Lessons from Mr. Walters

            Mr. Walters was a large man who taught two equally large lessons that have stuck with me through the years.  As our high school US History teacher/Athletic Director, he required two things at sporting events.  First, since he was a US History teacher, he required all the students to memorize the Star-Spangled Banner perfectly – spelling, punctuation and all.  If you had any mistakes on the test, you got to sing the National Anthem to the class.  But it didn’t end there.  If he saw you at one of the high school games and caught you not singing the national anthem, you also had to sing the National Anthem to the class.  It didn’t matter if you were a star player, head cheerleader, or school-spirited fan.  If you weren’t singing at the game, you sang for the class.

            I still always sing the National Anthem at ball games.

            The second lesson was from a rule that was instituted on all of the sports teams with which I was involved, so I assume it came from Mr. Walters.  Players on the high school sports teams were not to speak with the referees, officials, or umpires, except to say “Yes, sir,” or “No, sir.”  If a player had a complaint or question, he or she was to go to the coach, who alone was allowed to talk with the official.  Mr. Walters taught us to respect authority.

            It saddens me to watch arguing, complaining, and carrying on with sports officials.  A current TV commercial has Cubs manager, Lou Piniella, pretending to argue an umpire’s call because that’s what people expect him to do.  How sad that arguing like that, and getting ejected from a game, is expected.  How unfortunate that coaches, managers, and players feel it necessary to “work the officials,” to argue with them, plead with them, cajole them so that the next close call will go be to their team’s benefit.  Aren’t we supposed to respect authority and honor it?

            I wish more people could have played for Mr. Walters.

ESPY Moment

The other night I watched some of the ESPY Awards show and was moved by the winner of the "Moment of the Year."  It was the story of Western Oregon's softball player, Sara Tucholsky, hitting her first ever home run, then tearing her ACL rounding first base.  Because her teammates aren't allowed to help her run the bases, two players from the opposition (Central Washington players Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace) carry her around the bases.  This is a heart-warming story because it reflects honor in the game, sportsmanship, and competition in the root sense of the word, "seeking together."  When we consider what is honorable and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8) in sports, surely a moment like this should come to mind.  May we think on such things and celebrate the ideals of sport.

The Football Question - Part Three

            So, where does this question leave me right now?  I think that football is a sport that straddles the line of violence/aggression as far as Christian schools are concerned.  Although I never played football, I understand that a coach can teach aggressive blocking and tackling without promoting the violence of a hit.  A coach can teach technique and strength, while discouraging unnecessary aggressiveness/violence.  A coach makes a huge difference in whether or not the sport crosses the line between acceptable and unacceptable violence/aggression.

            However, it also seems to me that it would take a very special coach not to succumb to the temptations of encouraging ever greater aggression on the field.  How does a coach avoid selecting for aggression in a player?  How do you teach and require such control on aggression?  If a player displays a lot of aggression, wouldn’t a coach be pleased?  Again, I’ve never played tackle football, and I’ve never coached, but it would seem to me to be a very difficult task to keep football to a limited aggression level.

            Could a Christian school engage in a football program with integrity?  Although it appears to me to be an extremely difficult task, I think it is possible.  But it would require selecting a special type of coach who can teach control over aggressiveness, and not promote violent hits.  Does such a coach exist?  I don’t know, but I do get worried when a coach tells the team and parents that he likes football because he likes to hit people, and the football field is the one place where you can hit people without getting thrown in jail.  It would take a very special person to coach technique and strength and strategy, without encouraging (over-)aggressiveness.  I hope such coaches exist.

            This also suggests the need to educate the student body, parents, and other fans in the nature of the (non-violent) game, so that they will understand, appreciate, and cheer for good plays appropriately.  (See my earlier post, “How To Be a Christian Fan,” which offers a non-sport-specific starting point.)  It also means that the players need to be well-coached and understand this controlled-aggression approach to the game.  If the coaches, players, and fans all understood, played, cheered, and were committed to this approach to football, the game that would be played by the Christian school’s team would stand out clearly from the football that is played everywhere else.  Christian school football should be distinctive, not because the game begins with a prayer, but in how it is played on the field.  A controlled-aggression approach would be a clearly distinctive game.

