Thus Angered the Sports Gods

If you’d be willing to go and time travel for a bit, I’d like to take you back to May 12, 2007 to a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds.

It is the bottom of the fourth inning; the score is tied one to one. The Dodgers are at bat and Kyle Lohse is on the mound for the Reds. Jeff Kent has gotten onto base with a walk and Luis Gonzalez blooped an infield single. Lohse then pulled himself together and struck out the next two batters, Russell Martin and Andre Ethier. So that’d be two on, two out, 1-1 ballgame.

Andy LaRoche, the call-up third baseman playing in just his third series, is up next as the eighth batter in the order; behind him is Brady Penny, known more for his—at the time—1.39 ERA than his hitting abilities.

Lohse intentionally walks LaRoche, loading the bases.

Lohse walks Penny.

Jeff Kent is forced home.

Dodgers take the lead.

The next three Dodgers batters—Furcal, Pierre, and Nomar—hit three singles to drive in four runs. It is now 6-1, Dodgers. The game, with Penny and his 1.39 ERA still at the mound, is over.

You will call me out, of course, and remind me that walking the pitcher is inexcusable, not the decision to throw at him. Cincinnati’s manager was quite vehement in making that comment. Penny, too, in the post-game (and this is a direct quote from the recap): “Even without the bases loaded, walking the pitcher is the worst thing you can do in baseball as a pitcher,” which is very true. This is from the pitcher who started in the All-Star game last year for the NL. So, admittedly, much of the blame is on Lohse.

But it seems to me that sports karma bit Cincinnati in the ass.

Gregg Easterbrook—the Tuesday Morning Quarterback at ESPN.com—has written numerous articles on the subject in regards to football, particularly as it pertains to punts. Most of the time he gives the same argument: Team A punted the ball on short distance X in opposing territory resulting in them getting their asses handed to them by Team B which didn’t punt the ball on short distance Y in opposing territory.

He claims the Football Gods do not smile fondly upon such foolish displays of cowardice.

I argue to one-up Easterbrook: the Sports Gods do not smile fondly upon such foolish displays of cowardice and disrespect.

Rumors are swirling around the NBA right now that David Stern rigged the NBA Draft Lottery, held on May 28, in which Portland and Seattle won the top two picks over Boston, Memphis, and Milwaukee seemingly as punishment for the alleged tanking that took place in these three organizations.

I say not so much Stern, but rather Sports Gods.

The greatest sin in sports is a lack of willingness to compete. The lowest of the low and the worst of the worst owe it to their legion of fans—particularly in professional sports, where there are no allegiances, other than to history and the dollar—to give their all on the playing field day in and day out. Tanking, punting in opposing territory, and intentionally walking (particularly when you’re not even looking for a double play) are acts of disrespect to the sports in question.

And he who disrespects his sport shall be spurned by the Sports Gods.

Resilience in the face of long odds is often met with great reward. Continued effort and will to compete, the constant striving for success usually heaps great reward. Down eight points early in the first half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs can fight back to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, even with their superstar on the bench in foul trouble, even with their lightning rod off the bench going 0-fer. Despite all that they can go on a 10 to 0 run and take a two point halftime lead, all because the Spurs never show for an instant that they believe they are going to lose.

The moment the Reds walk LaRoche there is a chink in the armor, an unintentional display taken to be fear.

And all of a sudden the game changes.

The fastballs become easier to hit. The basket looks a little bit larger. That hole between the two offensive linemen seems to be open for just a tiny while longer.

By not intentionally walking to face poor batters, by not punting on fourth and short, by believing, whole-heartedly, that you are going to kick the ass of the other team, these are the simple acts that define the psychology of a winning team; they’re the difference that will uneven the playing field. At the highest level of professional sports there is not a talent gap. Everyone can play. The difference between the best and good?

The best just don’t lose.

And the Sports Gods smile.