The Rockies as a "Christian" Team

The USA Today piece that ran on Wednesday begins by saying:

DENVER — No copies of Playboy or Penthouse are in the clubhouse of baseball's Colorado Rockies. There's not even a Maxim. The only reading materials are daily newspapers, sports and car magazines and the Bible.

Music filled with obscenities, wildly popular with youth today and in many other clubhouses, is not played. A player will curse occasionally but usually in hushed tones. Quotes from Scripture are posted in the weight room. Chapel service is packed on Sundays. Prayer and fellowship groups each Tuesday are well-attended. It's not unusual for the front office executives to pray together.

My first thought was what professional work environment allows porno mags and obscenity filled music? I could only come up with strip joints. Even the mechanics at garages had to take down their centerfold pinups back in the late 70's because of lawsuits and the threat of "hostile work environments". The Yankees have been pretty successful - do you think they allow porn in the lockerroom? (And if you don't think Penthouse qualifies as porn - you haven't seen it lately - Maxim I bet is no big deal in the Rockies lockerroom - the writer was probably just going for effect here.)

I was also taken by the line, "Prayer and fellowship groups each Tuesday are well-attended." Notice it says well attended and not "mandatory". And what does well attended actually mean? Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe did a piece on the Red Sox last year where he included the following quote:

"Without question, chapel attendance among the Red Sox has been far and away more than any of the major league teams over the last two years," said Vince Nauss, president of Baseball Chapel.

The USA Today piece makes no claim that the "packed" chapel services are the best attended in baseball. The Red Sox are led by Theo Epstein (who is Jewish) and Larry Lucchino (avowed Satanist) - they have assembled a mostly Christian team too but it was not out of design but because character is a key to success. Just look at the New England Patriots who place character near the top of their requirements on draft day. From the USA Today piece:

Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings says: "They do preach character and good living here. It's a must for them, and that starts from the very top."

That sounds like a quote out of the scripture of St. Belichick himself. The Rockies aren't building a team of Christians - they are building a team of character - there's a huge difference. Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd expressly says the same:

The Rockies say they welcome anyone regardless of religious beliefs. "We don't just go after Christian players," O'Dowd says. "That would be unfair to others. We go after players of character."

One last quote from the USA Today piece I would like to address and then I'm done:

[Charlie] Monfort and [Keli] McGregor have never shared their religious views at owners meetings, Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf says.

"It's interesting, but I had no idea. I don't think any of us do," says Reinsdorf, who, like Selig, is Jewish. "I do believe character is very important. But only to a point. Does this mean ... Babe Ruth (a Hall of Famer and notorious carouser) could never have played there?"

1. The fact that the Rockies are building a team of character is not news but if you try and play the story as "the Rockies are building a team of Christians" then that's a story. That seems to be more of a relevation about USA Today's values than anything about the Rockies if you ask me.

2. The modern day equivalent to Babe Ruth is playing in San Francisco. How's that working out for the Giants? Did I miss the news about their World Series victory parades?

3. Reinsdorf let the Babe Ruth of the White Sox - Frank Thomas - be shoved away from the team because of character issues (Frank was a bit of a pill). Seems a bit hypocritical by Reinsdorf.

The USA Today's premise that the Rockies are somehow trying to build a Christian team is very misleading. I'll leave it at that.

EDIT: RC has the backlash from the players over the USA Today column - seems like context is optional at USA Today