Category: Sports

Super Bowl Champion Becomes Champion of God
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Super Bowl Champion Becomes Champion of God

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Elvis Grbac can look back and remember two of his top football achievements. The six-foot-five quarterback was selected to the Pro Bowl while with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2001 and won a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers in 1994. Despite reaching the pinnacle of the football world, Grbac knows there are more […]

Ohio State Linebacker Goes From Walk-On to Scholarship Captain
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Ohio State Linebacker Goes From Walk-On to Scholarship Captain

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Coming out of high school in 2012, Joe Burger was not offered a scholarship to Ohio State University. Undeterred, he worked hard at contributing to the team in any way he could. His work has paid off, as he was awarded a scholarship last year. And now the linebacker is a senior captain of the […]

Nick Foligno Faithfully Gliding Forward in the NHL
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Nick Foligno Faithfully Gliding Forward in the NHL

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When Nick Foligno’s daughter Milana was born with a congenital heart defect two-and-a-half years ago, he knew he could rely on his Catholic faith for solace and strength. His mother Janis had died four years prior to that — an experience that initially threw him but eventually helped him gain a more positive outlook on […]

sports, training, female athlete, woman, weight lifting
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Olympics Changes Rules on Transgender Athletes – Women Lose

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All of my daughters are athletes. It isn’t always easy when my daughter’s varsity basketball team plays after the boys, and the once full gym empties as the girls start their game. It is heart breaking, but they understand. Women are by nature not as athletic as men and so, for many, not as exciting […]

<em>Woodlawn</em>, A Message for Today
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Woodlawn, A Message for Today

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Christianity and football came together on Nov. 8, 1974 in Birmingham, Alabama. The two-time defending state champion Banks high school Jets played against their rivals, the Woodlawn Colonels before a record-breaking crowd of 42,000. It is fitting that the game that broke attendance records also became a symbol of the power of Jesus Christ. It […]

Oldest Manager to Win World Series Still Enjoys Kid’s Game
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Oldest Manager to Win World Series Still Enjoys Kid’s Game

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Most 80-year-olds would never consider managing a professional baseball team. Then again, most 80-year-olds would never be asked to manage a professional baseball team. Yet, in June 2011, Jack McKeon accepted the then-Florida (now Miami) Marlins’ offer to lead the team as interim manager. McKeon’s previous stint with the Marlins included a World Series Championship in […]

When the Game Stands Tall
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When the Game Stands Tall

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It’s not about winning or losing but about how you play the game. Those words are usually reserved for losing teams, but legendary football coach, Bob Ladouceur, who shattered the record for all American sports, taught his team to live them; win or lose. He took the Spartans of De La Salle High School in […]

Standing Tall
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Standing Tall

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Sports movies have a built-in source of drama. In every contest there are winners and losers, hard work and teamwork, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Yet such movies also can lapse into melodrama and cliché: slow-motion metaphors that elevate sports above other challenges of life. Yet the best sports movies fit […]

From Merciless Linebacker to Merciful Messenger
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From Merciless Linebacker to Merciful Messenger

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Eric Mahl has always loved a challenge. In his youth, it was the prospect of being the best football player ever. This desire drove him to bench press 450 pounds, earn an NCAA Division I football scholarship and later a place on the Cleveland Browns’ roster. The 30-year-old Ohio native’s challenge now, however, is sharing the […]

Raising the Bar in Every Area of Life
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Raising the Bar in Every Area of Life

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As a two-time NCAA Division I All-American and National Champion high jumper, Bill Thierfelder had long been accustomed to raising the bar in a literal sense. Now, he does so in a metaphorical way by promoting excellence and virtue in every aspect of life. In fact, each light post at Belmont Abbey College is adorned with a […]

Alabama v. Auburn: A Metaphor for Life
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Alabama v. Auburn: A Metaphor for Life

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College football fans across the country are still buzzing over the shocking outcome of the Alabama-Auburn game. As a graduate of Florida State University, I couldn’t be more proud of Auburn. What a game! War Eagle! As expected, the odds makers picked Alabama to win. Who wouldn’t? Alabama has been unstoppable all year, and this […]

Baseball Park - PNC Park, Pittsburgh
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Bonding Over Baseball

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Baseball still brings friends and families together.

Baseball Park - PNC Park, Pittsburgh
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Bad Sports: Virtue & Vice at the Ballpark

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It really comes down to that — virtue vs. vice.

