What a powerful, articulate, and passionate speech. Not used to hearing this kind of press conference, are we?
I’ve never seen a football player as incisively challenge his own fans. Courageous. But this was a great speech. He called the extremes of the American football culture to account for its attitudes.
Wow.
In the last few days we have seen shameful behavior by sports fans in more than one venue. Braves fans at Turner Field threw debris on the field after a call goes against them in the Wild Card game. It was a judgment call by the umpire – an unusual call, to be sure, but other umpires have said they thought it was correct, or at least permissible within the rules. But the game had to be stopped for 20 minutes because hooligans threw cans and bottles on the field to show their displeasure.
Eric Winston evoked the image of the Gladiators in his rant. Is that such a far-fetched comparison?
It would be easy to condemn Chiefs’ fans and Braves’ fans as if they are unique. But I don’t think this is a problem limited to those two cities. Sports has become an obsession, and often an idol. That is a confession, not a condemnation.
I remember watching the final outs of the World Series in 2004 (also known as the Year of Great Evil). The cameras were scanning the delirious Fenway Park crowd and I was filled with loathing against them. Suddenly, I had one of those Holy Spirit moments. “How dare you disdain human beings simply because they cheer for the Boston Red Sox?”
I love sports. Always will. But there is something wrong with my heart when I hate the fans of another teams – even a teams as evil as the Red Sox. It is evidence of a heart-problem when we cheer for injuries or throw things on the field, or shout unkind things at players, umps or coaches because of our passions.
Gladiators? May the erudite Mr. Winston’s analogy was more apt than we want to admit.
As one ESPN commentator observed, one of the more remarkable things in this gem is that an NFL player goes on an angry rant for 3 minutes and not a single bleep is necessary.
I had heard about it and just the words–without the video–were powerful. Add the person and the emotion and the intelligence and you simply can’t ignore what he says.
I posted elsewhere of the need to–I’m borrowing from Douglas Groothius–exegete culture. Football is a violent game. But as long as it isn’t an intentionally destructive game, it is a beautiful game of power meeting power. It is a game that men play well, though not grown men. It is not a proxy for war, though it sometimes seems to be.
But when it descends to–and I’m not sure this is entirely proven in the case of the New Orleans Saints, so I’ll just mention the Pop Warner stories from California–of bounties and cheering injuries, it is no longer a game of power meeting power. It becomes depravity meeting depravity.
I’ll add to this: I was taught how to cheat in order to prepare varsity offensive linemen to keep their cool while being cheated against. My coach–Wade Wilson’s head coach in high school at Commerce–showed me the techniques and insisted I use them. It worked. I could make very good friends very angry at me and get in their heads and they would stop performing their roles and start making me the issue.
The point isn’t whether it is right or wrong to cheat. It’s that depravity changes the game and takes it down the path that requires adult supervision. It’s no longer a game of men when they’re trying to destroy the other person. It’s the game of the Lord of the Flies.
We would like to think we’re all above that, but for that rather infamous phrase: “There but for the grace of God go I.” We need humility and not hubris as we exegete our own “culture” and confront our continuing tendency toward choosing to sin. I appreciate Eric Winston speaking prophetically to the situation. I hope those that have ears will hear.
I meant “young men”, not “though not grown men”. What I really meant was “not old men like I am”.
Yeah, it would be dishonest to deny that I have rejoiced when an opposing player on a team I didn’t like turned an ankle or tweaked a knee. Sports often brings out the worst in us.
Dave,
His commentary is accurate to a point. To broad-brush all chiefs fans as having rejoiced in Cassell’s injury is inaccurate and not helpful. I get that he is frustrated by those fans who did cheer his QB being injured, but to lay that on all the fans (or all the fans present) makes about as much sense as a crusade against all Calvinists because some are so over-the-top as to be hyper-Calvinists who would glad sing the old hymn, “Let the rest be damned. We won’t have heaven crammed,” thus inaccurately misrepresenting the vast majority of Calvinists who prefer to sing, “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”
Well, there. Yes, I live in KC. No I am not a Chiefs fan (except by addition…my first loyalties lie with the men of the 5-pointed blue star). Yes, I am a Calvinist. No I am not hyper…unless I’ve had tooooo much coffee.
SolaGratia!
Okay, I havent heard that Calvinist hymn before….funny stuff.
I guess the fact that so many of the Chiefs fans cheered is disturbing enough. I know that not all of them did. But, the fact that so many did… also, the bottle and debris throwing of a lot of the Braves fan in the Cards win was equally disturbing. Also, in this part of the world, too many children are playing 60 to 80 baseball games a year..not countinig all the practices….in Travel Ball, as it’s called. And, they miss Church from April to October. I mean, they hardly ever come to Church, unless they’re on a bad team that doesnt make it to Sunday.
We’ve made sports a god in our country.
David
Eric Winston was pretty careful to aim his rant at those who cheered the injury.