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More than likely, if you invite me over to watch a game with you, I will watch it, and we will have fun. If you give me tickets to a game, I will gladly accept them. Give me five, and I’ll take my family. That would be kind of you.
The struggle I have with football is about my personal non-legalistic preference born out of a desire to guard my soul. One of the many beauties of Christian liberty on secondary issues is how we can choose what we want to do and still be friends.
I have been watching football for over fifty years. As a child, football was one of my many “saviors.” It gave me a way to escape a dysfunctional family life while incarcerated in that family.
I have a lot of wonderful memories of many sports, including wrestling. You could say I was a sportsaholic. I have been late to church functions because of sports. I’ve sat in the crow’s nest of a church service, working the cameras while watching a football game.
Traditionally, we have gathered with various small groups to watch Super Bowls, which have always been fun times. I’m sure I will be doing that again. I’m not opposed to having a good time.
But during the past few years, I have had this growing disinterest in sports. Apart from these aforementioned clarifying caveats, I have decided not to be a football watcher any longer. Here are five reasons I made that decision.
As I’ve aged, I have become more aware of the finish line. The Lord is counting my days, and there are fewer of them than they used to be. Though I have no idea when He’s going to call me home, I want to spend my final days doing more important things than watching a game.
It is impossible for me to keep up with this ministry. At the end of any afternoon or early evening, I stop. I never finish. I just stop. There is always more to do than I can do and all of it is eternal good stuff. That is how I want to spend my time. When I was younger, I did not think a lot about wasting time. But now, I live with a strong sense of urgency.
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted.
My family is a greater priority to me than my work. I love spending time with them. As my children are getting closer to the door of adulthood, I realize, like my impending death, that our days together under one roof are also limited.
Spending our time watching a three-hour sporting event is not the best redemptive use of our family time. We can have more fun than sitting side-by-side staring into the blue light of the tube.
There used to be a time when players were just players. They were not social or political activists. With the proliferation of social media, any athlete can disrespect our flag or any other thing he (or she) wants to disrespect, and it is national headlines for days.
Today’s athlete has partnered with the media to give our country one of its most persuasive voices. It’s mass indoctrination about moral issues and lifestyle choices that I reject. I don’t dismiss the athlete because we’re all made in the image of God, but I do reject their political and social agendas. I can choose not to watch or listen to their worldviews.
Larry Csonka would take the ball, run into the pack of defensive linemen, knock a few of them down, and drag a few more along with him until he finally succumbed. He would get up, walk back to the huddle and do it all over again. That was my generation’s athlete.
Today’s athlete does those things and then goes into a post-play dance routine after every play. Dabbing. If he is creative enough, he will make the endless loop highlight reel on ESPN where he can feed his ego as the repetition of it all dulls our minds.
True greatness is not that. It’s a man dying on a cross. Give me Jesus.
CTE is a real thing. Many of our athletes are now fifty years old, and they struggle with thinking, reading, writing, talking, and walking. This tragedy is also why I don’t watch MMA. I can no longer make a case for brutality sports that can cause long-term and even life-threatening injuries. Listen to this podcast from Freakonomics Radio, titled, How Much Brain Damage Do I Have?
Head injuries are a thing, and I don’t want to be part of it. I would never suggest or subject my child to something that would limit the potential God has put into him.
I don’t know what you need to do. I would never tell you what to do on a secondary issue. I would ask you to consider the possibility of sports being too controlling in your life. If you have a spouse and children, I appeal to you to talk to your family.
Do the Lord, your spouse, and your children get your best time and attention? You can answer that question by working through my “you may be an addict if…” statements.
While you may have done some of these things episodically, the real issue is if this list characterizes you. If so, you have a problem.
Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).