Today i am avoiding the Sports pages

*sigh* Wow "We picked a bad day, to have a bad day", pretty much sums it up. Before i type anything more... Congratulations to the Arizona Cardinals who pretty much "owned" my Carolina Panthers on Saturday night. I had a hard time getting my hopes up all of last week. I didn't care what the "professionals" though. Carolina struggles when it is favored by more than 3 points, and they were favored by 10. This is the post season and there is never a team that has not earned their place there - no matter how "weak" their division is. A co-worker put it in perspective... it was like the old Sylvester and Tweety cartoons. sad, but true... No matter, i am still a Panthers fan. :) Last week i had started two blogs about the Panthers and their history and owner. For anyone who is interested the Panthers are 15 years old, and here is a little bit of their history (from the Charlotte Observer). Ironically that story posted just before the first game between the Panthers and the Cardinals. A second article i would like to link to is about the Panthers owner, Mr. Jerry Richardson. It reminded me a lot about my father-in-law - but that is for another blog, maybe. I was really hoping for the Panthers to go all the way. Not so much for me as a fan, but for Mr. Richardson. Only God knows what the next season will bring for the Panthers and Mr. Richardson, but no matter what, i pray for all to feel God's grace and mercy. I cannot imagine what Jake Delhomme is going through right now. I pray he does not take it too hard. I imagine he is going to be getting a lot of hate mail over the next few weeks. It's an ugly side of sports if you ask me. People who take the game far too seriously. People who are not out there on the field, who are not doing things in the off season, who give up sleep to study game film and memorize playbooks. People who wrap themselves up in how well a sports team does, or doesn't do. And i have to confess, i struggle with that very thing myself. It's not something i am proud of and i try and work through it with God's grace. In the end, it's just a game. On February 2nd the tarnish will begin to form on the 2008 Lombardi trophy... in a little over 3 months the 2009 draft begins, two months after that summer training camps begin to open... a month longer and the pre-season starts... then September comes and there are 32 teams all pushing towards the same goal. I enjoy watching the sport of profession American Football, but in the end... it's just a game.