Not everyone reading this blog is a Christian, and not everyone is a sports fan. But for the person with Christian sensibilities and a modicum of interest in sport, I, The Great Sports Theologian, herewith offer you my assessment of the baseball teams now playing for their respective league championships that all righteous people should support.
First, we weigh the Dodgers and the Phillies. What is a Dodger, anyway? The ‘Artful Dodger’ in Oliver Twist was a pickpocket, was he not? Clearly we can’t support a Dodger.
In the other dugout we find the Phillies. The name ‘Phillies’ comes from the ‘Phila-‘ of ‘Philadelphia’, and originates in the Greek root ‘philos’, meaning ‘love’. Is it not clear that ‘love’ is to be supported over Dodgers. no matter how artful they be.
In the other league, we have the Angels playing the Yankees. To the southern half of the United States, of course, anything termed ‘Yankee’ is clearly of the Devil, an assessment supported nationwide with the Broadway production (and later movie) properly titled Damn Yankees.
And whom are they playing? The Angels. There is no question whom God’s people must support in this contest.
If both Phillies and Angels square off in the World Series, The Great Sports Theologian will again consult his books of wisdom to determine The Righteous Choice. Should the choice be between the Yankees and Dodgers, he will do the same, but only after an appropriate period of mourning.