The Football Question - Part Two

            One response I’ve encountered regarding the question of whether or not football is too violent or physically aggressive to be part of a Christian school sports program is that other sports that aren’t questioned are (just as) physically aggressive [I’m using this term instead of “violent,” as a result of Jason’s comments] as football.  The argument is that basketball also involves contact which is sometimes physically aggressive – consider the “banging” that goes on under the basket.  Or that baseball is physically aggressive – brush-back pitches, collisions at the plate, breaking up a double play.  There is no doubt that these sports have some degree of physical aggression in them, but this aggression is not meant to be as integral to the game as is the aggression of football.

            Consider that while a basketball player may intend to get to the basket, she must go around the defender, not through her.  If she goes through her, she will be called for a foul and the opposing team gets the ball.  Some jockeying for position goes on under the basket for rebounds, but if the jockeying is judged to be out of line, the referee will call a foul.

            Baseball is similar.  While there may be some contact in breaking up a double play, intentionally going after the infielder will result in an interference and an out call.  Brush-back pitches are illegal.  In high school sports, collisions at the plate are outlawed.

            There may be some contact in basketball or baseball, and that contact might be physically aggressive or violent on occasion, but this contact is not inherently part of these games, and is, in fact, often punished.  The aggressive contact in football is essential to the game and is encouraged.  This is an important difference.

            In basketball, you have to go around the defender, in football, you try to go through the defender, pushing him out of the way.  In basketball, you cannot have (significant) physical contact with the offensive player; in football, you attempt to strike the offensive player with enough force and technique to knock him to the ground.  The physically aggressive contact is foundational to the game.  No one proposes to play flag football, they want to play tackle football.

            It is true that good coaching will emphasize technique – tackling over hitting – but this doesn’t eliminate the violent or physically aggressive nature of the sport.  Football is not as physically aggressive as boxing, where the game is designed to knock an opponent senseless, but it is more physically aggressive than baseball or basketball.  The question remains: Is there a point on the continuum of physical aggression which a Christian school sports program ought not cross?  If so (and I believe so), where does football stand in regard to this point?  Does football cross the line?

In Part Three, I'll try to summarize what I've come to understand on this issue.

The Football Question - Part One

            “The purpose of this Christian high school football team is to glorify God.”  So began the new coach’s talk to the players and their parents.  The coach outlined his coaching philosophy and football theory, and it was full of Scripture texts.  I had to give him credit – he was trying to integrate football and Scripture.  But within five minutes of his opening statement, the coach was explaining why he loved football.  “When I was in high school, I loved to hit people.  The football field is one place where it’s legal to hit people.  If you hit people in other places, you can get thrown in jail.  But on the football field, you get to hit people, and I loved to hit people.”

            No one, besides me, smiled at the irony.  Maybe I was the only one who caught it, but I had to hold back a laugh.  I thought to myself, “Let’s clarify that opening statement.  ‘The purpose of this Christian high school football team is to glorify God… by hitting people.’”  Is that possible?

            Those comments from the coach highlight a conversation I’ve been wanting to have for a long time, but I have found very few willing to take the other side of the conversation.  The question to consider is this: Given the violent nature of the game, is it appropriate (right, ethical, acceptable) for a Christian school to have a football team?  (I’m leaving aside the question whether it is appropriate for any Christian to play football – just talking big picture here.)  Just this summer, a third Christian school with which I’ve had a connection has added football to its sports programming.  In each case, the schools never invited a dialogue with the constituency about whether or not a football team is appropriate.  I’ve wanted to ask the simple, theological, ethical question – is it appropriate for a Christian school to have a football team – but no one at any of the schools has been interested in asking that question.

            I have had a couple of conversations with Christians who played football, who ask if I’ve ever played football, and when I say ‘No,’ simply roll their eyes and say, “Then you wouldn’t understand it.”  While that may be true, that non-answer makes it tough to do theology.

