Comments for Do They Play Baseball in Heaven? at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 5 out of 5 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Sat, 25 May 2013 09:49:13 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/do-they-play-baseball-in-heaven.html#comment-4996 A "silly" movie? I don't agree. A great film that tells a great story. Yes, it is different from the book, especially the ending, but the story really is about the power of *baseball* over our lives, a power that is not entirely a bad thing. In fact, it can draw the best from us, just as it draws the worst out of some of the characters. Roy Hobbes' line in the film is actually, "God, I love baseball." I don't like to hear the Lord's name used like this, but that is the line, and Hobbes' intends it to emphasize his passion for the game. Robert Redford's performance delivers this emphasis wonderfully. One could almost interpret it as a prayer of thanksgiving to God himself. - Mark Mon, 11 Oct 2010 12:09:06 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/do-they-play-baseball-in-heaven.html#comment-4994 my street is a step-back-into-time, circa 1950's, every weekend....all the neighbor boys gather on the front lawns of several crammed 50x100 front yard lots and play wiffle-ball, yelling, laughing, slamming that ball, breaking neighbor's precious plants as they slide over home-plate into the next yard.....so much fun! a very different story just down the street at the little league fields, where the kids are under pressure to one day play for the Yankees, parents drink from "poland spring" water bottles a very funny smelling "water," foul language and bulging veins in the necks of men compete with the gossip of women. the love of the game is lost by the time your good boy who just wants to play is 10 years old. parents who never grew up and i have a feeling weren't such "great kids" themselves have no idea what they are doing to their children, let alone "the game...." - debby Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:59:24 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/do-they-play-baseball-in-heaven.html#comment-4993 Mr. Miner, I must admit that I'm neutral to slightly negative on the sport of baseball (I'll take college football any day over any other sport), but I appreciate your passion for it and your humorous take on a sport you clearly love down to your bones! Besides, I will readily admit it's still an "American game", even as it has spread in popularity to the Caribbean, Japan, and Mexico, something that American football has not done. - Kevin in Texas Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:38:47 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/do-they-play-baseball-in-heaven.html#comment-4992 Brad, as a New York boy who played baseball and idolized Mickey Mantle and the Yankees, I loved baseball but no longer do. MLB has been corrupted in the past two decades by so many scandals -- drugs, strikes, greed, boorish behavior, etc. -- that the game has lost its magic allure. In his prime Mickey made $100,000 a year and even if you factor in inflation, how does it make sense that a .220 bench warmer today "earns" $3 million barely working up a sweat? The game that one featured the grace and elegance of Joe D. has morphed into a freak show starring buffoons such as Manny Ramirez who are an embarrassment to the once "national pastime." I agree that instant replay would not only prolong games unacceptably and lead to a slippery slope where machines would be calling balls and strikes instead of umps, but that is merely a technical issue. Football, a savage game in which brute strength overcomes sheer intelligence, is now king in a country that continues to be enthralled by violence, demonstrated by the popularity of movies and TV shows that depict bloodletting. Baseball, a sport that once exuded innocence, romance and purity, has been reduced to just another circus show, and a boring one at that. - Joe Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:11:47 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/do-they-play-baseball-in-heaven.html#comment-4991 Thank you for your "light touch." We could use more of that...Is there laughter in heaven? - John McCarthy Mon, 11 Oct 2010 04:55:13 +0100