Sports Widow

The Sports Widow Helps Coordinate Sports Night - Ironic, Huh?

February 15, 2008 2:02 AM | 0 Comments

One of the great ironies of my life is that I serve on a church committee that is responsible for planning an annual family event for elementary-aged children called Sports Night. This event is religion lite for Presbyterians in that it's heavy on fellowship and short on doctrine.

Each year we invite a local Christian athlete to the event, who describes his/her career, as well as how his/her faith has influenced it. In this case, we invited Jon Brockman, who plays for the University of Washington Huskies. When Jon arrived, I was playing basketball with my 10-year-old son Austin, doing my best to guard his 5-foot-one frame. My arms were flailing like a windmill, but once this 6-foot-seven star athlete showed up, I confess I felt self-conscious and abandoned the effort. Jon's message to the kids was honest and inspiring. He said that while your career may have its ups & downs, which is positively true in the case of basketball, your relationship with Christ is always on a steady footing.

After a brief Q&A, everyone charged for the inflatables in an adjacent gym, including a gigantic bouncy room, obstacle course, & slide, as well as other non-buoyant offerings such as bowling, ping pong and, new this year, a Putt Putt Golf Course of biblical proportion. This golf course has got to be the 11th Wonder of the World. I mean how many chances do you get to putt through the Tower of Babel, Noah's Ark AND the Red Sea? While at this sports station, I found myself inhabiting the character of Carl Spackler in the 1980 movie Caddyshack, when he talks about being a looper, a caddy for the Dalai Lama. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice. This has got to be one of the most brilliant lines in film history and my all-time favorite.

Well, gotta go. Need to start planning for Literary Night or Broadway Show Night or History Night. As if... Somehow I don't think these events would have the same cache or attract as a great a following. Tell me, WHY do these subjects always get overlooked??

The Sports Widow
(aka Nan Hall)