I am sick of the jerks; the cheats and losers who have become superstars in the sports world today. I am glad that there are so many noble, decent, hard-working athletes. But today, there are just too many jerks to ignore.
Let me be honest – I’m a sports nut. It’s probably an unhealthy addiction for me. My office bears witness to my passion for sports – especially the New York Yankees and the Iowa Hawkeyes. My light switch and mousepad have Yankees logos. I have a large Yankee banner. My pride and joy is a life-sized cardboard cutout of Babe Ruth, perhaps the greatest Yankee of them all (well, till Mr. and Mrs. Jeter had a baby boy).
And Babe was a jerk; a raunchy, alcohol-drenched, womanizing jerk. Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin – favorite players who were not exactly role models for the youth of America. In my childhood, two Yankee pitchers made headlines by “swapping” wives – in that era, quite a shock. (FYI, one of those wife-swappers got saved and was instrumental in the Baseball Chapel movement – God is good). I have spent my life looking the other way and ignoring the foibles, failings and faults of my sports heroes.
Today, something snapped. I read news reports about Ben Roethlisberger’s recent “alleged” sexual assault. It disgusted me. He used bodyguards to force a college girl into a bathroom where he coerced her to have sex against her will. She was so drunk that her story lacked the consistency necessary for prosecution. She got scared of the media crush and asked that the DA decide not to prosecute. The DA declined to file charges.
But the story is pretty clear. Ben Roethlisberger brutalized a young lady and got away with it. Here’s what really ticks me off. Ben came into the NFL with a strong Christian testimony. I assumed he would follow in the footsteps of Kurt Warner as a God-honoring man of integrity. Somewhere along the line, Ben lost his way and I am sorry for that.
But I won’t be cheering for him any more, nor the team that puts him on the field. My integrity could be called into question on this if he played for the Raiders, or the Redskins, or in baseball for the despicable Boston Red Sox, or played basketball for the Lakers (he’d fit right in), or one of the other “axis of evil” teams. But I’ve been a Steelers’ fan since the days of Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain. I cheered against them in their last Super Bowl only because I have a severe, brother-in-Christ, man-crush on Kurt Warner. But I have been a Ben Roethlisberger fan for a long time. Not any more.
I’ve cheered for Tiger Woods since I watched the last of his three US Amateur Open championships fifteen years ago. I was a huge fan. I have cheered against Phil Mickelson – something about him just annoyed me. But while Tiger was out there chasing every nubile female in the western hemisphere, Phil was standing by his wife’s side as she went through treatment for cancer. Suddenly, he doesn’t seem so annoying. I still find myself pulling for Tiger. Its an old habit. But now I feel a little ashamed about it.
I cheered for Mark McGwire – oh, I loved watching him hit those home runs. Now, we know that each of those home runs was tainted by the steroids coursing through his veins.
My daughter kept telling me all through the Summer Olympics that one day I would have to call her Mrs. Michael Phelps – right up until the moment he got his picture snapped smoking a joint.
Football has Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress, Tiki Barber, Terrell Owens – its not a short list. Basketball has Kobe, Ron Artest and a host of others. The Mitchell Report ended any illusion we might have that baseball was an honorable sport in the last decade or two. The jerks are everywhere, aren’t they?
I’m sick of it, but I really don’t know what to do about it. There are no pure teams (other than the Yankees, of course) out there. Since none of us is perfect, we cannot expect our sports heroes to somehow be perfect. We are all going to have to hold are noses at times as we cheer for our favorite team. But I have reached a limit. Sure, I can overlook human faults, even sins, but I am through overlooking belligerent foolishness just because the fool is an amazing athlete or because he wears a jersey I love. I’m just not going to cheer for them anymore.
And you know what, if enough of us did that, it just might make a difference. I’m a Yankee fan folks. I know about money in sports. If we don’t watch Steelers games or buy Big Ben’s jerseys, someone might get the message. But if Ben Roethlisberger sexually assaults women (he’s been accused more than once) and we all continue to chant his name on Sundays, there is little motivation for him or anyone else to change.
How many times have you heard some sportscaster say, “Americans are a forgiving people.” We have welcomed jerk politicians and jerk athletes back into our good graces with the most shallow of apologies. Tiger has hardly demonstrated genuine repentance, but he was warmly embraced at the Masters this year. I’m glad people get a second chance in our land. But I’m not sure this short moral memory that America has exhibited is the result of some noble desire to forgive. I’m guessing the true source is the fact that we have very little understanding of the holiness of God or an appreciation for moral standards. We care little for propriety. We put a higher priority on winning games than on living right. Who cares how people live their lives as long as they win their games, right?
I think I want to go back to the old adage of Grantland Rice, “It’s not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game.” And I want to add, “How you live your life.” Actually, I like the larger quote from his poem “Alumnus Football.”
Maybe the problem is that too many have forgotten that one day they will stand before the “Great Scorer” and will honestly care nothing about how many touchdowns you scored or home runs you hit, how far you could hit a golf ball or how hard you could throw a baseball. The “Game” that Grantland Rice talked about was the game of life. A lot of winners in sports have demonstrated themselves losers in “The Game.”
I know that none of these people are going to be devastated, but here’s where this old preacher takes his stand:
- If you behave in arrogance and self-indulgence as a habit, I will not be your fan. Others may cheer you, I will not. I’m sick of diva wide-receivers or preening, mugging hoopsters. Remember Tony Dorsett or Emmitt Smith? They would score touchdowns, hand the ball to the ref and head for the sidelines. They didn’t dance or talk trash. Just do it!
- If you father multiple children out of wedlock with multiple women, you’re a jerk. I don’t care how well you can throw, shoot or hit. You are an embarrassment to the male sex. I’m not your fan.
- If you beat your wife or girlfriend, you are slime. That person in the stands cheering you will not be me.
- I know, you are famous and rich and there are all sorts of temptations out there. But if you cheat on your wife, you’re a stinking pig. Not only do you demean your wife, but you demean all men. We don’t all cheat, but jerks like you make women think we do. Don’t expect me to ignore the fact that you are a big, fat jerk just because you can hit the snot out of a golf ball.
- If you force yourself on a young lady, using your celebrity and power to get what you want regardless of her desires, I’m not wearing your jersey anymore and I’m not cheering for the team whose jersey you wear. I’m old fashioned. I believe that sex is meant to be kept within marriage. But I also understand that it might be unrealistic to expect every sports star to save himself for marriage. Most aren’t Christians and are not likely to abide by Christian values. But (and I can’t believe I am saying this) I don’t cheer for rapists. I can expect an athlete to honor his marriage vows and to show respect for women in general.
- And for the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, if you are going to talk about God then live to glorify him! If you are going to give your testimony, please won’t you also live your testimony? If you are going to be a lying, cheating jerk, could you keep your faith a secret? For Christ’s sake (and I mean that literally, not as a profanity), keep your mouth shut about God, about Jesus, and about your faith. Don’t let people think that Jesus is the one who made you the horrendous jerk you have become.
I don’t know how all this is going to work out. If Phil and Tiger are in the final group on the 72nd hole of the US Open, will I still pull for Tiger? I don’t know. Habits die hard. But I think my heart is changing. I love sports, but I’m sick of athletes who embarrass themselves and the game they play. I’m especially sick of the ones who do it while also wearing a cross or pointing to heaven when they do something great. I’m just not cheering for these jerks, cheaters and losers anymore.
I’m reminded of the great skit in which Bob Newhart played a therapist. He would tell each of his clients. “Stop it!” It’s about time we pulled some of these world class athletes aside, looked them in the eye and said, “Stop it!”
Dave,
Great post.
Sadly, most Christians use the same reasoning as others in these cases. If you win, good enough for us.
After all, all Big Ben has to do is win and no one will complain any more.
Case in point–Kobe Bryant. No one even talks about his off-field issues from several years ago since the Lakers keep winning.
I wonder how much of this goes on in churches. How many scandals don’t come out until the baptisms or budget starts to decline? But people forgive success.
Good thoughts, Dave.
Funny story, Matt. I posted a link to this article on my Facebook. “I’m Through Cheering for Jerks” it said. To the left was a picture of you, which loaded for some reason!
hyperlink burn. awesome.
Yeah, it was funny.
Dave. I appreciate your honesty. You said it, old habits die hard. We like to root for winners; it makes us feel like winners by proxy. We do it with sports hero’s and we do it with church leaders.
Wow, Dave, this post seems so judgmental. And, really, why all the anger? Why are you angry at sports people. I mean, the names you call these people, who are lost, who need the love of Jesus is so mean spirited. Also, are you not preaching legalism here? maybe even a works salvation? I mean, you’re telling these people to straighten out their lives and live right. These people are lost. They need the Gospel. They dont need all of you to jump on their backs with condemnation. They need the Gospel.
I just really cant understand all the negativity towards the lost in this post. I mean, instead of calling people pigs, and jerks, and muggers; why dont we try to preach the Gospel to these people? I mean, what are lost people gonna think when they read this post, and then they see all the people in the comment thread agreeing with you and such.
