A Much Needed Sports Fix

As everyone that knows me knows, I am an avid sports fan. When I’m in America if I’m not sleeping, at least 75% of my day is consumed by sports. Whether it be playing pick-up games, reading forums, or watching Sports Center, I just couldn’t ever seem to get enough. So coming to Africa, where there is no high speed Internet or TV, came as a bit of a shock. I’ve seriously been having some extreme withdrawals. Looking back on these habits I realize that my priorities were a bit out of order. If I wasn’t creating an idol in my life that separated me from God, I’m not sure what that would look like. I heard a sermon once on this topic, and the preacher said something to the effect of this: you are what you know, you know what you love, and what you love you constantly think about. Luke 12:34 says, For where your treasure is, your heart will be also. Well in my life if my treasures are determined by how the majority of my time is spent, there is no doubt that has been sports for as long as I can remember. I know so much random useful sports information and statistics that its almost embarrassing. Yeah I can tell you Chipper Jones’ batting average in 1996, the starting lineup for the Lakers, and how many yards Adrian Peterson rushed for in his rookie season, but I’m not even sure I can name all twelve disciples, or recite the books of the Old Testament. I think it’s pretty obvious where my treasures have been. If I had spent half as much time studying God’s word as I did watching Baseball Tonight, I would be a biblical genius! I can’t spread His Word until I know His Word. God is using this experience to teach me so much, and He started by showing me where the treasure of my life had actually been.

Nevertheless this past Friday I found out that Brazil’s national soccer team was coming through Kampala to play a friendly match with Uganda. I had only viewed one organized sporting event in the six weeks that I’d been here (which I’m still bitter about! How in the world did the US blow a 3-0 half time lead in the Confederations Cup Final?), and I felt that this would be a golden opportunity to quench this desire. So me and my two friends went down the road to the nearest taxi stop and flagged down the first taxi van we saw. I jumped in the van all giddy with my Uganda jersey on like a little kid going to his first big league game, and everyone in the van gave me a very curious look. I sat in the very back seat and the van took off. It was a two hour ride so I began to move my feet around to get comfortable when a heard a “cacoo”. I thought to myself, is that a chicken? Meanwhile the man beside me turns to me and says, oh please don’t step there. I asked him why not? What is that? He looked at me like I was an idiot and said chicken, like duh doesn’t everyone everywhere just throw their live chickens under the back seat on public transportation. I was shocked by this fact and asked how many chickens are down there. He held up two fingers, and I said oh ok just two. He said oh no sir, there are 20 chickens there. He had twenty chickens in a cloth bag under the back seat of the van. I laughed out loud and for the next thirty minutes of the ride he went on to try to sell me some chicken. Beside the smell of chicken, and the fact that there were 20 people in a 14 passenger van, the ride wasn’t too bad. The game was amazing! There’s just something about being in a stadium with thousands of people all cheering for the same cause that gives me chill bumps. The fact that I was in the middle of a huge city in a third world country, I was one of ten white people in the whole stadium, and I hadn’t seen but one sporting event in the last two months made the experience all the better. Uganda upset Brazil 4-1 in the match, which made the day even crazier. After the game as we were walking through the city it was almost as if we were celebrities. Every ten meters someone would yell, “Hey look at the mzungus supporting Uganda! Yay mzungus!” Mzungu means white person. It was the most welcomed I have felt since I’ve been here. It’s a day I’ll never forget. In all, the cost of the trip for a taxi to and from the game (two hours both ways), a ticket to the game, a Uganda flag, and a Coke: 12 bucks! I love this place!