Things like that happen in basketball sometimes...

First, I am kinda shocked that a fight breaks out in a WNBA game. It is not that I do not think that women could or would fight, but at the same time, I feel that women are less physical than men are and would find some other devious way to get back at each other than fighting. I have never watched a complete WNBA game because it bores me, but really, the only basketball I watch anymore is the NCAA Tournament and maybe some NBA playoffs. Who wants to watch 9 people stand around while one person throws up a crazy shot that he gets called amazing for it if it goes in and has a good night if he goes 8-24 and scores 25 points?

The worst thing about the fight that happened in the game between the LA Sparks and Detroit Shock is the comments of players after the game.

DeLisha Milton-Jones shoved and punched Mahorn after the incident with Leslie, and was ejected, along with Mahorn, Parker and Pierson. Nolan and Shannon Bobbitt received technicals.
“That was unfortunate, but things like that happen in basketball sometimes,” Milton-Jones said. “The league is going to have to decide what kind of action to take.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/recap?gid=20080722010&prov=ap

No Delisha, things like that do not happen in basketball games sometimes. Fighting is not part of the basketball game. Naismith never planned on having people fight when they were trying to shoot a ball through a peach basket. Nowhere in the rules is fighting allowed and if players are ejected for fighting then the rules must say that fighting is not something that is supposed to happen in basketball games. It does not happen sometimes. It happens when people lose self-control and become prideful. Fighting happens when somebody decides to impose his or her will on another person.

I understand people get mad and people foul hard, but is fighting really the answer. Whatever happened to if you foul me hard I will be sure to score on you next time down the court? Fighting becomes the answer when players have more confidence in their ability to physically harm somebody than they do in their basketball skills. If you want to prove your fighting skills, join a boxing league or ultimate fighter and leave basketball to people who want to prove their skills in running, dribbling, shooting and passing.

Loneliness

The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God. – Mother Theresa, A Simple Path p.79

I cannot shake this quote from my head. This Fourth of July weekend I spent a couple of hours visiting an elderly couple who are members of my church. A man named Harry and his wife Ellen. I am not sure exactly what is wrong with Harry, perhaps it is only old age, but he cannot walk by himself. He has a walker with wheels that he uses to help him move around. He cannot be left alone because he might fall and injure himself or not be able to stand back up. Ellen moves around just fine and likes to get out and go places, but she very seldom gets the chance because she has to watch Harry.

I told her that I would come over and spend some time with Harry so she could get out and run some errands. I had a good time. Harry and I talked about some minor things and then we turned on the TV and watched This Old House. When Ellen came back from running some errands, we had some pineapple cake. It was good stuff.

One of the errands that Ellen did while she was out was to go by the bookstore and pick out some new books for her to read. I asked her if she liked to read and her response was, ‘yeah, it passes the time and takes my mind off of other things.’ My heart broke when she said that. Harry would probably be best off in an assisted living facility, but Ellen is nowhere near that state and I cannot imagine her sending him to a place apart from her. Ellen has a daughter and she visits every now and then, but they could definitely use more attention. Harry has children that live in Tennessee but he said he never sees them. His grandchildren are my age and they are off and about busy making their own lives.

So Harry and Ellen, in the midst of a big city, live in a world of loneliness. How many people are dying to have somebody to talk to, somebody to spend time with, somebody to listen and care and somebody to just be there? I imagine there are many. I do not claim to do well. My grandmother does all right, but I do not call her near enough. Perhaps once a month I have contact with her. Shame on me.

Perhaps the greatest disease is not loneliness it is selfishness or worse yet, independence. The idea that I can live totally separated from the world around me and be just fine causes me to forget that others need me. Independence, selfishness, busyness, become detrimental to my soul and to the lives of others.