hoodie winning the Super Bowl, no one wants to bring a Johnny Manziel into their locker room. And since the Tampa Bay Bucs have the first draft pick this year, it's Tampa Bay's GM Jason Licht and Head Coach Lovie Smith who have been spending time and money looking into Winston's character.

Lovie's been around for 19 NFL drafts and he says he's never seen the level of investigation of a player that Winston is being put through. GM Licht reports the Bucs have talked to...


The WNBA...

This is the first sentence of an article just published by USA Today under the headline, "WNBA star Brittney Griner, fiancée arrested on assault allegations":

A verbal argument between Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her fiancée turned physical on Wednesday afternoon resulting in the arrests of both women on assault and disorderly conduct allegations, according to a police report.


Priceless...

Watch the coach belly flop. He's the proud father.

 


Argentine soccer...

Those of you who like soccer might get a kick out of a joke told by the leader of the Roman Catholic church who took the name Francis. Asked about Argentine pride, he said, "Do you know how an Argentine commits suicide? He climbs to the top of his ego and jumps!"

Zenit didn't include the joke in their summary.


The death of Evangelical missions...

There was a time when missions meant preaching the Gospel to all the world and being a missionary meant being sent to all the world to preach the Gospel. The Auca martyrs went to the Aucas to preach the Gospel. They went from love of their fellow men to tell them about sin and righteousness and judgment, then the hope of forgiveness and eternal life through the cross of the Only Lord Jesus Christ.

They did not go as a publicity stunt to "raise awareness" about the "marginalized."

Today, though, we have a different kind of missions and a different kind of missionary. Christian missions has evolved and has little to do with preaching the Gospel. And yet every Christian missionary and Christian mission non-profit organization claims to be...


Tom Brady: church and the football field...

Arguably, Tom Brady has been the best quarterback in the NFL for years now. Recently he had this to say about the distinction between church and the football field:

We’re not choirboys, I know that. You bring us up to a certain level of intensity to the game, your job is to go out there and physically, emotionally, mentally dominate the game. You don’t do that at church on Sunday. You’ve got to go to the football field for that.


Shaka Smart and fatherhood...

Sports is always about fatherhood, especially when African Americans are the players. It's one of the reasons I started watching and reading about sports a decade ago after having no interest for the first fifty years. Here's a piece that's, can I use the word 'sweet'? What keeps Shaka Smart at VCU?

A teaser...