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Story on Channel Nine’s Sport’s Sunday this afternoon by a snooker player. Paddy had both his ears ripped off in an accident, and went to hospital… When he was due to come back to work the foreman said to Paddy’s mates: ‘Don’t tease him about his ears, he’s very sensitive about it.’ So Paddy arrived back on the job and one of his buddies said to him ‘Hi Paddy, I notice your eyesight’s improved.’ ‘How do you make that out?’ asked Paddy. ‘Well, said his friend, ‘I notice you’re not wearing your glasses!’

* Great moments: In 1934, Bradman and Ponsford scored 449 runs between them at the Oval on the first day of play; Jesse Owens, the black sprinter from America who achieved immortality by winning four gold medals at the Munich Olympics in 1936 – something which didn’t impress Hitler very much; Pele, who in his senior career as a soccer player in and for Brazil scored 1363 goals; 1964 an aging Betty Cuthbert ran the race of her life and against the odds won the Olympic 400 metres; Bob Beamon set that incredible record in Mexico City for the long jump – only broken last week; a panel of international commentators and writers voted Herb Elliott’s gold medal in the 1500 metres at Rome in 1960 where he won by a margin that’s still a record, as the outstanding performance in modern Olympic athletics Australia won the America’s Cup in the seventh and final race of an enthralling series off Newport Rhode Island, September 26 1983 (Bath hotel, BBC).

* Exploits of Kay Cottee – first woman to sail solo and non-stop around the world; or WA’s Jon Sanders who sailed around the world three times in 1987-88; Pat Cash beating Ivan Lendl in the 1987 Wimbledon final – or his role in two Davis Cup triumphs, 1983 and 1986. Thrill of watching Wayne Gardner in a 500 cc Grand Prix motorcycle race… The guts of marathoners like Robert de Castella or Steve Monegetti.. That world netball final a few months back when Australia just beat NZ in the final minute.

* Gives us a chance to get passionate/emotional about something which in the end doesn’t really matter.

* Sociologists of religion: ‘sport religion’ – athletes and sportswriters regularly use words like faith, ritual, ultimate, dedicated, sacrifice, peace, commitment, spirit.

* In 1984 more than 100 Olympians were asked if they would be prepared to die within five years in return for winning a gold medal, 50% said they would.

* Sport is not essentially incompatible with Christianity. Many sportsmen and women are committed Christians. Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire guy): went to Paris Olympic Games in 1924 to represent his country in the 100 metres, but the heats were to be run on a Sunday and he refused to run. The 400 metres came around. Beforehand, one of the masseurs handed Eric a slip of paper. Eric opened it and read the text from 1 Samuel 2:30: ‘ Those who honour me I will honour’. He won the race in a world record time of 47.6 seconds. Later he gave it all away and went as a missionary to China, dying there in a Japanese prison camp. Shane Gould, who held every freestyle world record at the age of 15. Margaret Court, Tom Tressider (Bible Society), Brian Booth (cricketer). The present Pope was a soccer goalkeeper before he switched from saving goals to saving souls.

Then there’s the story of Albert Knight who at the turn of the century was considered to be one of the leading batsmen in county cricket. He was, it seems, regarded as an awfully nice chap. But he did have a particularly annoying habit that tended to rile his opponents. A Methodist lay preacher, Knight often prayed while standing at the wicket, waiting for the bowler to hurl down his delivery. Walter Brearley, a fast bowler of some note, ran in to bowl one day and heard Knight praying. A fuming Brearley stopped in full flight and threatened to report Knight to the Marylebone Cricket Club for trying to gain an unfair advantage…

* Bad manners and bad sportsmanship: golf may be the only game left with exemplary behaviour. John McEnroe always looks to me like a kid who believes he’s being sent to bed too early

* Strange metamorphosis of Christian leaders at the footy who yell out encouragements to ‘kill him!’ ‘Get stuck into him!’

* Sport is like life – winners and losers: inevitable. And you have to learn to ‘cop it sweet’. Doesn’t always happen: somebody once said soccer isn’t a matter of life and death: it’s more important than that. When Honduras met El Salvador, 6000 people were to die… When I watch the crowd behaviour of South and Western Australians in AFL matches… I’ve never heard that kind of silence when the opposition scores a goal – in any sport…

* In fact war is surrogate war – as it was in that first Olympian era when the warring Greek city states suspended their fighting for the games.

* I have a problem with boxing: about the only sport that exists for the express purpose of damaging the brain: look at the pathetic person Muhammed Ali is these days, suffering from Parkinson’s syndrome. But then even boxing’s more civilized than it used to be. Until this century, a prizefight was decided when one man was left standing and not before. Some fights could go 100 rounds or more. Then it got civilized, and they were reduced to 12 or 15 rounds, doctors were put at the ringside, and gloves on the boxers…

* Sport: God is not always on the side of winners…. Jesus is combination of captain, coach, umpire…

Jesus: Do for others what you want them to do for you.

* Golf’s Gary Player who said ‘ The harder I practise the better I get’… so with being a Christian.

Let’s get back to that text that inspired Eric Liddell: ‘Those that honour me I will honour…’ What kind of honour; whose honour are you after? Glory… Other person: made in the image of God; end of the race of life: face the Judge…

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