Why I Will Not Be Watching the 2014 Olympics

By Artur Suski, S.J.

Credit: http://www.express.co.uk/

When I was a kid, I really wanted to have one million dollars. For a little boy around 10 years old, a million dollars could get you a lot of fun stuff. I mostly dreamed of buying all the toys I could think of, especially the remote-control type, the flying kinds. Those were far-fetched big dreams that I knew were unattainable. Even today, I must admit, a million dollars seems like a lot, especially for a poverty-vowed Jesuit. But a billion dollars, that’s the new big dream. It will get you into the big league. Actually, to tell the truth, I find it hard to even conceptualize how much money that really is. It is such a large amount that my limited reason cannot fully grasp this reality.

The Case of the First Domino Tile

By Edmund Lo, S.J.

Photo: footage.shutterstock.com

Sports has an important place in the lives of children. Many begin to participate in some forms of it at a young age. For those who don't have a taste for it, they may nonetheless choose to follow some professional sports team for personal interest or familial reasons, i.e. Daddy likes this team, so I like this team too. Growing up as a sickly boy back in the 1990s, I had no choice but to fall into the latter group. I began to follow a British football club called Manchester United, and have remained a loyal fan ever since. This past Tuesday, Manchester United played against a Spanish football club which has just as much glamour and history, in a colossal match, which saw the opposing team manager claim that the world will stop to witness this clash of titans. As exciting as it sounded, this presented a problem for me.

MusLing on Linsanity

By Edmund Lo, S.J.

Jeremy Lin is a sign of contradiction.

This is not because he is a professional basketball player with an Asian heritage, a seeming oxymoron. (I should know: I am Chinese, I play basketball and I cannot jump.) He can jump and dunk over both you and me. He has enough game to be the first player in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to average at least 20 points and 7 assists in his first five games as a starter.

This is not because of his fairytale storyline, either. Undrafted and subsequently cut by two NBA teams, he somehow catapulted into stardom on a New York-based sports team through a series of circumstantial events.

He is a sign of contradiction because he spectacularly defies the stereotype of professional sports athletes.

He seems to be unfazed by the sudden Linsanity craze; instead, he would humbly defer to his teammates and the collective team effort after each win. This is after he out-duelled one of the best point guards alive in Deron Williams, outscored the future Hall-of-Famer Kobe Bryant in Madison Square Garden, and won a game on the road by hitting a last-second 3 pointer. In short, he has probably won a spelling-bee contest before: he knows full well that there is no “I” in “team”.

Nor does he take his opportunities for granted. Many times he has spoken of his gratitude towards all that has been given to him. This is not surprising, as he is known to be a devout Christian. He doesn't need to do “the Tebow” to proclaim to the world that Jesus Christ is his Lord and Saviour, nor does he need to wear a Cross decked out with precious stones. One knows that Linsanity is a Christian by who he is. Indeed, there is something good and wholesome about this young man; yet such is considered a sign of contradiction nowadays.