Light and Shadow

There is a time-honored literary device of Evil being unable to withstand the touch of Good. If you've been on board the Harry Potter train, it's the fight scene from the end of the first book/movie. It's why the Emperor needs Vader to do his dirty work in the Star Wars movies, and part of the reason why villains in animated movies inevitably turn monstrous before dying. (Especially women -- you can't kill a girl, no matter how bad she's been, unless she's a dragon or crone or snake or something. But I digress.)

It's a simple thing, really. We want to believe that the mere existence of Good -- a power that all of us believe we have, even if we don't choose often enough -- will protect us from darker concerns.

Hey presto, you can even find it in the Bible:

"And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." - John 1:5

Now, before I send you scurrying off to some other blog that is making with the funny or the sports, or make you wonder about my ever-encroaching mortality or embrace of religion... let me reel this back in.

This summer, we have seen:

> Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn, two longstanding single-team baseball superstars, with no signicant character flaws, off-field notoriety or steroid taint, inducted into the Hall of Fame

> Jon Lester return to the mound after staring down mortality, in the form of cancer

> The Roy Hobbsian return of Rick Ankiel, who performed the miraculous feat of reinventing himself as a credible outfield prospect after having his previous career as an exceptional pitcher shatter into a million pieces on the playoff stage

> The utterly fearless work of John Smoltz and Greg Maddux, each going directly at the Bonds Menace and denying him, for another day and another, much more forgettable pitcher, his dubious legacy

> Craig Biggio finally reaching the 3,000 hit milestone, announcing his end of year retirement, and then hitting a grand slam in his next game back, in a Ted Williams-esque defiant blow against mortality

> Tom Glavine completing a two decade long journey to 300 wins, a feat that many believe may never be done again (for the record, I'm not one of them)

What have we, the sports blogosphere and media and fans, chosen to spend our time on?

Bonds, Vick, Bryant, Donaghy, Pac Man.

All of those "good" stories? Reported once, then tossed aside like a used Kleenex. Nothing new to see here, not much grist to use for mocking, no way to channel outrage beyond the hollow bleat of "Why can't Disgraceful Athlete be more like Praiseworthy Athlete?"

Please get the following: I'm not pointing a finger here. Read my work here or on Epic Carnival, and you'll see that I'm in the same camp of negativity.

It's visceral, it's easy, it lends itself to comedy, and it's a basic law of journalism: if it bleeds, it leads. If you get bad customer service, you tell 13 people; good, four.

But it's a choice.

So if you're disgusted by the current state of sports -- if you can't get beyond the bad stuff, or even if you find yourself reading one too many stories saying how disgusted the writer is by the current state of events...

Choose to watch, and think, about something else. (Me, I'm kind of obsessed with Ankiel these days.)