Olympic Bronze Medalist Transformed Through Crucible of Suffering
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Olympic Bronze Medalist Transformed Through Crucible of Suffering

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If things had gone according to his original plan, Mario Ancic would have played tennis at the Olympic Games in London last year. However, his life took a different course than he expected. The 6-foot-5-inch Croatian was riding high at the end of 2006. He was already an Olympic bronze medalist, a Wimbledon semifinalist and […]

Posing Nude: A Symptom of Illness in the Church
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Posing Nude: A Symptom of Illness in the Church

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The nude photograph of Agnieszka Radwanska has caused quite a stir inside and outside of the Catholic Church. Agnieszka is the fourth ranked world tennis champ who posed naked for ESPN Magazine. When the photo went public – and viral – she was dropped from the Polish Catholic youth movement, Krucjata Mlodych (Youth Crusade), where […]

He’s Not a Hitter, He’s a Baby Sitter!
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He’s Not a Hitter, He’s a Baby Sitter!

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“Let’s go, he can’t hit, he can’t hit.” “Stop the game! How dare you suggest that the batter, an innocent 12-year-old child who only wants to make contact with the ball, cannot hit! Have you considered how your ridicule will harm his self-esteem? As the umpire of this game, I forbid you to utter such […]

Yankees First Baseman Mark Teixeira on the Importance of Fatherhood
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Yankees First Baseman Mark Teixeira on the Importance of Fatherhood

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Mark Teixeira is widely known as one of the best all-around players in baseball. After being awarded the 2000 Dick Howser Trophy, college baseball’s equivalent of college football’s Heisman Trophy, he was taken in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft in 2001. His professional career includes a World Series championship, two All-Star Game […]

Is God a Methodist? <em>42</em> Inspires and Moves
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Is God a Methodist? 42 Inspires and Moves

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In an opening scene of Brian Helgeland’s moving film, 42, Branch Rickey, the famous president of the Brooklyn Dodgers and played by Harrison Ford, is reviewing files of potential black baseball players whom he might bring into major league baseball in the face of inevitable hate, vitriol, and racism. He picks up Jackie Robinson’s file. “He’s […]

Is God a Cardinals Fan?
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Is God a Cardinals Fan?

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Screaming erupted in our family room this past Friday as the St. Louis Cardinals came up with four runs in the ninth inning to derail the estimable Washington Nationals in the early morning hours not long after midnight. They managed to resurrect themselves from a 6-0 deficit from the early innings, thereby duplicating their performance […]

“It Has Something to Do With the Power of Love”
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“It Has Something to Do With the Power of Love”

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In 2001, I wrote the following first paragraph:”On January 22–on the 28th anniversary of Roe v. Wade–North Carolina Superior Court Judge Charles Lamm sentenced 27-year-old Rae Carruth to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in the execution-style murder of his pregnant girlfriend. Miraculously, doctors were able to save […]

St. Louis Rams' Quarterback Is 'Catholic by Blood'
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St. Louis Rams’ Quarterback Is ‘Catholic by Blood’

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Kellen Clemens has been playing football as far back as he can remember. After learning the game from his father on their cattle ranch, he went on to set high-school records for the state of Oregon in passing yards and touchdowns. At the University of Oregon, he set single-season passing records and ended his collegiate […]

Olympic Medalist Transformed Through Suffering
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Olympic Medalist Transformed Through Suffering

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If things had gone according to his original plan, Mario Ancic would have been playing tennis at the Olympic Games in London this week. However, his life took a different course than he expected. The 6-foot-5-inch Croatian was riding high at the end of 2006. He was already an Olympic bronze medalist, a Wimbledon semifinalist […]

The Lessons of Little League are Not So Little
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The Lessons of Little League are Not So Little

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Sports are often said to be a microcosm of life. But for kids playing on their first team, sports can provide valuable life lessons and opportunities for developing virtues. Coaches, then, can be influential mentors who start youngsters on the right road. Yet it’s not as simple as it looks. I had been thinking about […]

San Diego Baseball Camp Has Christ at Its Center
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San Diego Baseball Camp Has Christ at Its Center

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Mike Sweeney’s Catholic Baseball Camp, to be held July 24-26 at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego, is not your average baseball camp. In addition to the customary fielding, hitting and base-running, this camp will include daily Mass, confession and praying the Rosary. Participants will learn not only how to become great baseball players, […]