By Brad Locke
March 11, 2005

(AgapePress) - Forget baseball, our new national pastime is making excuses -- shirking responsibility, redirecting the finger of blame, even justifying outright sin.

We have become masters of this game. We have attempted to blot out every semblance of personal accountability in the public square. The ongoing controversy over the public posting of the Ten Commandments is the most telling evidence of a culture that abhors moral standards (as my colleague, John Pitts, always likes to ask, "Exactly which commandment do they have a problem with?"). The Jeffersonian view many have of the Bible is evident in the justification of such godless behavior as promiscuous sex, embryonic stem-cell research, and abortion. The book secularists live by could be titled -- with apologies to Rick Warren -- "The Comfort-Driven Life." Which reminds me of one of my pastor's favorite sayings concerning the Christian's role in society: "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

That's what morality does -- it stings the conscience and forces us to either submit to the law God has written on our hearts (Romans 2:15) or subdue it and let our souls be ruled by the world (and despite what many would have us believe, everybody serves something or someone; nobody is truly autonomous.)

A perfect case study can be found -- where else? -- in the current sports culture. Barry Bonds is full of excuses, but they stick about as well as flaxseed oil. Baseball's honchos simply won't own up to the fact that they ignored the obvious trend of steroid use last decade (although a couple of owners now admit they were suspicious of a few players; way to take action, guys). Rick Neuheisel still doesn't comprehend that he has a major truth problem, and somehow his web of deceit has netted him a $4.5 million settlement from the exasperated University of Washington and NCAA. Randy Moss and Chris Webber both are acting as if joining new teams will cure all their past ills, as if those ills were the fault of their former teams.

A reader of this column, Paul Grustans, sent me a beautifully enlightening e-mail a few months ago that captures what I'm trying to say much better than I'm saying it. So, to quote at length, what Paul had to say about athletes and responsibility after he read "Respect Getting Checked at the Gate" (September 17, 2004):

"[Your column] reminded me of the days when basketball players were required to raise their hands when they committed a foul. Remember that?! And, I believe, you received another personal foul if you didn't raise your hand ....

"I fear that long gone are the days when professional athletes acknowledged responsibility for their actions on the court or the field .... I wonder if things didn't begin to change when the NBA removed this rule of hand raising to publicly acknowledge your mistake, and if bringing back this simple gesture wouldn't humble several players into a much-needed state of reality! Hmm.. ... publicly admitting you were wrong during a sporting event .... Wow! Today it almost seems un-American!

"There was a time when boxers would bow to the four corners of the ring to honorably acknowledge the officials and their audience; baseball players would tip their hat if hit by a pitched ball; and wide receivers would nonchalantly hand the football back to the referee in the end zone after making a catch that required some real talent to make."

Paul's history lesson underscores the lack of respect many athletes have for the rules, the law, and the general public. That leads to the attitude that whenever something goes wrong, it's someone else's fault. The rules are wrong, or the fans' expectations (or definition) of decent behavior are unrealistic, or the officials are out to get them. Forgiveness is available, but any athlete seeking forgiveness would first have to admit he was wrong.

Regardless of what you think of John Chaney's motives, at least he admitted he was wrong. The Temple coach, who rewrote "Send in the Clowns" as "Send in the Goons," excused himself from the Atlantic-10 tournament (something the university should have done, of course). Unfortunately, such public contrition is an uncommon sight. About the only time you hear a sports figure apologize these days, it's for being sorry he got caught.