Oh! . . . What a Relief It Is!

That sudden wind you felt yesterday was the collective sigh of relief from fans coast to coast. The NFL lockout is over.

The United States might still be under the Atlantic Ocean in debt, and unlike any responsible person, can’t settle on a workable budget. But there will be football! The specter of global terrorism continues to loom. But yes, boys and girls, there will be NFL football. Gas prices might continue to soar, unemployment remains at alarming levels, and some states are virtually bankrupt – but hooray, we’ll be able to watch NFL football!

But what does it really mean? Well, bookies and gambling establishments will resume bang-up business. Moribund office pools will be revived. Men can revert to boys as they compete in their little fantasy football contests.

Networks with billions of dollars already committed in NFL TV commercials can reap their riches. The Peyton Mannings, Troy Polamalus and others will again collect their endorsement checks. The Terrelle Owenses and Ochocincos will perform their foolish antics for another year.

The rise in national obesity will continue as folks desperately in need of exercise remain anchored to their recliners and couches, except for occasional forays to the refrigerator and quick trips to the potty. In the process, marriage relationships will virtually be put on hold until next February.

Inner city youths can continue to ignore the value of education while dreaming about being among the fraction of 1% of young men that even get a hint of NFL glory. Many with athletic prowess will advance to universities not thirsting for knowledge, but only to bide their time while waiting to move to “the next level.” They will, however, diligently practice saying, “Hi, Mom,” from the sidelines.

And perhaps best of all, with all the NFL news to catch up on, sports media will finally cease rehashing the supposed wickedness and deceitfulness of the Ohio State Buckeyes. (At least OSU did them a favor and helped fill many boring days during the spring and early summer.)

Was there really any doubt the NFL season would be saved? The players could only hold out for so long. When you acquire champagne taste, it’s hard surviving on a Kool-Aid budget. And everyone loves the NFL, don’t they? If the lockout had continued, both the President and Congress would have intervened.

They might not be able to reach consensus on how to run the country, but we must have our football. Says so right there in the Constitution – somewhere! (Doesn’t it?)

Yup, before long we’ll be answering the question we’ve longed to hear: “Are you ready for some football?”

Champion . . . or Chump?

One week ago, no one had heard of Christian Lopez, except for family members, some friends, and his girlfriend. Saturday, with one simple act, his national status leaped to folk hero – or phenomenal chump. Depends on who you ask.

All Lopez did was catch a homerun in Yankee Stadium. The homer happened to be hit by the Yankees’ Derek Jeter, and it just happened to be the 3,000^th hit of Jeter’s illustrious career.

Lopez could have held the ball in a death grip, waiting to see how many thousands of dollars he could squeeze out of it. Instead, he gave the ball back to Jeter, saying the Yankee captain should have it. In some minds, Lopez became a champion, exhibiting selfless character. But to others, he became a chump, a fool unwilling to capitalize on his moment of serendipity.

In the end, Lopez wasn’t left empty-handed. The Yankees rewarded the 23-year-old with a personal meeting with Jeter (shown in the Associated Press photo above), season tickets for the remainder of the year (including post-season, if the team qualifies), and bats, balls and jerseys signed by the future Hall of Famer. Not a bad reward for selflessness.

Amazingly enough, many people still chastised Lopez for his magnanimous act. It’s understandable, I suppose, in a time when it’s seems common practice to take advantage of others whenever possible. “Ya gotta look out fah numbah one,” as they say in New York City.

Even some sports talk show hosts jumped on the bandwagon, questioning Lopez’s sanity in surrendering the ball without the promise of anything in return.

This last part astounds me the most. Sports commentators pontificate ad nauseum about athletes and coaches that act in self-interest. But these same “experts” seem to believe for ordinary people to act out of greed is not only normal but expected.

So it’s okay to be greedy, as long as your income is below a certain level? What level is that? If Donald Trump or Bill Gates had caught the ball and held onto it, that would have been greedy, right? But because Lopez wasn’t greedy, he’s an idiot?

Fact is, greed is an equal opportunity vice, and no respecter of income levels. A well-known billionaire once was asked a revealing question: “How much is enough?” To which he purportedly replied, “Just a little bit more.”

Frankly, I find it refreshing to hear about someone who did the right thing, rather than trying to calculate what he could get simply for being in the right place at the right time. I guess you could say that for him, it was the Christian thing to do.