OTHER THINGS TO DO [F, 10-16-20]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter

OTHER THINGS TO DO      [F, 10-16-20]

The Crumble Bums, now known as The Guys In Glenn’s Garage, since we can’t go to the Crumble Bakery anymore for coffee, and so now meet in the aforementioned garage, which is quite spacious and cleaner than most living rooms, with all the doors open, so that we’re sort of outside, which is going to be worrisomely cool very soon now, more than six feet from one another, masked except when we are sipping coffee, each one of us having brought our own brew [Mine is Santa Fe Roasters chocolate pinon], talked this week about how television viewership for sports has dropped dramatically during this viral pandemic--in the context of our conversation about the baseball playoffs and the recent deaths of so many famous players--which seems a bit counter-indicated, because you’d think sports fans would be even more devoted to the televised version of athletic competition, since the feats of athleticism cannot be viewed in person.

There are a number of theories/reasons about why this is so. Many sports have been forced out of season, and no one wants to watch water polo in the winter or hockey in the summer. Schedules are unpredictable, since games get postponed, sometimes at the last minute, because of infected players. Many watch sports because they have bets on the games, and folks who are out of work don’t want to risk the money for the electric bill on a gamble.

But the one I like best: Without televised sports, people have discovered that there are other things to do.

I personally still enjoy watching sports. I’m glad there was a baseball season, even though it was short--and strange, with no fans in the stands--and even though the Reds scored minus three runs for the whole season. [Hyperbole, yes, but not by much.] I’m excited that it looks like we’ll get to see some Big Ten football and a somewhat shortened basketball season. But I also feel liberated from the need to watch sports. Yes, I have discovered there are other things to do.

Maybe one decent gift of the pandemic is getting us out of unproductive ruts. Okay, I may be stretching a bit, trying to keep from being totally despondent about our current troubles, but work with me here. Read a book. Write a letter. Say a prayer. Work a puzzle. Finish that quilt. Bake some cookies. Take a walk. Learn to knit.

Clean up the garage—maybe some guys will come have coffee with you and give you stuff to think about.

John Robert McFarland 

“Christ is a prediction.” Irenaeus