            Here’s how I usually frame the question.  Nearly everyone would agree that there is no problem for a Christian school to have a golf team, and nearly everyone would agree that it would be inappropriate for a Christian school to have a Fight Club or MMA team.  Somewhere between those extremes of total non-contact and brutal beatings, there is a line between what is appropriate and what is inappropriate for a Christian school.  I think that the violent nature of football places it close to that line.  I don’t know which side of the line it is on, and that’s the question I’d like to pursue.  Is it appropriate for a Christian school to have a football team, or is football, in its very nature, too violent to be appropriate?  Is it possible to set this mission before a football team: “The purpose of this Christian high school football team is to glorify God by hitting people”?

In Part Two, I’ll consider one argument I’ve heard regarding violence in football and other sports.

How To Be a Christian Fan

A few years ago, the Christian High School in our area decided to add a football program.  Sadly, the administration was unwilling to engage in a theological discussion of the idea of "Christian football," but the Athletic Director said he would write something for the school community about how to cheer at a football game.  He never did, but this is my attempt to describe how Christians should be sports fans.  Enjoy!

            Pastor, author, and baseball fan, John Fischer, wrote in a Breakpoint commentary [July 15, 2002 – sadly, no link], “I was elated the day I discovered that God was having as much fun at a Minnesota Twins/Texas Ranger [sic] ball game as I was.” Is God delighted by a ball game?  The Scriptures include a number of allusions to athletics.  Paul refers to athletes competing for a prize, to his own finishing the race and fighting the good fight.  The writer of Hebrews alludes to a crowd of witnesses in the stadium watching us run our race and cheering us on. [1 Cor 9:24-27; 2 Tim 4:7-8; Heb 12:1-2] Athletics was part of the culture in Paul’s day, so his illustrations from the world of sport were relevant.  Fisher reports, “I made this discovery when I realized how much truth I could find illustrated by what was going on down on the field.” If we are joining with God in delighting in a sporting event, should our behavior as a Christian spectator be distinctive?  Can we attend a sporting event in a Christian manner?

            Dr. Ethan Brue, an Assistant Professor of Engineering at Dordt College in Sioux Center, IA, has written on understanding athletic competition from a Christian perspective.  He notes that the Latin root of the word “compete” means “to come together and agree” or “to seek together.”  He then argues that sport is primarily an aesthetic endeavor.  “Within the context of mutually agreed upon boundaries and rules, persons engage their bodies in a tapestry of motion that is made beautiful by skill, nuance, creativity, and the unexpected, a beauty apparent to fans and players alike.”  Players put forth their best effort in order to “offer the opposition the best possible opportunity for creative and skillful play.”  When athletes compete to the best of their ability, even if they may lose by a lopsided score, they allow all the players to glorify the creator in the aesthetic movements of the sport – the ballet of a smoothly turned double play, the graceful arc of a 3-point jumper, the fluid grace of a header into the corner of the net, the acrobatic balance of a catch with toes landing in-bounds in the corner of the end zone.

            From a Christian perspective, competition is not about winning, but about “seeking together,” about putting forth effort so that the players together can reveal the artistic marvel of human athletic endeavors.  This should affect how coaches coach their teams, how players participate in the games.  The goal is to put forth full effort within the  boundaries of the rules to please God with their effort.  This means, among other things, that victory is not the ultimate purpose or measure of sport in general, or of an athletic event in particular.  This affects how the fan should cheer.

            Since I am no longer a coach or player in organized sports, I find myself in the role of spectator and fan.  My cheers for the home team (or whatever team I may favor) ought to be primarily directed not toward winning, but rather toward the best efforts of the players so that the beauty of the game and of athletic aesthetics can be demonstrated.  This means at least two things for how we, as fans, should behave Christianly at sporting events.

            First, it means that our cheering should never be directed toward the officials, referees, umpires, coaches, or other people involved in controlling or directing the game.  The officials and coaches are in positions of authority in sport, and we are to “submit… to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” [Rom 13:1] Officials have been given authority to enforce the rules of the game, so booing or complaining about calls is wrong.  We are to submit to their authority, and so we are to let them do their work unhindered.  They report to supervisors who review their work.  We in the stands are not their superiors, and we have no authority over the game.  Christian spectators ought to refrain from anything that would undermine the authority of officials or coaches, but instead should submit to their decisions.

