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Here’s something a little different.

Today, Jacob Riggs and I recorded a podcast for The Brink. The Brink podcast is the audio arm of The Brink devotional magazine and small group studies for twentysomethings.

Today’s topics included The Bachelorette, steroids in baseball, a Christian’s view of torture, and your mom on Facebook.

If you’d like to listen, visit thebrinkonline.com or visit the direct link to the podcast by clicking here.

Also, you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes. We’d really love you if you did that!

Enjoy!

With all of the latest “incidents” happening in sports, it seems the bad apples are getting all of the press. ESPN is clouded with 24 hour coverage on the Alex Rodriguez steroids scandal. TNT has a dark shadow after Charles Barkley, one of their NBA analysts, got arrested for a DUI. The country is still abuzz over the picture of Michael Phelps smoking marijuana.

But somewhere in the back pages, behind all of these overplayed stories, are a few stories out of the sports world that show the good guys still exist. Here’s 2 I’d like to share with you:

You probably don’t know the name Ted Leonsis unless you’re a huge hockey fan and from Washington D.C. Leonsis is the owner of the Washington Capitals NHL franchise. In other words, he’s a very wealthy and powerful man. According to Tarik El-Bashir of The Washington Post, Leonsis and El-Bashir were meeting together when the two men passed a homeless man at the train station. Even though everyone walked right on by the man, including El-Bashir, Ted Leonsis stopped and talked to the man. He noticed he didn’t have any shoes. When Leonsis asked him why, the homeless man told him they were stolen. Ted Leonsis proceeded to talk to the man and give him a large significant amount of money, on the promise that he would use it to buy shoes.

It’s easy to say Leonsis probably got scammed. It’s easy to think it’s not big deal because Leonsis is loaded with money anyway. But the thing is, how many people just like you and me walked by the man and did absolutely nothing? How many people just like you and me would walk by and do absolutely nothing? Ted Leonsis didn’t have to do anything, but he wanted to do something. He may have more money to give than the average person, but compared to the homeless man, don’t all of us?

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Johntell Franklin is an 18-year-old senior and basketball player at Milwaukee Madison High School. On February 7, Franklin’s mother died after a five-year battle with cancer. The coach of the basketball team, Aaron Womack Jr. rushed to the hospital to be with Franklin. Womack offered to cancel that night’s basketball game against Dekalb High School, but Franklin insisted that they keep the game on schedule and he encouraged the guys to go out and do their best. 

During the second quarter of the game, to the surprise of everyone, Johntell Franklin showed up to the gym. He wasn’t just there to watch; he was there to play. Unfortunately, since Franklin’s name was not in the scorebook at the beginning of the game, the referees were forced to call a technical foul against Franklin. It wasn’t that they wanted to, but they had to. Even though Dekalb’s coaches complained about the call and tried to have it removed, it the call stood. 

As a result of the technical foul, Dekalb received 2 free throws. Dave Rohlman, coach of Dekalb, devised a plan. He sent in senior Darius McNeal to shoot the free throws. Instead of knocking both free throws down, however, McNeal did something extraordinary. When receiving the ball, he took it and rolled it right back to the referee for his first shot. When the ref bounced the ball back to him for his second shot, McNeal shot  the ball about 2 feet in front of him, negating the free throw attempts. 

When asked why he intentionally missed the shots, McNeal said he did it for Franklin, because it was the right thing to do. 

Madison went on to win the game 62-47 and Franklin finished with 10 points. 

With all the media craze over A-Rod, steroids, scandals, etc. it’s nice to know some of the good guys still exist. These are the guys we should be hearing about. These are the guys we should be praising!

(Story from the Journal Sentinel)

Have you seen the movie Angels in the Outfield? If you haven’t, let me give you a brief premise. Basically, the California Angels (now called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) are a horrible team. To help a boy in foster care, angels come and help the team win, including ace pitcher Tony Danza. When all is said and done, the Angels make it to the playoffs. However, the boy finds out real angels don’t help out in the playoffs; the team has to do it themselves. 

Anyway, that’s a brief premise. Sounds hokey, but it brings a tear to my eye. 

