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A few days ago, Daniel wrote a post about media coverage of Josh Hamilton — the Texas Ranger who speaks openly and frequently about his faith. Some of the comments to that post wondered why we look at the intersection of sports and religion at all. An interesting discussion ensued.
I’m sorry to report that the New York Times‘ Neela Banerjee has left the paper. All national reporters who cover thematic beats were asked to return to New York by September 1. Such an arrangement was problematic for Banerjee, who lives in DC with her family.
The late 1980s and early 1990s were a golden age for stories about poor urban blacks. Besides great movies such as Boyz N the Hood and Hoop Dreams, there were great articles in major publications: Nicholas Lemann’s series on the black migration in The Atlantic Monthly (here is one early story); Darcy Frey’s profile of a high school basketball team for Harper’s; and Leon Dash’s profile of an elderly black woman and her family for The Washington Post.
When Josh Hamilton talks about the impact of “God’s grace” on his life, reporters and commentators cannot ignore it. Back in January, there was a flurry of coverage of the Major League Baseball slugger’s amazing life turnaround, much of which focused on the role of faith. Those watching the ESPN broadcast of Hamilton’s ridiculously amazing performance in last night’s All-Star Home Run Derby would have had trouble missing the fact that God played a rather significant role in the mere fact that Hamilton is still swinging a bat today.
As you would expect, Pope Benedict XVI’s trip down under for World Youth Day is getting quite a bit of ink, although — perhaps in the age of tight newspaper budgets and high air fares — there is very little American coverage other than wire services (unless I am missing some stories online). Click here for a Google News collection of what is up at the moment.
The rescue of 14 hostages in the Colombian jungle last week could not have been more dramatic. Military intelligence agents infiltrated the leftist rebel organization and tricked them into handing over kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors without a shot being fired. My absolute favorite detail in the story was that the Colombian operatives duped the bad guys in part by wearing Che Guevara shirts. If only this could end the scourge of Che Guevara shirts forever!
One of GetReligion’s most loyal and articulate readers almost certainly spoke for many the other day when he wrote the following comment:
