A Sam Smith sports column in today’s Chicago Tribune has sparked a thought that might help Christians slow down big injustices. It seems that a few teams have figured out how to defense mammoth, domineering big menf like Shaq. You do it with quickness–the defender must antipate the big man’s move, step immediately in his path, establish his position, fall backwards when contacted by the big man, and so draw a charge. Foul on the big man. Enough fouls, and the big man sits on the bench–at least until the next game.
Christians activists are up against some pretty mammoth, domineering social injustices, and they are constantly getting beaten by them. I’m wondering if quick footedness leading to a charge–which usually requires the defender to flop backwards, feigning inappropriate contact–would constitute a social foul. Enough of those, and maybe the public would ask the social justice to sit on the bench. At least for awhile.
I’ll let others speculate how exactly this applies to social injustices. But my intuition tells me there is something for us to learn in this style of basketball defense. It’s helped the Chicago Bulls nuetralize Shaq. Not that Shaq is a great social injustice–though a Bulls fan might think so.
