Baseball has provided us with many great moments, and I don't just mean dazzling plays and big hits.  I mean those transcendent moments when the diamond becomes a microcosm for the world we live in.  Many of those moments have come to us from the Baltimore Orioles, specifically.  Who could forget the Bird Hill Aces, Brooks Robinson's heroics in the 1970 World Series, Eddie Murray's sideburns, Ripken's streak of 2,632 consecutive games played, and Brady Anderson's sideburns?  But for now, let's go back to a time when something happened off the field, something great, something Biblical.

In his Hall of Fame induction speech, Cal Ripken Jr. told about a time early in his career when he had thrown his helmet down after striking out, he became angry and was ultimately ejected from the game in the first inning.  After the game, Kenny Singleton, who was a well-respected veteran by that time in his own career, showed young Ripken the tape and asked him, "How does that look?"  Ripken went on to say that he later found out that one family had saved up to come to the game that day to see him, and that their little boy had cried the entire game once his hero had been ejected.  The experience drove Ripken to make sure that he didn't act that way again, to be more consistent and to make sure that he didn't disappoint his fans, the very qualities he came to exemplify.

Proverbs 27:6 says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."  Now, this isn't a license to be a jerk, but a man ought to love his friends enough to correct them and to be corrected by them when it's needed.  I have often tried to get Ken Singleton to guide me through some of life's trials, but he won't return my calls...and he keeps changing his number (Kenny's always kidding around).