The Day After a Big Game Is Supposed to Be Fun

Even though I'm almost positive this photo was a result of drinking, this is how I felt this morning due to lack of sleep.  I thought I was going to fall over in the stahl I was peeing in.  This may have been a result of leaving my house at 4:00 pm, coming home at 11:00 pm and starting to study my Spanish test at 12:30 am.  Yes, I started studying my Spanish test at 12:30 am.

But hey, its either that or I try in the morning and not do as well.  I'm expecting a 90 or above on the test.  Without studying for the test, I'm sure it I'd be hoping for an 80.  

But that photo actually brings up a great virtue and my "virtue of the day:" temperance.  No, I won't talk about the virtue of drinking because it didn't really fit in with what I did for the day.  The picture simply implies this guy should practice temperance and ... uhh... instead he'll have the taste of pee in his mouth for the rest of the day. 

I'm talking about a much less known, more everyday real-life type of temperance.  More importantly, I'm talking about sports temperance.  Yes there is temperance in sports.... well at least if there's not temperance in sports, there's going to be a lot of pissed-off mothers at games.  But for the most part, temperance is practiced in the great world of fandom. 

Let's examine the definition of temperance: "Constant mindfulness of others and one's surroundings; practicing self-control, abstention, and moderation."  Now it makes a lot more sense now.  Let's get the obvious relations out of the way.

Constant mindfulness of others and one's surroundings is a great example.  Others and one's surroudings is about 40,000 other people at a baseball game.  Temperance teaches the best of fans to be respectful of them and realize you aren't the only one at the game.

Practicing self-control is still a somewhat self-explanatory relation to sports.  Don't decide to just cuss at the other team's sports fans because you want to prove your team's better.  No, most, and I want to emphasis most, fans can have self-control over what they do/say.

Abstention is a lot harder to immediately relate it to sports fandom because well drinking and smoking are what this was made for.  But you do need abstention in being rude, being disrespectful, cussing, standing up when everyone else is sitting down, being obnoxious to the one's around you (does not apply for football or hockey), and getting in fights.  Basically don't do any of those things and you've applied to the rules of temperance in fandom.

As to temperance's relation to faith and justice.  Well in faith, temperance is being a moderate drinker, to abstain from smoking, and to not get addicted to anything.  In legal justice, temperance is normally lacked when people get tried for going to jail.  People can go to jail for murder (self-control), drinking and driving (constant mindfulness of the people around you), and smoking marijuana and cocaine (abstention).

Just as practicing temperance in sports could help your team win (by lifting their spirits and not getting them penalized), practicing temperance in life can help you go to heaven.

Humility is the Key to Winning in Sports

Today was a relaxing day without much homework.  It will not be quite the same tomorrow as we have a hockey game in the state finals against rival school CBC.  Should be more than interesting.  As a sort of prelude or preview, I've decided to use the humility side of sports.

It's needed in every sport.  If you're too cocky, you probably will not succeed at what you're doing.  This happens many times.  Just look at current NFL star wideout DeSean Jackson prematuraly celebrating a TD while he was at California.  On this TD, he tried a flip but landed short of the TD by a yard.  In college, once you hit the turf, you're down so Jackson did not get a touchdown.  He didn't because he lacked humility.  And in return he was humiliated.

I'd have to say the same about DeSmet hockey tomorrow against CBC.  Although, I'm doubting they lack humility as they are considered huge underdogs in the game.  But they can be confident.  There is a key difference.

Humility especially plays a key factor in a sport as teamwork-oriented as hockey.  In sports, humility might as well be renamed teamwork.  Humility is to have the modest behavior that you're not better than anyone else and therefore are willing to pass the ball when you need to.

Humility is being selfless and not worrying about yourself.  You could say the same about a successful, teamwork-oriented hockey team.  You have to be selfless.  You can't try and move around three guys even if you think you can and instead make the safe pass where your teammate has a legitimate shot a goal.  

