Seriously, can't help but comment more

So why are sports so important? And not to just me, don't kid yourself. I heard the collective cheer as the Bears sealed their victory tonight. I heard collective yells and howls when the White Sox won the World Series. I could feel the entire building get electric with an Albert Pujols bomb and then completely deflate when they Cardinals are eliminated. I get giddy when Green Bay wins, I loved seeing the Cubs in the playoffs, and don't worry, I got caught up in Illini basketball madness.

So again...why? We spend hours analyzing, griping, nitpicking, telling coaches how to coach, players how to play, and even fans how to cheer. Why do we care? Now, I understand not EVERYBODY cares, but let's look at this a bit deeper...I think we inherently want to be winners. "DUH ALAN!!" you might say to yourself. But more importantly, I think we want to know we're on the winning team. When we see others on the winning team, and we're not on it, it crushes us. When we're rejoicing with others, it feels so amazing. When our team loses, it feels like we're being attacked as individuals. Somehow, if somebody doesn't like our team, secretly they don't like a part of us. Sports are a rallying cry for a community. People feel like a part of it and they feel like their territory, their heritage has been properly defended. So when every Bears fan is cheering up a storm and Brett Favre and the Packers have lost another close one, I feel crushed while they feel more like a close knit community than ever before. I actually lose control sometimes and just become a raving lunatic because I feel as if all is lost. I sit and stew in that for a while and then realize that I'm gonna be ok. I want to be a part of a winner, and I know that I am.

Now let's make the jump...

People want to be winners. We inherently know, not in sports, but in life, no matter how long it takes, and how many lives in this world evil claims, good will prevail. We want to believe this...we have to believe this to go on. The current sports world and all my gripes are jut a microcosim. I just want to be a winner. And I know without a shadow of a doubt...I am on the winning team. I know that God will prevail over the devil. I've seen it. And here Satan is putting a Bears winning season in my face. He's telling me I'm no good, that I can't do it...that other people can. (I know this might seem like a stretch, but these were my thoughts as I lifted weights this evening) Somehow I just can't win. But that just pushes me more. It makes me want to try harder as a Packers, Cubs, Illini, whatever fan. It makes me want to put more into this even though I will continuously see pathetic fruit. And even if I see victory, I know that it won't last. It will drop back into nothingness and the pathetic cycle continues. So what I must do is drop out of this cycle. Drop out of the sports world. This doens't mean I won't enjoy sports, but I must let it be sports, and let me be me.

Let's all work on trying to find our winning team. Whatever it takes, find it. Find the team that won't let you down, no matter what. I find such comfort in that concept. Now I challenge you, if this doesn't make sense, that's fine. It comes from my worldview. This is how I best relate to and see things. Just know that Christ came to win the battle for us. We are in the fight and it will be hard, but we have already won (as strange as that sounds). So, find a way that Christ does relate to you. Find the analogy that makes sense to your head and your heart. It may take something so simple to help you realize it that you will be amazed. For me today, it was riding home from IMPE. I rode by a guy in a Brian Urlacher jersey that yelled out, for whatever reason, "O'Doyle Rules!" That's when I knew I was on the winning team. O'Doyle gets what's comin' to him and Satan gets his as well.