Also, it’s religion that resorts to calling people names like this. This is religion, plain and simple. This is the sort of stuff that leads to people to putting bumper stickers on their cars that say things like; Turn or Burn; or Get Right or Get Left; and other mean, angry things which turn lost people off. This sort of angry religion is just what we dont need. We need grace to be preached, rather than legalistic religion.
Lost people are turned off by our my way or the highway attitude.
David
🙂
volfan,
Wait…. I’m confused. You accuse our brother Dave Miller of being judgmental and name calling, but you have no objection whatsoever to people such as Peter Lumpkins calling other brothers and sisters in the Lord ‘subChristians’! Who knew it worked that way?
I’m with David Miller, our culture is sick through and through. I’m very much afraid that the Jimmy Stewarts and Cal Ripkins of the world are lost to our young people and that’s a real shame. But there is a lesson in it. Should we not ‘fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” instead of some celebrity?
Excellent article Dave.
Do you have a point, David? Or did you just log on to ridicule?
Dave,
Maybe you missed the smiley face under my name? This comment was said sort of “tongue in cheek.” I thought I would just give you and Matt and some of the readers here just a little taste of what many of us so-called “BI” fellas experience with just about every post, or comment we make.
In fact, if you’ll go to SBC Today, and read my lastest post; then read the first 15 to 20 comments; you’ll see some of what I wrote in the comment above said to me. I get this type of comments with a lot of the things that I write…posts or comments…at different blogs. I’ve even had a few similar comments like this said to me here, and at SBC Impact; whenever I didnt write anything much different than what you wrote here. If I had written this same post, or if Tim Rogers, or Robin Foster, or Wes Kenney had written this…if it had our name on it, or if it was put up on SBC Today….it would have received many of the kind of comments that I made above.
Interesting how people perceive things…aint it?
David
When I publish a piece that is strongly worded, I can expect that some people will take offense. That doesn’t make me a victim. Its just part of the process.
I aint crying about it…just pointing it out.
David
David (Volfan),
I think you bring up a good point (in general) that all of us might do well to remember–namely, that there is a personal element to “context” that sometimes supersedes the grammatical and syntactical elements in a particular piece. I’m certain that all of us know of particular writers (whether in the local newspaper or a blog) that we read expecting to disagree with. Often, someone’s writing style will train us to immediately view anything they write in a hostile or confrontational tone; other times perhaps past disagreements and arguments color all future discussion. This certainly isn’t the way things are supposed to be, but unfortunately it is.
I have read some of the SBCToday/BI guys but not enough to really have personally developed any sort of mental coloring in my case. So I hope you don’t feel the above paragraph is specifically aimed at your writing. I know from what I’ve read from Dave Miller that I don’t come expecting something heated when I read much of what he posts here, so that allows me to read him in a more charitable light.
It would be interesting to come up with a list of a ways bloggers and writers can “disarm” that expectation for heated controversy in their writing so people can focus better on the issues being discussed. That said, I’ve fear I’ve veered significantly from Dave Miller’s topic so maybe that could be an idea for a future Voices post. (I’d be willing to write it.)
I’d be interested in reading that.
You can read it now right here at SBC Voices!
Is there any way we could keep the Peter Lumpkins/Ergun Caner/James White brouhaha off this discussion thread?
Dave M.
Mea Culpa. I used it as a kind of compare and contrast for volfan having called you judgmental which I didn’t think you were being. You were speaking the absolute truth and the sooner we stop holding these people up as some kind of gods (little g), the better.
I see the wisdom in your comment here and I will not bring it up again. Feel free to delete my post that mentions the never-ending strife. I will not be offended at all.
This is an excellent topic and very timely. I promise to be good.
Chief Katie
Katie,
Maybe you missed the whole thing about my comment being a “tongue in cheek” thing? You know, kind of pulling Dave’s leg to make a point? Did you see that in the comment stream?
Dave, do you now see what we “BI” guys get every time we write? Even if it’s just a spoof? Even if it was done in fun, to make a point?
Wow.
David
Honestly, David, I don’t see the similarities. But I’d really rather not make this thread about the BI group.
Besides, David, you cheer for an SEC team, so your credibility is gone.
Was hoping to draw CB into this, but I haven’t seen much of him recently.
lol
Chief Katie, don’t worry about it. I was just trying to head off trouble down the road.
Dave,
Katie gives you another example of what I said. Did you see how she jumped on my big back with a baseball bat in hand..to club me? lol
I believe that I could post that grass is green, and black cows eat green grass and give white milk. And, Katie, and a few others, would find something to bash me and the other “BI” guys, and to refute it in some way.
lol
wow, Dave, but you dont see it.
lol
David
I hope so!
