Inspiring Christmas Story
I usually find Rick Reilly’s columns to be insufferable, self-righteous and all together horrible. To me, he’s a model of how bad sports writing can be and and indication of the low standards in the field.
His Christmas column tells a story that is actually so inspiring and does such a number on one’s heartstrings that his own cute, predictable writing style can not ruin the story. I’ll put my commentary below the fold.
The main question the story of Gainesville State and Grapevine Faith brings up is whether a non-Christian school would have done something similar. Speaking from my own reading and experience, I just can’t see it. Due to all the dehumanization and utter lunacy directed towards, say, gays from Southern protestants, these inspiring stories which display the universalism that we secular people hold so dear are incredibly discordant – and rather distressing.
Another thing the story underlies is how sad the entire project of juvenile justice is. Reilly describes many of the kids as being disowned by their families, stigmatized by society and generally lead to believe that no one believes in or cares about them. That’s simply and intolerable situation. Dare I slip into reflexive liberalism, but I think these kids need more than the exceptional grace of one Christian high school. After all, they all had get on the bus after the game, and soon enough, the hamburgers and gatorade will be gone.
