First, consider a note from Ripley's believe-it-or-not version history. In 1888, Trinity College (later Duke University) of Durham and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill began to play each other in football. The record books show that Trinity College won four of the schools' first five games. But "Trinity's administration then outlawed football for 20 years (the Methodist Church having ruled it 'a source of evil')..." (Clifton Barnes III, "Bitter Rivals since 1888," [quoted from the Carolina Alumni Review], The News & Observer, 11/06/09, p. C1). Interesting.

When a person in conversation mentions Duke and Carolina in the same sentence, some mighty strong, personal reactions often result. After all, the two schools are long-time rivals. Theirs is not the only collegiate rivalry in the nation, but it is a great one.

As a graduate of Kansas State University, this pastor knows quite a bit about the KSU-KU rivalry. When the Kansas State Wildcats and the Kansas Jayhawks play each other on the football gridiron and on the basketball hardwoods, their rivalry is in full bloom. Emotions run high. Things are said and yelled, by both sets of fans, that are untrue and uncivilized. Normally, respectful and even Christian people can behave disrespectfully and like pagans. (Sorry about that tarnishing reference to the pagans...)

The KSU-KU rivalry gets especially nasty when one school happens to dominate the other school, in football and/or basketball, for a number of consecutive years. For example, the KU basketball team has been nationally outstanding for decades (thanks, in part, to Coach Roy Williams). And the KSU football team was superior through the 1990s and early 2000s. In recent years, both the KU football and basketball teams have done very well -- including an Orange Bowl victory and a national men's basketball championship.

But for KU, the 2009 football season has been a nightmare. After being rated among the top twenty-five teams in the nation during the first part of the season, KU lost its last seven games in a row. In addition, its head coach, Mark Mangino, has come under journalistic and university investigation for allegedly abusive treatment of his own players. The descent from the mountaintop to the valley has taken but two months.

For the KSU fan, especially after all of KU's recent athletic success, KU's most recent misfortune can become an opportunity to "rejoice at wrong." But for Christians, that is not love. Love "rejoices in the right" (I Corinthians 13:6, RSV).

In our family, two of Marsha's brothers have graduated from the University of Kansas. Through all of KU's recent sports success, they have been gentlemanly, even Christian. They have never been boastful. They have been exemplary in humility holding pride in check.

Advent is the Church's time for getting ready for Jesus Christ. Getting ready for Jesus Christ involves letting God's Holy Spirit get into the messiness of our lives -- even into our school and team loyalties -- and make some corrections, minor and major. After all, our loyalty to the coming Christ is immeasurably more important than our loyalty to school and team.

Come, Lord Jesus. And when You come, find us treating our sports rivals, among our many other rivals, with respect and even love.

No kidding.