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Tigers success is 'good for the soul'

Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published October 20, 2006

Detroit – Fastballs, home runs, champagne and chewing gum have captured the hearts of people across metro Detroit as the city's gritty baseball team has made the World Series for the first time in 22 years.

But somewhere along the jaw-dropping, bat-cracking, cork-popping roller-coaster ride the Detroit Tigers have given the locale, more than one priest has made the point: The Tigers can't offer you even a sliver of the joy the Lord gives freely to His people.

Photo by Doug Sousalla | The Michigan Catholic Cardinal Adam Maida cheers the Tigers in this 1990 photo.

"We're getting all excited about a team – and there's nothing wrong with that," said Fr. James Lopez, an avid sports fan and associate pastor of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Waterford Township. "But just think of the euphoria when we get to see our Lord."

As the Tigers begin playing for Major League Baseball's championship this weekend, local pastors, and even Cardinal Adam Maida himself, see great benefits to the atmosphere the Tigers have created with their stunning championship run. People have something common and positive to talk about. Spirits are lifted. And, yes, more people seem to be thanking God.

"It is good for the body and good for the soul," said Cardinal Maida of the Tigers' success while taping the latest edition of his talk show, "Dialogue," on the Catholic Television Network of Detroit.

But does witnessing the success of a sports team have any redeeming quality beyond making people happy? Is there anything in watching baseball that can bring Catholics closer to Christ?

Fr. Lopez, who has a degree in sports management communications and worked in physical education in the archdiocese's schools office, says there is.

"What is our goal on Earth? To go home (to heaven)," he said. "In baseball, what do we tell our players? You go home. It's similar to that. But it's also working together to lift each other up in the time of need so that you can go home."

Faith life, Fr. Lopez has taught the football teams at Our Lady of the Lakes High School, is imitated by sports. There are ups and downs, triumphs to celebrate and crosses to bear.

Where, he asked, were all the fans when the Tigers lost 119 games during the 2003 season? The seats were empty – the "cross" of the team losing so many games was too hard for many fans to carry.

Likewise, in baseball it takes a lot of work and cooperation for differently gifted individuals to form a winning team. That's also the case in the Church.

"It wasn't just one person who won that game (to clinch the American League championship), it was 25 individuals working together," Fr. Lopez said. "And isn't that what our Catholic Church is about? It's working as one to reach the goal of heaven."

In fact, the Tigers' success apparently can give pastors thoughts about how their parish "teams" are meeting their own goals. Fr. Brian Cokonougher, pastor of two parishes and a mission in Port Huron, has looked at the way the Tigers have succeeded, and thought about how to build his parish staffs.

"It's just interesting to see how over the last two or three years the Tigers organization has been making good decisions to build the team with that balance between veteran players and talented young players," said Fr. Cokonhougher, pastor of St. Joseph and St. Stephen parishes and Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission. "A lot of people in the sports media are accurately talking about (Tiger manager) Jim Leyland's good leadership. It causes other people in leadership to reflect on their own style."

And, of course, with baseball being baked into American culture like apples in a pie, there's also the family aspect of the sport. Fr. Thomas Slowinski, pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Rochester, is one of many who recalls going to ballgames with his father and brother when he was young.

The team's recent success, he said, is good for people because it gives them a chance to break away from routines, enjoy life and enjoy one another's company.

"You work too hard, and then you don't have time for your friends and your family," said Fr. Slowinski, who in his youth worked concessions at Tiger's Stadium in the 1970s and ´80s. "You don't recreate, you don't re-create. This has given a lot of people a great break or diversion from the daily demands and stresses that everybody experiences. It brings joy in their lives, and it can be energizing."

Joyful and energizing?

The Tigers will buy that.

Upon winning the American League Pennant to the cheers of a hometown crowd, Tigers starting pitcher Kenny Rogers told a local sports columnist the feeling was one of "jubilation."

But as the Tigers make their resurrection from baseball's worst team three years ago to perhaps the sport's best today, Catholics can take their happiness in the team and just try to imagine an infinitely greater joy – the eternal joy God has ready for those who love Him.

"That's just a taste," senior priest Fr. Edward Prus recently told a congregation at St. Mary Parish in Royal Oak, "of what we're going to be expecting when it comes to the real resurrection."