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So maybe these serious fellows will do anything to make sports seem more relevant, more connected to "the real world." And so we read not about the stories and dramas of the games—why, that would feel escapist, sentimental, corny, old-school. Besides, there are ESPN highlights!

Instead, we have to endure pieces (I won't even deign to call them "stories") about quarrels, tantrums, gossip, salary disputes, and so on and so forth—because that's real.

But it's also boring. That's what we all live with every day. I watch sports to enter another world, one with its own sense of time and space, its own social order—and its own drama, heroes, and even mythology.

Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald pitied baseball writer Ring Lardner because Lardner's world was limited to what occurs on the baseball diamond. Fitzgerald apparently did not understand baseball. Because for an intelligent and passionate observer—and good writers are nothing if not intelligent and passionate observers—all of human life is on display, especially when lived out between confines. Why do so many novelists place their stories on ships or islands? What goes on between the foul lines is as worthy of a writer's narrative powers as are the boorish nouveau riche Fitzgerald spent so much pondering in The Great Gatsby.

But I whine. Still, I continue to wonder if sportswriters have forgotten their vocation, their God-given calling. It may not be the most important thing to do in life—but which of us can say that our jobs constitute the most important of things? Yet sportswriters do have a calling—to believe in play and to believe in writing. And to help the rest of us enjoy Sabbath moments, as we read about the courage and grace of athletes who take the game to a different dimension.

Mark Galli is managing editor of Christianity Today.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Earlier Play Ball columns include:

'You Trying to Say Jesus Christ Can't Hit a Curveball?' | Fans vent their frustration on struggling slugger who professes religious devotion. By Collin Hansen (Apr., 20, 2006)

Un Problema Grande, No? | What major league baseball reveals about the dangers of immigration. By Mark Galli (Apr. 13, 2006)

WWJWD? | In the wake of UCLA's loss in Monday's NCAA championship game, I couldn't help but wonder: What would John Wooden do? By Mark Moring (April 6, 2006)

There IS Crying in Basketball | If only we all had something so precious to weep about. By Collin Hansen (March 30, 2006)

Pirates vs. Braves | Reforming sports one city at a time. By Mark Galli (March 23, 2006)

Bjorn Again? | It's been a while since tennis legend Bjorn Borg was in the news. Too bad he's back because he's selling his Wimbledon trophies. By Mark Moring (March 16, 2006)

Steroids 'R' Us | It's not just Barry Bonds's heart that is desperately wicked. By Mark Galli (Mar. 9, 2006)

Heavy Medal | At the Olympics, if you don't medal, you certainly must be a loser. By Mark Moring (Feb. 23, 2006)

Opening Ceremony Blues | The Olympics is symbolic, but not of world peace. By Mark Galli (Feb. 16, 2006)

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April (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50