Ah yes, summer and sporting events. They go together like, well, like baseball and hot dogs. I supported our church's softball team as a fan the other evening (they do much better with me as a fan than as a player) and I enjoyed the contagious camaraderie and clever baseball banter tossed around from player to player. Unfortunately, I can recall other games when I've witnessed well-meaning team members, pepper-hot clergy included, behaving themselves in ways that were less than exemplary.

Last year our church decided to transform our softball games into an entire season of outreach events, so we chose not to join a church league. Instead we joined a city league in which, as far as I know, we are the only church team. And, thanks to our own volunteer Grill Master, Doug the Hot Dog Dude, we started giving away free hot dogs to the opposing players after every game. (We've become very popular ever since our team went to the dogs.)

While talking with one of our newer players, I mentioned that ...