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I just finished watching one of my all-time favorite sports films: Hoosiers. Starring Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper and a cast of fresh-faced kids who really looked and felt like high school basketball players, this 1986 movie was one of the most critically-acclaimed and popular sports films ever made. Based on a true story from 1952, "Hoosiers" is exemplary both as a lesson about the importance of team sports and as a metaphor for life.

The film makers went to great lengths to faithfully recreate the world of high school basketball in the 1950's in small-town America and they captured so many fine details that it was like taking a time machine back half a century. When the camera would cut from the action on court to the cheering fans you almost felt that you were there in the stands or on the sidelines.

One of the most "real" details that the director captured was the praying. Kids and adults in the stands were shown with their hands laced in the familiar prayerful mode whenever a key foul shot was about to be taken. You could see their lips silently moving. Or the locker room scenes when the team would kneel in prayer before the contest. Or a favorite scene of mine when the coach was about to put in a substitute and one of the team members knelt down, took the other players hand and prayed for him to play well. The prayer started to run long causing the coach to say: "Stretch, the Lord wants you both out on the court now."

I have no doubt that basketball, football and the entire family of team sports are the creation of a wonderful and kind God since they each bring so much to so many. However, I also believe that the Lord does not choose sides -- the team that plays the best game that day wins. He just enjoys the contest.

Of course, I sell Swiss Army collegiate luggage, travel and business gear for a living -- what do I know?