MLB, college football, etc.

Hello! First of all, how the wildfires in California effected Royals DH/1st baseman Mike Sweeney (a Christian) and his family, who had to evacuate their home. I unfortunately haven't seen any news about them lately. Here's a quote from Sweeney about the fires:

Ironically, Sweeney said that his family attended a firefighters' pancake and sausage breakfast after Mass just a week ago Sunday. The kids rode a fire truck and everyone had a great time. Now the firefighters are battling an inferno.

"We've been praying for them," Sweeney said. "They're putting their lives on the line."

Here's the article: http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071024&content_id=2281335&vkey=news_kc&fext=.jsp&c_id=kc (originally found at: http://mlb.mlb.com/pa/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071031&content_id=2289353&vkey=mlbpa_news&fext=.jsp).

Here's a Q & A article with injured Bengals defensive end David Pollack, a Christian. Pollack severely injured his neck early last season and is still in the process of seeing if he will be able to comeback from the injury or not. In the meantime, he's working as a college football analyst. Here's a quote from him about his rehab:

Q: How's your rehab going and do you still think you'll play football again?

A: I just went to the doctor today. I'm continuing to rehab and continuing to see how my neck feels. It's still a process that's going to take awhile. I had surgery in January and it's a year, year-and-a-half process for everything to heal up. So I'm just sitting back and waiting and letting God take the reins and see where he takes me.

Here's the article: http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2007/10/25/pollackonline_1025_.html.

Next, a good Christian article about LA Galaxy player Chris Klein, which also includes a video: http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/Chris_Klein102507.aspx (originally found at: http://www.aia.com/news.aspx?newsitem=252).

Here's a good story about Andrew Madden, a teenager from Texas who recently had a heart transplant. He's a huge Red Sox fan whose surgeon in Texas, Dr. Kristine Guleserian, is from Boston and a huge Red Sox fan herself. Through some connections that she had, she was able to arrange for Madden to come to Game 2 of the World Series in Boston and throw out the first pitch. Here's the neat article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071025&content_id=2282491&vkey=ps2007news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb.

Also, an article on Clemson runningback Ray Ray McElrathbey, and how being injured and missing this season has been a blessing in disguise for him. Last year before his freshman year, he became legal guardian of his 11-year-old brother Fahmarr because their parents weren't able to give him a stable home. Not being able to play this season has given Ray Ray more time to spend with Fahmarr, which has really benefited them both. Here's the article: http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/stories/102507adn.html.

Here's a good article about how the wildfires in the San Diego area helped to bring the Chargers closer together as a team. Because of the fires, some of the players on the team and their families had to evacuate their homes. Also, their stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, was used as a temporary shelter, so the Chargers had to move to Phoenix to practice, which they considered a minor inconvenience considering what all was going on. Here's a quote about the fires from runningback LaDanian Tomlinson, a Christian, about the fires coming close to his home:

"It was a day that was just incredible,'' Tomlinson said. "It's unreal when you think about what happened. Getting a phone call, the reverse 911 call, and [them] saying you have to evacuate. You look at the sky and it's orange. You're trying to pack stuff within a matter of minutes. I have two dogs. You grab your dogs and as I'm leaving my community, I see the fires right around my community. At that point I'm thinking it's over, my house is going to burn down. Thank God it burned all the way around my house, it didn't get my house. My house stayed intact. Everything else around my house burned, but I thank God that my house is still there.''

Here's the article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/don_banks/10/26/chargers/index.html.

Next, a great interview with Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, a Christian, in the locker room after they won the World Series (the interview is "One on One with Curt Schilling", with a link to it under the title of this article): http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071029&content_id=2287516&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos. Also, check out Schilling's personal blog at: http://38pitches.com/ (more on it later).

Lastly, a few personal websites of current and former Christian athletes that I've come across recently:
Rockies pitcher Jeremy Affeldt: http://www.jaffeldt.com/
Former pro tennis player David Wheaton: http://davidwheaton.com/
Former college basketball player Manny Ohonme and his Samaritan's Feet Organization: http://www.samaritansfeet.org/index.htm.