Most people bicker about professional athletes being overpaid for their performance in their respective sport, which is such a moot point, as anyone who works for a living shares the above opinion - most with a simmering envy of Joe Blow, batting .261, 32 RBI's, often on the disabled list, and made $3 million that season...

It's the bottom of the ninth; I pop my last beer. My team is up to bat in a tied ballgame. The winner goes to the playoffs, and hopefully the World Series. Joe Blow is now up to the plate with two outs. It seems hopeless, and I am thinking "next year." Suddenly, Blow launches a 2-2 slider into the right field bleachers. A home run! I spill my last beer jumping up and screaming with joy and triumph. I hang around to watch the reporters interview Joe Blow, the game hero. Blow is coated with locker room beer and smiles as the reporter asks him what it feels like to hit the playoff berth homer. Suddenly Joe turns solemn and, looking directly into the camera, whines that he thanks God for allowing him to hit the dinger, and showing his power. Immediately, the once glorious moment is ruined for me. Say it ain't so, Joe. Et tu?

I find myself being alienated from sports because of the so-called Christian athletes who always want to put God as the motivator behind their wins and productivity on the field. So by this base standard, is their God punishing them when they lose or get injured? Does the losing team lack "faith?" If Jesus is into sports, how come the Anaheim Angels have never made it to the World Series? Or the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl? Has Oral Roberts University ever gone to the NCAA Final Four?

Let's imagine for a moment that the Judeo-Christian God exists. I find nothing in the Bible in either Testament even remotely insinuating God is a fan of any games men play. He seems to have better, more meritorious things to do - like commit genocide on Philistines, turn women into salt, flood the planet, eat a Last Supper and get crucified next to thieves, etc. He could care less if Samson can chuck a spear farther than Goliath for the prize of a measure of figs, and I doubt that He cares when a wide-receiver crosses himself in the end-zone after completing a 12 yard TD pass for six points in modern times.

I wish that there was a law written for the separation of church and sports, too. As atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers, we have a hard enough time getting free from religion. Now we have our Sunday afternoons ruined by Jesus and theistic jocks.