For the truly devoted, sports can be a near-religious experience. As dozens of stand-up comedians have commented, we live in a society where we thank the Lord for touchdowns. A few years back, the GodSpeaks advertising campaign blanketed Florida with billboards reading "Next Sunday, let's meet at My House before the game.--God." Talk about knowing your audience.
You can leave a gym feeling like sports are the Way and the Light as well as Life, the Universe and Everything. Maybe they are, if a couple of hours of action can make people leap out of their seats with jubilation or plunge them into speechless despair.
But whatever you believe, you will never convince me that there wasn't some miracle behind that Hail Mary of a shot.
--Jonelle M. Lonergan