In case you’ve missed it, it has been a busy week in the world of sports.

Monday, May 2 – (CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) A University of Virginia men’s lacrosse player, George Huguely, is arrested on suspicion of killing his erstwhile girlfriend, UVA women’s lacrosse player, Yeardley Love. Though Huguely confesses to killing Love, his attorney calls it an “accident.”  

Monday, May 2 – (PHILADELPHIA, Pa.) A teenage fan at a Phillies game brazenly leaps onto the field at Citizens Bank Park, but when he eludes the grasp of security officers, a member of the Philadelphia PD uses a taser to subdue him in the outfield. A debate about the proper use of police force ensues, with certain reference made to the 2002 case of Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa, who was stabbed by two unruly fans who made their way onto the field.

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Several times each week, I write for our daily devotional at Links Players International. The devotion I have prepped for Thursday seems appropriately shared with you here:

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him. (Romans 6:8, NIV)

It has been an easy week for the sportswriters. The contrasts between winner Phil Mickelson and the returning Tiger Woods on Sunday in Augusta made it so. One local writer where I live spelled out the contrast succinctly: “Even if Tiger had won, his wife would not have been there to hug him.”

And then there was the contrast between Woods and fellow non-winner Lee Westwood in their post-round interviews. Only one was gracious—exceedingly so, as a matter of fact. There’s something quite redemptive, I realized again, about a loser who can wear a smile.

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This entry is about Tiger Woods and the fact that according to Jim Nance (the head broadcaster at the Masters this past weekend) about 80% of the gallery (or fans in attendance) cheered for him from the start to the finish in a wellspring of support. 

But, before I get there, I have to confess that I love the Masters. I am an average golfer and don’t follow the tour closely, but if you like golf at all or have ever thought about thinking about liking golf, you know that the Masters is without a doubt the greatest weekend in Golf and perhaps one of the great American sporting traditions.  

This is partly due to the irrefutable fact that the golf tournament is played on -- and in -- Golf Heaven.  I have never played Augusta National (founded by Bobby Jones in 1931, designed by the great Alister MacKenzie, and perhaps the most exclusive course in the world with about 300 members), but it is considered by almost all golf aficionados to be THE golf course on earth alongside St. Andrews which is widely believed to have been designed and created by nature (or God – depending on which Scott you ask) and the birth place of golf in the 1570’s.  

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You don't have to be a golf fan to appreciate what happened at the Masters on Sunday. You just have to be a fan of the twists and turns of human nature. There in the final round on the storied Augusta National golf course, two titanic golfers were pitted against each other. On one side you had Tiger Woods, the world's number one golfer, working through difficult circumstances created by his own woeful behavior. On the other side you had Phil Michelson, the world's second best golfer, dealing with difficult circumstances outside his control.

Throughout the four-day golf tournament, Tiger thought he was in control, but he wasn’t. He played well for a guy who's been off for four months, but his shots were erratic. And his occasional verbal outbursts belied his stated intentions to be a different kind of golfer. As the afternoon shadows lengthened and he slipped further from contention, Tiger seemed to get smaller and less significant. 

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Much has been made of the Tiger Woods’ scandal, his subsequent departure from and now return to golf, and the various cultural fallouts of the whole overplayed rigmarole. But nothing in the whole scandal has really interested me as much as this strangely mesmerizing ad from Nike, which aired a few times this week on ESPN and the Golf Channel and has since gone viral online (an advertiser’s dream scenario). Here’s the ad:

The 30-second spot features a silent, stoic, ashamed-looking Woods, accompanied by a decontextualized audio clip of his father Earl Woods from beyond the grave. Everything about the ad–the black and white, the slow zoom on Tiger’s face, the what-looks-like-a-golf-course setting, the strange audio clip, the minimalism and even the calculated light flashes at the end–works perfectly to create a strange half minute of arresting ambiguity that leaves people wondering: what was that??

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Tiger Woods is back, and the world is watching. Some are watching for the golf, others for the story of recovery and redemption in play. Me, I'm watching for the Buddhism.

If you recall, just a couple of months ago Tiger held that rather strange and staged "mea culpa" press conference, the one where he apologized all over the place and then pointed to Buddhism as the rock upon which he was going to stand. Tiger hasn't mentioned Buddhism since, but that doesn't mean he hasn't made good on his intention to return to his religious roots. Come to think of it, was that Tiger's deceased father or was it the spirit of Buddha speaking to Tiger in that kinda creepy but somehow fascinating Nike commercial?

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I won’t venture to guess how many people have really been waiting for this day, but this morning’s papers bring news of yesterday’s announcement from Tiger Woods: he’s coming back for the Masters. Far too much opinion has been offered on this matter already. I won’t go there.

Meanwhile, the experts are high again on one Kobe Bean Bryant, the oft-titled “best player in the game,” whose nearly 28 points per game have again powered the Lakers to the top of the Western Conference and have the professional guessers speculating as to the possibility of an eleventh title for coach Phil Jackson.

Ah, Tiger and Kobe.

Linked by greatness. And by sexual calamity.

Two men needing forgiveness. As you and I do, of course--in the salvific sense of having not one breath of a chance without Jesus.

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Ever wonder how to start a conversation about God with someone who, you know, doesn't believe? It used to be known as "witnessing" or "sharing your faith." These activities seem so 20th century, so Campus Crusade-ish. Nowadays most Christians prefer to talk about God in a way that is more about water cool conversation than door-to-door proselytizing.

We're fine with that. In fact, we think it's a much better way to go. Sure worked for Jesus. When people like Nicodemus, the woman at the well, and the rich young ruler asked him questions, Jesus didn't twist any arms. He conversed, asked questions, left them wanting more.

The thing with this preferred method is to find those cultural touch points that most people can identify with or at least know about, and then develop the art of asking really good questions with the intention of engaging in conversations about the bigger spiritual issues at stake.

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How do you ignite a firestorm of conversation about God? These days the best spark is a controversial statement, such as the one delivered by news pundit Britt Hume about Tiger Woods.

Of course, it helps that Hume is fairly well-known as a former national news anchor who is in "retirement" but still does occasional news analysis for Fox News. If you or I had made a plea for Tiger to embrace Christianity as Hume did on Fox News Sunday this week, few would have noticed or cared. But Hume made his remarks on a national stage about an already famous person whose bizarre encounter with a tree and a golf club--and whose subsequent submersion into a strange kind of Howard Hughesian privacy--has everyone talking.

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Fame, popularity, achieving distinction, celebrity status, being renown, having notoriety, attaining a high social status, and even just being known “well” all come with a high price. All place the person high up in an unattainable position and such ascribed status’ can bring danger to both the individual and the people around that person. When we place too much value on the “beyond humanness” of a person, we have taken that person from just being “like us” to something “other” and have, in effect, created an alien being which can quickly become unrecognizable to mortal humans. Fame tends to produce superiority and a “better than” ethos within the individual. Moreover, fame can make a person feel untouchable, indestructible, invincible, immortal, and above the law—what is worse is when society has reinforced those mantras. Now, couple all that with money and power and you have a recipe for calamity rooted in pride, maintaining social status, and continuing the ascribed power for that person. Is this what did Tiger in? Let us ponder that a bit more.

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