Save me Jeebus

Did you see last week's USA Today article about the Colorado Rockies?

No copies of Playboy or Penthouse are in the clubhouse of baseball's Colorado Rockies. There's not even a Maxim. The only reading materials are daily newspapers, sports and car magazines and the Bible. Music filled with obscenities, wildly popular with youth today and in many other clubhouses, is not played. A player will curse occasionally but usually in hushed tones. Quotes from Scripture are posted in the weight room. Chapel service is packed on Sundays. Prayer and fellowship groups each Tuesday are well-attended. It's not unusual for the front office executives to pray together.

Guess I can't blame them for nixing Maxim- it's a waste of glossy paper. Anyway, why are they doing this?

...they quietly have become an organization guided by Christianity — open to other religious beliefs but embracing a Christian-based code of conduct they believe will bring them focus and success.

So far they're 27-30, last in the NL West but not a horrible record by any means. They should do better than last season's second-worst record, but I don't think they're going to be lighting it up any time soon. It's an interesting approach but one that doesn't seem to be working for them, at least not for those reasons. Spiritually they may be satisfied- at least some of the players, anyway:

"They have a great group of guys over there, but I've never been in a clubhouse where Christianity is the main purpose," says San Francisco Giants first baseman-outfielder Mark Sweeney...who spent 2003 and 2004 with the Rockies. "You wonder if some people are going along with it just to keep their jobs. Look, I pray every day," Sweeney says. "I have faith. It's always been part of my life. But I don't want something forced on me. Do they really have to check to see whether I have a Playboy in my locker?"

Amen, brother. You're not going to hell over a Playboy.

This week's reaction?

Several Rockies contend that last week's USA Today story that portrayed the team as a Christian organization was overblown.

And the team expected to be portrayed...how exactly? Sorry, not sure how the reporter could have gotten that wrong since it sounds pretty widespread throughout the organization. Either the front office prays together or they don't. Either naughty mags and loud music are prohibited or they aren't. So, the reporter lied (and the players aren't claiming that) or the guys are embarrassed. I'll go with door #2.