Across the Great Divide

Josh Hamilton Walks with God.

It's true that I'm not a religious person, and I've been critical here about aspects of religiosity — especially the prosperity gospel and religious posturing by politicians and sports figures. But I've also communicated with followers of Kenneth Copeland and Mac Hammond, and I know they responded to the larger message, not just the money part.

So I don't usually ridicule religion or faith as it really plays out in most people's lives, because it works for them — often in situations where other interventions simply don't.

For a moment last night — after Josh Hamilton put on an amazing display of hitting in an otherwise meaningless pre-All Star Game Home Run Derby and then credited his savior — I was tempted to do a satirical news item about Obama calling for an end to players injecting God in baseball .

Want to know why I passed up on what could have been a funny bit? And it has nothing to do with this.

What They Never Show You on TV.

Delmon Young is one of the younger players on a young Twins team that has some exciting talent, and I mean that in all senses of the word.

Carlos Gomez beat out a sacrifice bunt that looked like it was hit too hard to the first baseman by simply outrunning the ball and diving head first into right field, tagging first as he flew by. Later he made a diving catch in center and beat a throw to home to score one of the Twins' seven runs in a shutout of the Tigers.

Had the game been broadcast, you would've seen all those heroics, plus Delmon Young's two doubles and a knee-high catch of a fly ball in left that would've made you swear this was a night game. How else to explain the headlights?

Though Young's fielding lacks what us old timers would call anticipation, he did teach us a new trick during his between-inning warm ups.

At home, the left fielder exchanges tosses with one of the bullpen pitchers. Early on, Young dropped a throw from Brian Bass. Later, he completely missed a ball from Craig Breslow. As Young jogged to retrieve it, Breslow looked to the bullpen in disbelief, miming the trajectory of the ball over his glove.

Naturally, this enhances your excitement about a ball hit to left in way you simply can't experience watching at home

Next inning, I noticed Young purposely dropped a throw, and then repeated it in successive innings.

I would like to announce that henceforth, that typos, misspellings and occasional head-slapping misses are an intentional part of my routine.

Kersten Parades Her Pharisee Pride.

Joining an argument with someone like Katherine Kersten is like agreeing to an eating contest with a pig. Sure, a pig has a bigger appetite and capacity, but that's not what makes the contest so impossible. To stay in the contest, you will have to gulp down all manner of offal.

This is an eating contest, grunts the pig. Who said anything about food?

There is way too much for me to swallow in Kersten's lecture on the real story behind gay pride. I finally choked on this fishy passage.

The theologian C.S. Lewis called pride "the great sin" — the root of almost every other transgression. Pride, he wrote, "has been the chief cause of misery ... since the world began."

So "gay pride" is out of place in church. But so is straight pride, black pride, white pride — or any kind of pride.

And gay pride is especially bad because, well, you know, it's really just about sex:

In recent years, however, a different vision of sexuality has grown fashionable. In this view, sex of all kinds — whether straight, gay or otherwise — is best understood as a vehicle for pleasure and self-expression. Today, this vision of sex dominates our entertainment industry, is taught in our schools and inspires events such as gay pride celebrations.

Kersten wants you to demands you accept Lewis's sinful pride as the proper definition of what these movements are about and denies this meaning: "the correct level of respect for the importance and value of your personal character, life, efforts, or achievements."

Gay pride, like black pride, Irish pride and even southern pride are expressions of solidarity, not individualistic claims of superiority. They're a response to oppression, discrimination and the feelings of diminished self-worth that a dominant culture seeks to instill and that Kersten cannot see because she is a part of it.

This was the same point that made Spot stop and sniff:

But Katie is right; it's just like the blacks. First they just wanted to own themselves. Then they wanted jobs and an education. And they they wanted to vote. Can you believe that?

Next thing you know, they'll want a parade.

If Time is Money, Then Money Becomes Time.

This has been a difficult economy for many people. The average person may be having a tough time paying the bills as wage growth has slowed, mortgage costs have adjusted and food and gasoline expenses have soared. But it is also a time when we are constantly bombarded with images of the great wealth or luxurious lifestyles of the rich and famous. These people have earned their money and have the right to display it as they wish. But do we really want to be watching?
— Ross Levin, "Want everything? You'll always fail," Star Tribune

Last week I spent a good deal of time walking around Interlachen Country Club where the U.S. Women's Open Championship was being played. If you're not from around here, Interlachen is the kind of place where The Graduate would get the advice about plastics.

Until 18 months ago, we belonged to another private club. At the time the championship was being planned,  my domestic pard, who served as the club's league president, got the club committed to marshal one of the holes, and we were invited back to help out. It was nice to see old friends and watch the world's best golfers up close.

But I have to say I don't miss any of it.

Being away from the golf culture as well as being far less immersed in the game reminds me how it demands a high level of self-absorption if you want to be any good. Add the private club aspect, which at our club was subordinate to the golf, and you become immersed in what may feel like a close community.

But narrow is not the same as close.

Investment adviser Levin quotes Stephen Marglin, author of The Dismal Science — How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community:

One of the important tasks of the 21st century is to find a better balance between the claims of self and the claims of others.

Largely, we found ourselves together in that place because we shared an interest in a game, not because we were shared an interest in the world or each other. We met some great people and made lasting friendships there, but finally decided we were devoting an enormous portion of our attention to something that didn't amount to very much — and certainly did not extend much beyond ourselves. We did not want golf to be the organizing force in our lives. We did not want to end our days in some "golf community."

Levin advises us to be more conscious of our spending choices, to step back and determine whether our spending reflects our true values. He is talking about money, but it applies to how we spend our time, too.

Lorena Ochoa: Just Doing Her Job.

No matter where she plays golf in this country, Lorena Ochoa has fans. Sure, she's the best woman golfer in the world right now, but the friendly young player isn't just popular with the country club set.

Ochoa out-polled Mexico's president to be named Mexican of the year for 2007, and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Golf is only part of it.

At many tournaments, Ochoa visits with the course maintenance crews, many of whom are Latino immigrants. She thanks them for their work and talks about life back home.

    

Ochoa laughs when asked about "distractions" that accompany her high profile. She takes pride in being a role model and representing Mexico.

    

"I always do it with a smile on my face, and I think it's a part of everything," Ochoa said. "It's like paying taxes – you know, hopefully you pay a lot of taxes. It is part of my job."

Today and tomorrow, I'll be working as a course marshal at the U.S. Women's Open and watching her do her job.

 

Certainty in Uncertainty.

McHale not sure if Wolves will keep pick or trade it
— Star Tribune

Fans not sure either, except that team will blow it.

America, the Inevitable Champion.

Tiger Woods' U.S. Open victory over Rocco Mediate in an extended playoff yesterday, gimping around on a post-operative knee, was both an amazing feat and a routine win.

At the highest levels, any sport requires physical gifts, intense preparation and mental and emotional self-mastery, but golf championships, of all contests, strew the way with self-ruin. Mediate  barely made it into the championship after squeaking through a regional qualifier playoff, itself a tremendous come-from-behind performance that shows what someone in the pack of contenders might accomplish on any given weekend.

Woods has done this so many times, despite the difficulty of what he does against so many talented players, the world expects him to dominate. Except for the fact his intense concentration on golf has left no room for worldly interests, he has the fortitude required of a world leader.

Obama-Woods. Now there would be a mind-blower.

In world affairs, America strides like Tiger at Torrey Pines, and to its fans, there is no other possible winner. The other players provide context, perhaps some drama, before the inevitable.

It has been a great streak, and the formidable gifts remain. But at some point, other champions will emerge. Victory will come harder and less frequently, and the gallery's yips and howls will turn to respectful murmurs as they scan the field for the new champion.

I'm Not Saying I Wouldn't.

Minnesota men's basketball coach Tubby Smith thinks college recruiting of middle school kids may be going too far. That doesn't mean he's ruling out getting into such commitments.

"I don't think I would," Smith said about signing a player who's too young to drive. "But I'm not saying I wouldn't, either."

Protecting their long term interests. Isn't that what the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) "coaches" are up to?

"The church has more than a century-long tradition of marrying young," said elder Brigham Barlow of the FLDS community located in rural Silt, Colorado. "The good ones of marrying age, around 14 or 15, tend to go quick. As time goes on, well, naturally, you start looking a little younger. The competition for wives does favor early identification of matrimonial talent."

That can mean signing ceremonies as early as third grade, said Garfield County deputy sheriff Bud Rulison. "It can be hard to know which ones are really gonna prove out after puberty hits, but I guess that's a chance they're willing to take, given they can recruit more than one wife. That way, one porks out or goes lesbian on you, you're not totally out of the money."

Outsiders underestimate the pressure in small communities to find suitable mates, said Barlow. "The supply of girls who want to marry a 50 year old truck driver with three other wives and live  in a rural commune is not infinite, yet there are a lot of us guys out there. We do our best to condition them for this life, but you know it's really best for all concerned if they get married before they get corrupted by the world. Once they learn women don't all wear long dresses and put their hair up in buns, well, there's hell to pay."

 

Stupid Man Tricks.

The woman told police that the man, whom she didn't know, had often been outside her apartment and tried to get her attention by flashing his high beams into her living room window. She said she was once washing the window when she noticed Little standing near his car outside. She then left and returned to find a flower arrangement, a plant, a bottle of Windex and a sex toy outside her door. Little admitted that he left the "gifts" to win her over.

— "Breck coach expected in court today," Star Tribune

According to two years of lurking arrest records, blacks are eight times more likely to be cited for lurking than whites, and homeless people are 20 times more likely.

— "Lurking law under scrutiny," Star Tribune

Hockey coaches might be off the charts. They don't lurk, exactly; they just engage in inept mating rituals with strangers, players and children — boys and/or girls.

Curse the Person Who Sent Me This!

If you are a golfer in recovery do not click this link. If you are still addicted, you will protest, but you'll do it anyway. If you don't play, move along, nothing to see here.