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Welcome to My Online Home

My name is Joe Crispin and I am a Christian, a husband, a father, a professional basketball player, a reader, a talker, and now, a blogger. My life is unique; my God is good; my perspective is, I hope, encouraging and entertaining.

My Present Location

Since I tend to move around a bit, I'll communicate my present blogging locale right here. I am currently enjoying my summer months (and of course still training) probably in State College, PA, but possibly in Glassboro, NJ.

Archive for Basketball

Jul
22

Who Am I?

Posted by: Joe | Comments (1)

According to this ESPN story, that seems to be the question that Jennifer Capriati is having a difficult time answering right now. If you recall, or as the story will remind you, she was a tennis star at around age 13, who after falling out of the game, returned for a while, only to have to retire due to a few injuries.

As a professional athlete, I really feel for her, because I know this isn’t an easy thing. The question of an athlete’s true identity is often difficult to define apart from sports, because when you reach a certain level of success, most people begin to relate to you on the basis of your place as an athlete. Combine this with the tendency of every human heart to identify oneself with what one accomplishes, and athletic success often makes it difficult to really define who you are in any real and lasting fashion.

From a Christian perspective, the only real answer to this concern is Jesus Christ. Sure, as a Christian, I still struggle with viewing myself as God views me, but to a great degree I have found the freedom that I believe only Christ can give, so that when that question arises, “Who am I?”, there is an answer that doesn’t change. Indeed, by God’s grace, He used athletic success in my life to show me that I needed Him.

And interestingly enough, I have found that the more I find my identity and security in Christ, the more free I am to enjoy the game I so love and in turn, the more free I am to play it better. When you aren’t defined by how well you perform, there is much less heat to perform great. There is freedom. And where there is freedom, there should be great play.

Of course, there is more to it than that, but there certainly isn’t less. And even if you aren’t an athlete, you should have compassion for Capriati, because you are just as prone as her to seek your identity in what you do rather than whose you are.

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Apr
29

Be Like Grant

Posted by: Joe | Comments (2)

Here’s a great article on Grant Hill. For those of you who don’t know his story, check out the link. Those who do know his story (as I did) will naturally enjoy the article as well.

Every time I see him play, I gain more respect for him and his game. Few guys are able to do what he has done in adjusting his game and moving from being the star to being a role player. And he has done it very well. I hope I am able to do it as well as the years start going by and I lose a step (or two!).

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Categories : Basketball, Links, Sports
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Mar
02

The Sports Guy’s NBA

Posted by: Joe | Comments (0)

Not sure how many of you out there read Bill Simmons, aka ‘The Sports Guy’ at ESPN.com, but I enjoy reading a lot of his stuff. Some of what he writes, I don’t find funny, because of my Christian convictions, but there is still plenty he says I agree with and laugh at.  Last week I read his column regarding fixing the NBA.  As always, it is a bit long, but entertaining and in my opinion, insightful.

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Categories : Basketball, Links, Sports
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Thank You

I appreciate you taking the time to check in with me and to even scroll down to this, the end of the page. Considering you made it all the way to the bottom of the page, I am thinking you either found the material so compelling that you wanted to read more or found it so weak that you kept looking for something worth your time! I hope it was the former. Thanks again.