Today, I wonder if Yankees fans must know what the boy felt like when he found out angels don’t help out in the playoffs. But in this instance, Yankees fans aren’t wondering about angels, they’re wondering about steroids. During the playoff collapses of the Yanks, why didn’t the steroids seem to show up in Giambi, Clemens, and A-Rod.

If you’re a baseball fan, you’ve probably heard the news by now: Alex Rodriguez, 3rd basemen for the New York Yankees, has admitted to steroid use during the 2001-2003 seasons. These 3 seasons were spent with the Texas Rangers, during the time when A-Rod became the highest paid player in baseball.

On Saturday, news first broke that A-Rod had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. At the time, the drugs were not banned in baseball, but they were illegal in the US unless prescribed by a doctor. The 2003 test was supposed to be anonymous and the results were supposed to be destroyed, and yet somehow the results leaked to the media this past weekend. 

Two days after the news broke, Alex Rodriquez spoke with ESPN and came clean about the whole ordeal.

Let me tell you what I’m thinking and then I want to hear your thoughts.

- First, I applaud A-Rod for finally coming forward and not hiding behind lies anymore. This is a step in the right direction for baseball and hopefully other players will follow suit, most notably Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa.

- I am dismayed that the only reason this came out was because a report was leaked this weekend. This leads me to believe Rodriguez was willing to go to the grave with this secret as long as it didn’t come out from another source. In turn, I wonder if he’s truly sorry for taking steroids, or just sorry he got caught. I believe he feels remorse, but would that remorse be as strong if no one ever knew. Don’t forget, A-Rod lied to Katie Couric about his steroid use in 2007 on 60 Minutes. 

- Even if A-Rod is sincerely sorry for his actions, he still used an illegal substance to try to get ahead of others. Yes, many others were using ‘roids as well, but that doesn’t make it any more acceptable. He will have to be held accountable for his actions. I truly hope he only used PEDs from 2001-2003 and is not sugarcoating the story to get by with less public shame.

- America will be quick to forgive Rodriguez. Look at the examples of Andy Pettite and Jason Giambi. Both men were found guilty of using PEDs (Pettite with HGH and Giambi with steroids). However, both men came clean and baseball fans have forgiven them. Many people think even more highly of Pettite now since his admission. He handled it very well and did not hide from it. He was honest. We appreciate that.

- Rodriguez has put himself above guys like McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, and Palmeiro. Baseball fans are pretty good at spotting a liar when they see one. We can’t forgive the other guys because they’ve given us no reason to forgive them. With A-Rod, wounds will eventually heal.

- Barring any other startling revelations, Alex Rodriguez belongs in the Hall of Fame. His numbers since 2003 prove his is a great baseball player and perhaps one of the greatest of all time. However, there may need to be an asterisk put on his plaque. He should be voted in over Bonds, McGwire, and Clemens with no second thoughts.

- Currently Barry Bonds holds the all-time HR record. Some think A-Rod will break that by the time he retires. Despite A-Rod’s honesty, the record would be tainted. Bonds’ has already tainted it as well. In my mind, Hank Aaron should still be noted as the all-time HR leader, and perhaps Roger Maris should be considered the single season HR champion.

Your thoughts?

I don’t like Christians. Sorry, but it’s true. Not all Christians, but some Christians. Why? Well…

Several weeks ago, I was in Charleston, West Virginia for the National Association of Free Will Baptists. If you’re not sure what this is, just imagine 6,000 Baptists all crammed into one convention center and occupying all of the hotels and restaurants within a 5 mile radius.

Located just minutes from the convention center was a food court, placed conveniently in the middle of the mall. One of the staff members of the convention decided to ask an employee of Chik-Fil-A just how everything had been going. The gist of the employee’s response: “Well, so far the teenagers here have been great; it’s the adults we’ve been having problems with.”

Later on in that week, some staff members from the same convention asked a waitress at Chile’s how things had gone that week. Her response: “Well, the tips haven’t really been so great.”

And thus, just a few examples of what it can be hard to like Christians. I’m not talking just from society’s point of view, I’m speaking from my personal point of view. Sure I love them, but I have a really difficult time liking “Christians.”

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