A thing of beauty . . .

I had a long list of things to do this week-end, and have made a little headway.  I would have made a lot more headway except that I watched SEC basketball all Saturday afternoon as I worked (Arkansas/LSU, Auburn/Miss. St, Florida/Vanderbilt.)  Then I went to Tuscaloosa to watch the Alabama Ole Miss basketball game which started at 7:00 p.m.  I planned to get home by 11:00 p.m., get a good night's sleep, then get up and go back to Tuscaloosa to worship at Taylorville UMC. Alabama won the basketball game . . .after two overtimes.  Overtimes in college basketball are only five minutes each, but, if the game is tied at the end of regulation, both teams feel like they deserve to win. The intensity in overtime compared to regulation is comparable to how NBA player play during the regular season versus how they play in the NBA championship game.  Last night the Tide and the Rebels went to two overtimes.  It was no place for the weak.

And it was no place for someone who needed to get home early, unless you are one of those people who don't deserve a basketball ticket because you leave the game early when your team goes down by three or five. If you do that, you know nothing about basketball. (Unless you have small children, as Benjamin observed, although I'm pretty sure that when he was that age he would not have allowed me to take him home early, which I never would have done anyway). So it was after midnight when I got into the house, which I then left at 6:00 a.m. to get to church.

And now I'm ready to watch the Super Bowl. (I intentionally avoided the pre-game and checked a few more things off my list of things to do)

I like games.  I like to play games.

And I like to watch people play games.

I love the team aspect of games, I really  do, and I know that team play is the politically correct thing to talk about.  But still.

As I turned on the Super Bowl programming a few minutes ago a play from a former Super Bowl was being replayed.  Super Box XLII in 2008.  Eli Manning fought his way out of three tackles and threw high above David Tyree, who made what is now called the "helmet catch."  

It was like free-style ballet.

These games we watch are full of them, people who have pushed themselves to go  beyond what prior generations thought could not be done.  

Some folks think this obsession with games is silly.  And it can be. 

But in these days when we are so disappointed by the human performances that make the headlines, maybe we have a need for it.  A need to watch a human being pushing to be the best he or she can be.   The playing field is brightly lit.  Any shortcuts of preparation or stinginess of effort will be revealed.  There is no place to hide on these playing fields, courts, and arenas.

Enough of this. Time for kick-off.

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