Dave, you had me on your bandwagon till you dumped on the Red Sox. 🙂 Seriously, you make a great point here. All too often we are cheering for teams in the sports arena and their MVP’s and they do not deserve our cheers or respect. I stopped getting all worked up about sports in general but specifically when so many players of various sports were not being held accountable for their actions.
I’m like you. If I can’t do anything about the managers and owners of the teams and have no say so in how they monitor individuals, then my only recourse is to not support them with money or purchasing advertising. Will it make a whit of difference to them? Doubtful. But I’m through heralding any of them. Except may Tebow.
Unfortunately, I think society’s norm is exactly what we see in the sports world. And it plays out in theaters, and recording industries, too. Do we boycott the world? I don’t think so. I guess we have to all speak up and individually make points such as your rallying cry here. Great post. hariette petersen (a.k.a. selahV)
You’d be such a great person if you would simply renounce the vortex of evil from Fenway.
Well, I dont know what’s going on? It seems that half the time I can post a comment, and the other half the time I cant.
So, I dont know if the one I wrote to Katie will get thru eventually, or not.
Anyway, again, Katie, did you even see the smiley face on my post? Did you read my comment saying that it was said “tongue in cheek?” I wrote the first comment in fun to make a point.
Wow, Katie.
Dave, another example for ya.
David
David,
I cant at all figure out why half the time you comment it appears on its own and the other half of the time I have to approve it… It’s not only annoying for you, but for me as well!
Matt,
I’m sorry for being annoying. 🙂 I always prefer to be a blessing to people.
David
lol… I dont doubt that at all!
Just a note, Roethlisberger (if accusations are true, not saying they are or aren’t) and Woods are at a whole different level that Michael Phelps, who seems to be a pretty decent guy minus the obvious boneheaded move – unless there’s other stuff of which I’m unaware.
I think your comment on the ‘wife-swapper’ who eventually started the chapel movement should remind us these stories also offer opportunities for redemption – both in the general life sense and the spiritual sense.
You are right about Michael Phelps, Brent. My point there was not to compare him to the others, but to demonstrate how we tend to put these guys up on pedestals and then they let us down.
And I certainly did not intend to speak against redemption and second chances. Josh Hamilton is one of my favorite baseball stories.
I’m now officially a fan of Brian Davis, a British golfer. Today, he was in a playoff with Jim Furyk and while hitting a shot out of a hazard he committed a minor violation, he hit a reed on his backswing.
HE TURNED HIMSELF IN – took a 2 stroke penalty and lost the playoff. that is the kind of honor you wish you had more of in sports today.
Wow… Thats awesome.
I don’t care who it is . . . at least the Pharisees were smart enough to drop their stones instead of throwing them at the person caught in sexual sin. And we are called to love jerks. What good does it do if we only love those we want to love or those who deserve it? The desire to give up on people does not come from God; He never gives up on us.
Stephen,
This is a great example of missing the point of the entire post. Dave did not imply he will not love them, pray for them, and hope they come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.
Is it safe to say, Stephen, that you did not even bother to read what I wrote before you sent this condemnatory love-note?
It appears your comment was a drive-by and you aren’t coming back to engage. But do you really think it is somehow godly to root for men who flaunt laws of decency and righteousness? Should we ignore Tiger’s infidelity? Ben’s Roethlisberger’s rape (or rapes)?
Christian love demands that we renounce moral standards?
Not a “drive-by” comment, just don’t feel the need to argue. And I’ve been working; I don’t spend a lot of time on the blogs. Arguing is all we do in the SBC anymore; it’s why we are not making an impact — because the world does not see our love. We are the Pharisees of today. But since you want a reply to the reply, here it goes. I did read the article, by the way. If you are getting so angry at the words of Jesus, that says something. The Pharisees were world champions at upholding moral standards, too. There is a difference between upholding moral standards and condemning people. Jesus did the first but not the second. If it was an article about how sad you are or how much compassion you feel for these people, we would have no argument. But there are few such articles on the SBC blogs. If it were an article about your failures, you would be my hero — because there are even fewer such articles on the SBC blogs. Yes, the word “jerks” got to me. But a person who calls someone a “fool” is in danger of hell fire. There are no pure sports team; there are no pure people; there are no pure bloggers (including me). If it makes you feel better, I am a Yankees fan also (after the Marlins and Braves). God bless you. Really, that’s not sarcastic or mean-spirited in any way. God bless you, Dave. I wish you the best. Please keep writing.
On the positive side, the Red Sox are 4-9!!!