            Second, our role in the stands is one of encouragement and celebration.  The competing athletes are striving together to the best of their abilities, and it is the work of the spectator to encourage them to give their best.  We ought to cheer for the participants to be the best shortstops, goalies, runners, or centers that they can be.  We should be encouraging them to use their gifts to creatively celebrate the gift of play.  This is distinctly different from cheering for the detriment of the other team, which would not be in keeping with Christian encouragement.  The event before us is a game, not a battle.  It is played, not waged.  Dr. Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., the President of Calvin Seminary, helps us to see our place in sport when he writes in Educating For Shalom, “Part of our calling as delighted creatures of God is to be playful.  War, for instance, isn’t playful.  Football is.  A prominent mistake is to confuse these things.” That prominent mistake is too often found in the bleachers, where fans forget that a game is being played, not a war being waged, and cheer against or try to discourage the other team or player.  Our calling is to encourage the athletes to glorify God by their efforts in competing, in striving together.

            This also requires celebration.  Celebrating a remarkable shot, an astonishing catch, a breath-taking homerun.  It is good to celebrate God’s goodness revealed in a deftly thrown ball or an exquisitely executed play.  When the players strive well and the result is a beautiful sight, it is most appropriate to stand up, cheer, and give your neighbor a high-five, for in using their bodies so adroitly, the players are prompting us to glorify their Creator.

            Unfortunately, the bleachers at our teams’ games too often resound not with encouragement and celebration for skillful performance, but with booing or shouting at referees, coaches, and players.  It is important for us as fans to know our role.  The referees and coaches use their authority to control and direct the game, the players use their bodies and skills to glorify the Creator, and we spectators are there to support, encourage, and celebrate the marvel that is displayed before us.  We are told in Scripture to think about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. [Phil 4:8] A third baseman snagging one-hop drive down the line and rifling the ball to first to beat the striving runner is admirable.  A smoothly executed pick-and-roll finished by a reverse lay-up is lovely.  A team moving efficiently down the field in a two-minute drill is excellent.  A cross-country runner straining side-by-side with a competitor in the last 50 yards is noble.  We ought to at least think about these things.  We should even stand up and cheer, and praise God for the excellent and praiseworthy efforts of the athletes, for they are glorifying their Creator.

Introduction

            I’m a baseball fan and a theologian.  When I try to imagine what Heaven or the New Creation will be like, I assume that somehow baseball will be part of the wonders to be revealed.  In Revelation, God says he will make all things new, and the eternal kingdom will be an earthly, physical realm.  Certainly baseball will be part of it, right?

            But that puzzled me for a long time because every highlight for one player or team is a lowlight for the opposition.  For every jubilant hitter who slugs the ball over the fence, there’s a dejected hurler.  For every cunning pitcher who notches a strike out, there’s a downhearted batter trudging back to the dugout.  For years I imagined that baseball would have to take the form of a game of catch in Heaven.  You know, fathers playing catch with sons, those moments when all is peace and wonder as the ball arcs back and forth – no winners, but no losers either.

            Then I read an article by Dr. Ethan Brue, “Base Running as an Obedient Art.”  In the article, Brue argues that when we compete we provide the opportunity for our fellow athletes to use their skills to glorify God.  He offers the illustration of a softball game, bottom of the last inning, two outs, your team down by seven runs.  You hit a dribbler to their gold glove second baseman, an easy out.  You are tempted to turn and head to the dugout, but you resist the temptation and act as a servant by hustling to first base.  Then the second baseman slips, the ball takes a strange hop, and the fielder makes a dazzling recovery to stop the ball and flip it to the first baseman.  It’s a split-second, bang-bang play.  You’re out.  Was it worth the effort to hustle down the line?  Yes, because you have given the fielder “an adequate canvas to display his athletic creativity.”  Even though you are out and your team lost, “you delight in the extemporaneous skill of the second baseman, as though you had done it yourself.  And you actually did.  There are never winners and losers when Christians engage in sport, only obedient or disobedient artists.”

            And so I discovered that there is a place for baseball in the kingdom of God and the New Creation.  Wins and losses aren’t important, only obedient artistry in the field of play.  In that we can rejoice and, as Brue concludes, “Who knows, maybe even God himself likes a ballgame like that.”

            This blog, then, combines my love of sports and theology, and will, hopefully, address a variety of sports topics theologically.  I invite your comments and insights, as I seek to consider sports as obedient art.