Almost daily we can find examples in out world where people act out of greed and self-interest. It seems as if morals and ethical behavior are always cast aside in favor of instant gratification and accumulation of personal wealth.
Although they may seem like romantic ideals, the sports continue to pull us back to the days of innocence, purity and the values of fair play that we shared on the sandlots when we were young. All sports fans want to see the games that helped shape them--the games the grew up playing in backyards and playgrounds across the country-- remain a bastion of goodness and purity. In a world that changes in the blink of an eye--and not always for the better--we have a need for an emotional security blanket, an escape or a release valve from the pressures of the day.
It remains an ideal we cling to that, in a world gone wild, purity is still remains alive somewhere in the world of sport. As individual athletes continue to fail us by the day, we cling to the games themselves as the one thing we can trust to remain the same.
We should not blame individual athletes for the sense that innocence is lost in the world of sports, anymore than we can blame an individual for the loss of same in the world at large. It's grains of sand in the desert, a part of life.
Sports provides an easy way for us to hit the rewind button when we are disappointed with the daily news cycle. We can still have that occasional escape back to a bygone era--seemingly more long ago and far away than ever before--and recapture the spirit and innocence when we feel it slipping away. The Game lives on.
PURITY - Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. - Psalm 51:10
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