Witness of the Transcendent (Bot9 #374)
Why do we watch the amount of sports that we do? Why do thousands upon thousands of people gather in stadiums and arenas across the country every day and week to watch games? Sure, it’s an enjoyable way to pass the time, but it seems to me that there is a lot more to it. I imagine that many would say it is for entertainment, but entertainment has levels. There is a range stretching from mildly entertaining all the way to the most memorable moments we hold and desire to repeat. Those monumental moments are what we are constantly seeking as we watch all of the sports that we do - the transcendent. Those things that pass the ordinary, and go beyond the normal.
I was talking to a coach this month who is at an in between phase of his coaching journey. He was considering getting out of the rat race of professional and collegiate sports in favor of leaving a legacy at the high school level. One of the hardest things for him to square in his mind was being on the field to coach guys like Myles Garrett and Christian Kirk (both currently in the NFL and former teammates at Texas A&M), and recalibrate his eyes to coach high school athletes. While I am sure there is a part of him that was talking about the strength, speed, and technique of the game at that level, what he was really scratching at was the transcendent level of talent he’s seen. It does something inside of each of us once we do see it. We want to see it again and we’ll wait for years and years until we do just to catch that glimpse again.
Bo Jackson is the first of these experiences for me. I had traveled to Kansas City every year to watch George Brett, a Hall of Fame player mind you, and other greats play through the mid-to-late 1980s and early 90s. But Bo was something else entirely. The size. The speed. The power. It was something altogether different. Then, when he hit a home run to dead center field that nearly hit the base of the scoreboard on July 4, 1990, it was my introduction into something well outside of normal. Once you see it, it’s hard to go back.
After that, I was blessed to play or coach against three other athletes who were selected with the #1 overall pick in their sports. In my final year of playing small college baseball, I got to play against Darin Erstad of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and later a world champion with the Anaheim Angels. Erstad only went 1-for-4 that day, but he hit a towering flyball out to centerfield that is still etched in my mind. Less than ten years later, I got to coach against Justin Upton in a high school tournament in Florida. We held him in check with he bat that day, but the defensive play he made against our leadoff batter is still one of the most extraordinary plays I’ve witnessed in person. Our hitter laced a ball off the pitcher’s foot right up the middle and it landed maybe three feet behind the mound. Upton sharply, smoothly, and quickly retrieved the ball and threw our leadoff man out at first. I had already started to write ‘IF 1B’ in my notes until Upton erased that possibility. A few years later, I got to see Jameis Winston come in to pitch from centerfield and close a summer club game out with ease. Hitters should be happy that he chose football. These athletes and their abilities transcend the typical and serve as a reminder that there’s more to what we see in the day to day.
Once you see this level of performance in person, it changes your perspective. It helps you to realize your own place in the wold of athletics and realize they’re on another level. It’s sometimes comical to engage in conversations with parents of high school athletes who clearly have not had an experience with the transcendent. Whether they haven’t had their eyes opened to see that level or they’ve put their own kids on the pedestal of idolization, I feel for those who haven’t seen or experienced it. So many are blinded by a label like “D1” or are attempting to jackhammer a dream into reality that they miss the pursuit of the transcendent. It’s nothing short of extraordinary that our school we’ve now seen a Gold Medalist in women’s soccer, a U.S. Open champion in golf, and a football player contend for both the Heisman Trophy and NFL MVP walk the halls of our school. But you’re right, sir or ma’am, our coach just doesn’t see your son or daughter’s potential. (Insert obligatory eye roll here…)
It’s in this intersection of the uncommon with the common where we should be grateful and celebrate. They’re not meant to make us feel less, but they’re meant to inspire us to find the thing we’re designed to do to impact those near us. Some will impact the world, some will impact a sport, some will impact their community, some will impact their family, some will impact a single person. Each is transcendent. You, too, can be transcendent and should seek that in your life, whether it be on a person, your family, a community, or the world. This is what Jesus puts before each of us. No one has impacted history in the same way or to the same degree in the world (John 21:25). He was the very definition of transcendent. But through His death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit was released so all people would have the opportunity to have impact where they are. This is the gift we celebrate this Christmas Day - the presence of the transcendent of which we can all be witness.