James will be on 60 MINUTES on Sunday night, with Morley Safer, talking alot about the work he has done with that religious sect in the Northeast known as the Red Sox.

http://tinyurl.com/3xcwtj

Just once I’d love to see a game-ending strike out, or a key home run followed by an emphatic and loving point downward.

You know, to honor the troubled and departed – but dearly beloved – family member who was an inspirational figure to the celebrant but just happened to be a crack peddling arsonist or an axe murderer before being unfortunately consigned to the seventh circle of the underworld.

13 , 14 : Speaking of “hell,” here’s an anecdote that’ll bring it all back to Barry Bonnell (from the aforementioned mlb.com article):

“Bonnell, who was splitting time at third base and in the outfield, was a factor in the Rookie of the Year balloting, so a series in his hometown [Cincinnati] was a big deal for him. When he got there, he saw a bunch of kids from his church who were holding a supportive banner. ‘It was a play on the old Harry Truman quote. It said: “Give ‘em Hell, Barry,”‘ Bonnell said. ‘I didn’t want them using that kind of language. I told them to take it down and they did.’”

That’s what was said about Gary Gaetti, who went from carouser to born-again Christian in 1988. His production dropped off markedly afterwards, though I draw no conclusions from this. He lasted a hell of a long time afterwards, and became a productive player again in his mid- to late-30s.

The George W. Bush/John Wetteland era Texas Rangers also took a faith-based team initiative to extremes…

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE5DA1F38F934A15754C0A961958260

10 : Yeah, the Rockies thing gives me the creeps, maybe because when things get too “Christ-y” I’m always worried that the anti-semitism on display with the Houston/Ward Knicks (http://tinyurl.com/3dv277) can’t be too far behind.

I can’t remember if it was here or on another site, but we got into a discussion of the Colorado Rockies and their “Christian-based code of ethics”: http://tinyurl.com/plk39

Then there was Charlie Ward and Allan Houston leading exclusionary locker-room prayer circles when they were on the Knicks:
http://tinyurl.com/2uqhvl

And just the other day, some pinhead wrote in to the Daily News Voice of the People page to complain about how awful and disrespectful it was for the NHL to have games on Good Friday.

When it comes down to it, there is probably more praying going on during sporting events than at any other time, including at church, mosque, and synagogue.