[DougShrapnel]

[ QUOTE ]
Let me begin by saying that I have been a very big sports fan all of my life. Here in Canada hockey is the national obsession (much like football (soccer) in the UK and many other countries) Despite my Canadian upbringing, baseball has always been my favorite. I think it's mostly because of its statistical nature. Right now fantasy baseball and poker are my two main hobbies/passions. Lately I have concluded that there are many parallels between baseball and poker. You need 162 games to decide the best teams, just like you need to play many many hands to even out the short term luck factor in poker. It makes me cringe when certain pundits want to increase the number of teams in the playoffs. It would be like taking 8 top poker pros, playing 5 SNGs, and on the basis of these 5 tourneys deciding which is the best player.

Having said all of that, I'm watching a golf tournament on TV as I write this, and it strikes me that golf and sports in general are kind of stupid. A guy is trying to hit a ball with a club and make it go into a hole. They talk about golfers having heart, courage, and intestinal fortitude. When you think about, soldiers fighting in wars have some of those traits, but guys out on a golf course on a sunny day without bullets being fired at them probably aren't under that much pressure relatively speaking.

When I see Jack Nicklaus captaining the US presidents cup team and so badly wanting to win, I kind of don't get it.

If there is a god, god probably doesn't give a crap about golf, so Jack will be just a regular person inhabiting heaven (or hell)

If there is no god, 234653 years from now nobody will give a crap who won the Masters in 1986 on planet earth anyway. But there's Jack, 66 years old, picking players, walking the course, so badly wanting to win. When you think about it, that's not very Christian anyway because if Jack wins it will cause heartbreak and misery to all of the members of the losing team.

Sometimes when god is picking the winner of a particular world series, FA cup, or golf tournament I wonder if he takes into account the feelings of the "believers" on the losing team.

[/ QUOTE ] Mirror neurons are why sports are so exciting. As far as god answering the prayers of sports players, that begged question has always bothered me.