It was a beautiful Tuesday afternoon in Seattle. The sun was shining and the weather was warm. Miraculous, you might say!

My wife and I, and our son, were sitting in the beautiful Safeco Stadium, home of the Seattle Mariners. (David treated us to the game.) This day they would play the Los Angeles Angels. It's an exciting place to be as the stadium filled with thousands of fans and the noise level increased by the minute.

After some festivities and special attractions, the National Anthem was sung by a Navy quartet. Fantastic! Then the color guard advanced with the Stars and Stripes fluttering in the breeze. It was a glorious sight to behold.

The game began with a lot of razz-ma-tazz and hoopla. It looked pretty promising for a few innings. Seattle had a 5-1 lead until the sixth inning when the Angels rallied with seven runs. They went on to win the game, 14-6.

"WOW," I thought to myself. "This is sort of like the old Roman Coliseum days when the Christians played for the crowd of cheering spectators."

Of course, the big difference in this sanitized version is that no heads rolled and everyone went home intact.

But, that got me to thinking. You know, we haven't really come too far from those days when the gladiators met the Christians in the arena. We still cheer for the "heads" of our opponents and things can get pretty rowdy, at times. (Especially in Pro Football.)

You know who really gets "killed" in this modern day version of sport? It's the poor sap in the stands. He pays exorbitant ticket prices and ridiculous food prices. (Yeah, I'm bellyaching, I guess.)

Then it hit me. This is like the old Roman days after all. But the wounded ones are in the stands. We cheer them and they bleed us. How do you like that? Isn't that a spectacularly profound role reversal?

Please excuse my foolishness today. I just had to have a little fun pointing out that we still have some pagan ways hanging 'round and Pro Sports are a perfect example.

Janet and I really enjoyed the day at the stadium. It was great fun. Thanks David!

I pray the Lord blesses you today.

Warmly, in His love and life,

Roland Scroggins

© 2006