Since I am angling towards a hockey theme this blog, why stop?  In hockey, there is justice  Maybe there is a missed call from those referees, but justice ultimately is served when players retreat to the penalty box.  They committed an illegal offense, for lack of a better term, against another player and are getting payback by sitting out two to five minutes and making their team short-handed.

Even regarding to fighting, most of the time a fight occurs as "payback" to something another person did.  This fits the political and economical and largely public definition of justice.  But it does not fit to the religious form of justice, because payback and justice don't go together.  Payback isn't justice in religion.  Its revenge.  And revenge is an evil act in religion.

Maybe a bad example, but Satan became Satan as revenge to God not allowing him more control... or so the theory goes in the story.  Is it a true or false story?  Doesn't matter, because it fits what I'm trying to aim for which is that fights in hockey aren't justice because its payback.  And payback isn't justice.

In class today, we saw some effects of the world upon us through video and some interesting stats.  My main question through it all was: How does affect our lives?

In a literal sense, I don't believe it does at all.  We are not literally connected to any of the happenings in Africa, the poor in other countries, or even in our own.  At least DeSmet students aren't directly or literally affected by it.

In a moral sense, we are affected because we are expected to sympathize and give to the poor.  I guess the main question then is how am I, a nobody from St. Louis, suppose to change the lives of the millions of poor.  I guess the true answer is, get rich, and then donate to them, and maybe even adopt some children.  But as teenagers, I think the better answer would be to give when you can in the future.  At the moment, I don't think we can do anything about it right now.  Maybe in the future we can though.

Studying Can Teach Me Something

And by studying can teach me something, I do not mean the usual answer, "It will help your future in life."  No, the majority of stuff in History does NOT help me in my future since I'm not planning to be a politician or a historian.  I meant religiously which you'll find out later on why.

The guy in the above picutre.  I feel like him right now.  But he seems oddly comfortably.  Maybe its because he's a cartoon.  I don't know.

All's I know is I might as well have three books on my head while reading another surrounded by books in what seems to be a very depressing place.  At least just for right now.

I am studying for a dreaded Mr. Sothers' test currently which is not fun or enjoyable or at all my ideal plan for a night.  But in the midst of studying, I found the time to find a true hidden meaning of studying as related to religon: Diligence.

I could have used humility, but that means you have to feel confident going into a test and well.... I'm not confident at all.  Just as you need to persist and make a conscious effort at faith, you need to do the same with studing or you will fail... in my case miserably.

Without diligence, studying would not get done.  If it did get done, that would mean I would want to study and that's bordering on insanely unrealistic.  When now realizing studying is a virtue, does that mean its justice?  For it to be justice, you need "to give each his due."  So that doesn't explain why studying could be justice to us.

Is our "due" studying?  I don't see how it is.  Unless we are getting payback for all the times we talk back to our parents, bully our siblings, or cussing, studying is not "due" to us.  So I've come to the conclusion that studying is not justice.

But wait, I'm forgetting one thing.  What about the grades that occur as a result of studying.  Studying may not be justice, but when that 'A' comes out on a paper, that's justice.

Studying can still be taken from a religious point of view however.  Along with diligence, patience and humility can also apply to studying.  You need the patience to study all the material and the humility to realize that your not too good to study.  Someone lacking humility could go into a test thinking he doesn't need to study and then when he gets his paper out: 'D'  THAT'S JUSTICE.

Justice is when someone who studies for 4 hours gets an 'A' and someone who fails to study at all gets an 'F.' The guy with the 'A' was given his due for studying and the guy with the 'F' was certainly given his due.  This obviously doesn't happen every time as some guys who study still do poorly and some guys who don't still can do good.  But the majority of the time, justice is served to those who study.

Another example of justice is the constant schoolwork you do for 10+ years of your life and you get home and receive your ACT score: 28.  That happened to me today and I was overjoyed as it was only my first time taking the test.  It removes pressure to do great as any college I'm looking at will accept it and still I should raise that 1 or 2 points in my upcoming tests.  That almost makes it all worth it.

Although in retrospect, it does seem kind of pathetic and depressing that 10+ years of studying comes down to one ACT score to get you into college.  And also that it makes those 10+ years worth those 4 hours of a test.  Yes, that is unsettling to me.

