Fall Matchup

Football vs. God

Some Fans Forget Faith For Hog Heaven

STAFF PHOTO MICHAEL WOODS • @NWAMICHAELW University of Arkansas receiver Marquel Wade is taken down by Ole Miss defenders in the 2011 matchup in Oxford, Miss. Passion for college football is especially strong in the South — in the Southeastern Conference and the Bible Belt. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” said the Rev. Leslie Belden, parish associate with First United Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville and a benefactor of the university.
STAFF PHOTO MICHAEL WOODS • @NWAMICHAELW University of Arkansas receiver Marquel Wade is taken down by Ole Miss defenders in the 2011 matchup in Oxford, Miss. Passion for college football is especially strong in the South — in the Southeastern Conference and the Bible Belt. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” said the Rev. Leslie Belden, parish associate with First United Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville and a benefactor of the university.

You shall not worship any other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol.

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

Remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy.

..... You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house ...

-- Exodus 20

... or National Championship trophy.

In the fall, many faithful pack their weekends full of events and their cars full of items for tailgate parties -- especially in the South. Junior high football on Thursday night, high school football on Friday, college football Saturday and professional football on Sunday.

The Rev. Leslie Belden, parish associate of First United Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville and University of Arkansas benefactor, is one of those people. She grew up in Paragould and, with her family, attended the two local games and the Arkansas Razorbacks home games each weekend. "And by golly, we drove home," she said. "Daddy had to teach Sunday school. And we weren't late. It was my assumption that, if I had to miss church and Sunday school, we would not have gone to the ballgame." She said she's thankful she doesn't live in a city with a National Football League team, or this minister might have a conflict with church on Sunday.

But have stadium seats replaced pews in the culture? Are too many fans striving for Hog Heaven instead of the other kind? Has football replaced religion in the lives of fans?

Bigger Than Jesus

"It happened a long time ago," said Rick Schaeffer, a former sports information director at the University of Arkansas. Schaeffer has been on the broadcast team for Razorback sports for nearly 30 years.

"When you think that the NFL has passed every other sport in popularity in the last 10 to 15 years. When they promo the Sunday NFL games, they make it sound like it will be better than if Jesus came back."

For a Razorback football game, some 70,000 fans go to the stadium and about 20,000 more watch it on television.

"The largest single gathering for Razorback fans in the world is when they gather in Razorback Stadium," he said. "Imagine if we had 100,000 people cheering for the Lord."

"You're supposed to have reverence in worship," Belden said, "but you're also supposed to have passion about your faith that most don't exhibit -- it's reserved for athletic teams. You wouldn't yell and scream inappropriately in a religious context."

That passion often leads to very unkind behavior: "The fights and the screaming in hatred," said the Rev. Lowell Grisham, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville. "My college roommate had his nose broken for wearing the wrong color."

"And it's OK for the community to go toilet paper the trees and do awful things to each other's schools?" Belden asked, mentioning "that poor tree at Auburn."

"Passion can be a bad thing if we lose sight of more important values," Belden said. "And it's hard for me because I really like sports. I know when I put my faith second, I've gone too far -- when you're praying more for your team than people you know in need of prayer. There are more issues in the community we should care about than football.

"Football is about me -- my team, my community, I feel good," Belden continued. "But religion is not about me. It's about God and serving others."

"Football is an entertaining pastime to those who love it, but you have to recognize when it becomes an addiction and distracts them from family commitment and commitment to justice," Grisham said. "I can say this as one who has neglected the other things in life for things of more immediate appetite."

Many fans struggle to put sports in perspective, Schaeffer said. "When I work Razorback games, I want intensely for the Razorbacks to win," he said.

"But if it's not a wonderful experience, we don't need to take it out on the coach or players. If you pray to God to win, but you don't, it's not God's fault, it's not somebody else's fault. We need to support our team -- win or lose.

"I think William Stringfellow, a 20th-century Episcopal prophet, said it well: 'Sports it the great distraction of the American people, our greatest failure,'" Grisham quoted.

"He said, instead of giving attention and energy toward justice, we spend our energy and resources on things that ultimately don't matter."

Gentile South

The football phenomenon is at its best in the South, in the Southeastern Conference.

"It was a culture shock to Arkansas fans when we went into the SEC," Schaeffer said, noting Arkansas fans had the most passion for their team in the Southwest Conference. "In the SEC, they're all like that."

In the small southern towns, the high school football team becomes the identity of the citizens. "It's not what you believe in," Belden said, "but what you're emotionally attached to. The entities represent you."

Belden's grandfather coached football at Forrest City. In addition to its athletes, the town became known for its school pride and passion. Everybody gathered on Friday nights, even if they didn't have a kid in school, she said.

"Except for a really small community, that's a thing of the past," Belden said. She tried attending Fayetteville High School games after her daughters graduated, but she didn't feel the passion and didn't see her friends.

Football and religion both provide positive interactions and reveal positive traits, Grisham said. "Allegiance to college football team is a relationship with something much larger than yourself," he said. "It's something in common you share with others and a meaningful way to address life. At its healthiest, the community is extended to others loving your school or sports."

This scene takes place when players shake hands before and after games, when a good fan appreciates the game no matter his loyalty and stands out of respect and claps, he said. And, as an Ole Miss alumni, Grisham learned to love Arkansas fans when he met them in New Orleans for the 1980 Sugar Bowl. "The Arkansas people called the Hogs," he said. "I liked the Arkansas people so much. We were all together there to celebrate."

Schaeffer noted the lessons of leadership, teamwork, cooperation, discipline, practice, fitness and perseverance football can teach. "There are lots of good lessons and friendships," he said.

"And losing can be a blessing," the Hog fan continued. "We should ask, 'What is God trying to teach me?' We can learn more, spiritually, about life. Although we don't want too many of these blessings."

Start the Season

"When you watch Archie Manning going full out but gently to avoid the rusher, and armed with incredible fluidity perfectly arch his arm, and the receiver runs like a gazelle into the end zone -- that's a thing of beauty," said Grisham, an admitted groupie of all generations Manning.

"At football games, with your colors, your logos and your symbols, you can identify friends by what you have in common, crossing barriers that might otherwise not have been crossed," Grisham continued. "You sing and chant together in the common experience, with heartfelt emotion and purpose. There's even a hint of the Holy Mother in the alma mater.

"It's transcendent," he said. "And it appeals to me."

"God is more than football," Grisham acknowledged for those crazed fans. "Keep it positive. And remember that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God -- and that's the summary law of God.

"Love your neighbor as yourself -- and the other team is your neighbor."

"Through the years in football, the uniforms stay the same, but the names change -- and are forgotten," Schaeffer added. "But God is eternal."

NAN Religion on 09/06/2014

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