More Footie

Tom at Donegal Express has taken issue with my post on soccer.

Relying on ambiguous texts, he has built a case for Baseball. You should read his post. It's funny. Wrong, but funny.

Thankfully, Holy Scripture is not silent on the subject of sport. It is so much more explicit than Tom would have you think.

It is at first unclear which of hockey or soccer the Almighty prefers, but Ezekiel tells us that the Lord plays one of them:
(32:3) "thus saith the Lord God: I will spread out my net".

Then the Psalms tip the scales in favour of hockey:
(10:10) "In his net he will bring him down" against the boards, he will check him. And as I explained in my post on hockey, this only makes sense.

But being as Galilee is warm, Jesus' Apostles couldn't play hockey, so they amused themselves with soccer right up until Jesus called them, whereupon "they immediately leaving their nets, followed him" (Mt 4:20).

Baseball, on the other hand, has no net. Neither has American Football. That's just unnatural. "For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction" (ps 34:7).

In the Old Testament, bad people play baseball: (Gen 4:8) "And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him".

And it's not just baseball that's unnatural. Deuteronomy list a whole lot of unclean things including, "the hoop also and the bat" (14:18). Which rules out basketball as well as baseball.

So what did Jesus like to do when all the equipment was put away after a good game? It's like He said to Peter "let down your nets for a draught" (Lk 5:4).



What more do you need?

On Footie

My earlier post on the catholicity of hockey has provoked a spat over at Tradito in Radice. A hilarious post at Donegal Express bemoaning soccer, only adds to the chaos.

It seems these otherwise fine Catholic thinkers are confused. You see, Footie is the sport of Saints. Dull Saints, but Saints.

It has none of the foolishness you find in baseball and American football; this individual-achievement-protestant-work-ethic-american-dream rubbish.

Baseball particularly, is soaked in error. Like a cheap Evangelical altar call, a home-run will change the outcome of the whole game. Where's the final perseverance? The suffering, the toil, the tears?

Ah but soccer is a bold Catholic story. Success, if it comes at all, comes by slow progress, struggling past endless setbacks, perseverance til death.

Soccer and hockey, with roots long in the past, are the fruits of organic tradition. Baseball and American football are men's inventions; shabby, made-up games; Novus ordos of sport.

Hope

Yesterday, I was out for a walk, pushing my son on his tricycle around the neighbourhood. He likes Christmas lights as much as the next three year old, and we passed a couple who were putting Christmas lights on the outside of their house. The wife was standing on the ground and the husband was up the ladder.

My son (loud enough for everybody to hear):"Look Daddy, They're putting up Christmas lights already!"

Me: "So they are."

Him: "Maybe they don't know about Advent".