Now, I will go about rotting my brain with useless information that I will forget about a week later just so I can get an 'A.'

Basketball Referees Test Me

I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to write about. Call this a test post if you will. But I will write about what I think I am supposed to write about. Now ignore everything I just said and read my post.

Now I'm going to try and relate my everyday life and fit faith and justice into it. Shouldn't be too difficult? The most obvious thing I did religiously today was go to church at 9:00 am. I'm going to be honest though. I don't attend Mass every Sunday or what I should. So when I say I attended Mass on Sunday I sort of feel like I'm bragging.

It's like I'm bragging that I shot 50% and forgetting to mention I shot twice and one of the shots was an air ball. So I will set a goal for myself which is to attend Mass on Sunday on every Sunday during Lent. Why stop there? Well, in my mind its shorter than the rest of my life and a much more realistic goal. I have to trick my mind that I only go to Mass for x amount of weeks and then I will have done my job. But once I'm done with my set goal, I'll trick my mind again. This is neither ideal nor right, but until it becomes an instinct, for lack of a better word, I will continue to do this.

I found a new, interesting viewpoint on sports. Sports is admittedly my whole life. I watch it, I write about it, and I obsess over it. But never in my life have I taken a religious view on sports. Religion and sports? Those don't fit together. But in one aspect they do and this can be covered in one word: patience.

I have a great example that exactly happened in my CYC basketball game tonight. Referees sometimes miss calls, sometimes I think they miss a call when they don't, and sometimes they get it right. Rarely are referees ever praised for their job, because making the right call is expected. To use an analogy, a referee is like a relief pitcher: its better if a fan doesn't know your name.

Anyway, this particular referee, I know for a fact (I think), was a poor one. Sometimes, you just have to take a deep breath, realize its just CYC basketball, and keep playing. I do this 99% of the time while the other 1% I'm muttering or making a "shocked" face. But I never complain to a referee. Otherwise, I'd be a HUGE hypocrite considering I HATE players who spend half the time complaining to referees. PLAY THE GAME.

These referees were more difficult to follow this policy. I muttered or made a face at least 4 times which is about 4 times over my regular limit. (To be fair, they did call a travel on a player on my team who did not even have ball, a foul on a player who just jumped to block but did not touch, and called over the back on a player who had a guy hanging on his back.... Just saying). Sometimes, I have to put sports into perspective and the best way to do this is think of faith.

When you need to obtain patience, step back and take a deep breath, not only in sports but in life. Then think, "Is this really that important in the big picture?" I'm going to take a guess that 9 times out of 10, your answer is no. And even some of that 1 out of 10 probably are lying when they say yes.

Another factor of patience in sports is controlling yourself. If you're mad at another player because they are dirty or are smack talking, just shut your mouth and show them up on the field. Most guys who talk smack need to compensate for a lack of talent and try and get in your head. So by ignoring it, it helps you a LOT more than if you let it get to you.

And I've always wondered one thing. I took a nap for about 45 minutes after Mass today and was extremely crabby when my Dad woke me up. I was not a nice person for 15 minutes and when I realized how crabby I was (which by the way, was a littttle obvious), I immediately regretted what I did over those 15 minutes. How responsible am I for those 15 minutes and how do I control that?

I'm pretty sure I am completely responsible but I have absolutely no idea how I am supposed to change that. When your crabby, you're crabby. You don't care if you're being mean because for some reason you feel cheated. How do I change that? Maybe just avoid everybody for those 15 minutes.

But that's such a boring and bland answer that does not suit me. And I'm guessing if I'm crabby, once again I could really care less about other people's feelings. I think I should get in the tendency to wake up, check to see if I'm crabby or will be crabby (and most of the time I can tell). If I'm crabby and realize it, normally I think I will be ok and my main goal will be to get it out of me. The problem at least for me, is when I don't realize I'm crabby because then I have no idea that I will insult people.

That's enough rambling for me. I will focus more on religion next time when I grasp how to write these religious blogs.