Sports and Religion

Unless you live under a rock you know I love the Texas Rangers. If you pay any attention to sports. you know the Rangers have a playoff game tomorrow. It's an elimination game that can end in two ways. 1. Rangers win and advance in the playoffs for the first time ever or 2. Rangers lose and become the second team ever to lose a series after having a 2-0 leading. Both options are amazing achievements with opposite rewards. The game is in 27 hours yet I can't sit still and can't stop thinking about it. This really does have a religious point, I promise. People have often said sports is like a religion. I decided to investigate this further. It's true. Both sports and religion have faith, devotion, worship, ritual, dedication, sacrifice, commitment, spirit, prayer, suffering, festival, and celebration. My experience as Rangers fan involves lots of dedication, commitment, occasional prayer, and a hell of a lot suffering. I even believe on occasion that there are such things as Baseball Gods. My lack of religious upbringing has been well documented in previous posts. After putting everything together I have to ask myself the obvious question: Did I swap religion for the Texas Rangers? That's a scary thought. I'm sure God is not amused. But what am I going to do, it's hard to break a 21 year habit? I do believe everything happens for a reason. If the Rangers lose tomorrow, maybe it's a sign from God that I need to re-organize my priorities a little but. Maybe switching my religious views from the Texas Rangers to something more tangible would be a good start.

(I hope this post does not anger the Baseball Gods) :D