Hope, Faith and Football

The Faith in Action Team

Introduction

It may seem incongruous to host a series about hope and faith, since, as I write this, the United States Senate is currently debating whether or not to pass a bill on the legality of torturing enemy combatants.

Let me just say one thing. Torture is wrong. It is evil. It is un-American. If this bill passes, it will be a shameful blot on American history. It may seem that our country may never recover from it. As we await the results, I remember something Archbishop Desmond Tutu said when I was privileged to hear him preach a few years ago. He said that human evil is always defeated before it starts, because it goes against the natural order of creation. It just takes awhile for it to realize that it has really lost.

As RocketCityBev’s article below reminds us, hope and faith are essential. They are central points in just about every faith tradition on the globe.

We can draw strength from each other, from our shared convictions. We can spend time in the natural world, in some form of worship. We can draw strength from passions or activities – such as football.

What is important is that we draw strength. We keep having faith. We hope. And we go on.

Hope, Faith and Football

by RocketCityBev

Recently, I saw the movie “Invincible,” and it inspired me to think of hope and faith. The movie is set in 1970’s Philadelphia during the manufacturing jobs downturn that affected the Northeast and Midwest. A group of friends persuaded an underemployed 30 year old bartender (and laid-off substitute teacher) to go to the open tryouts that NFL Philadelphia Eagles were hosting under the guidance of their new coach. The team and the city had the same mood: depressed, with no hope or faith in the future. After the bartender passed the initial tryouts and went to training camp, he brought with him a note from his ex-wife that said, “You are nobody, you will never be anybody and you are a loser.” He kept that note in his locker. Every day, he pulled out that note and read it. Every day, he expected to be cut, although he tried harder at each practice.

As weeks went on, the bartender continued to practice with the team. His friends began to have hope and faith in this bartender and in the NFL team. This spread beyond their own circle. Every week that the bartender continued to play transformed the morale and attitude of the city.

On the evening before the last team cut, the bartender spent some time with his father. He was sure that his dream was at an end; that he would be off the team by the same time tomorrow. As they talked, the bartender’s father told him a story of when his wife, the bartender’s mother, was sick, he thought of the great past players of the Eagles, and that gave him the hope and faith to go on. What neither the bartender nor his father knew was that, this very same evening, all of the assistant coaches were voting to cut the bartender from the team.

The final decision was left to the head coach.

At the scheduled meeting, the bartender brought his playbook with him, believing his dream was over. The coach asked the bartender how he was. Realizing that the coach was struggling, too, the bartender instead asked him, “How are you doing”? In that instant, the coach realized that this was a player whose attitude and heart would inspire his whole team. “Welcome to the Philadelphia Eagles,” he said, giving the playbook back to the bartender. The former bartender – now player – returned to his locker, tore up his ex-wife’s note, and caused a fumble and ran for a winning touchdown in his first game with the Eagles. He played with them for three years and was with them as they won the Superbowl. His great attitude and winning spirit helped carry him through a later battle with cancer.

My father shared this battle. He used football to get through his pain of cancer and put hope into the Detroit Lions the season of 1991 – 92. My dad would put his Lions jersey on at every game and rooted for Barry Sanders to run, run, and RUN. It was that year that Detroit made it to the second round of the playoffs. My dad was thrilled and it was a joy to see him so happy, even though he could not enjoy his usual football food or the typical football beverage – beer. Rooting for and believing in his teams bought him hope to carry on and gave him the strength to participate in an experimental cancer research program at the Mayo Clinic to prolong his life. The experimental trials worked and my Dad lived another year and a half, just enough to see two grandchildren be born. When Dad died in 1993, he was buried in that Lions jersey he loved so much.

So what can football, sports and the love of the game teach us about faith and hope? Above are two examples of people whose hope and faith inspired them through difficult times. Many people, including myself, believe that hope and faith come from God or a higher power and use them to get through hard times. Belief, hope and faith got my sister through the loss of her home in Hurricane Katrina; they got me through Navy boot camp and the death of my father. At their core, hope and faith are the spiritual belief that the world and people are generally good. If we really focus on what is important, we will find enough hope and faith to get us through hard times and humanity will prevail.

The simple things inspire me with faith and hope. Seeing my son’s freckled face glow when a train goes by. Seeing a beautiful sunset and hearing about a random act of kindness for no reason except for the good of it. I do have hope in the U.S. because I have faith in the future leaders that will finally lead us to a world as God or a Higher Power really intended it to be. Am I am optimist? You bet. Because I have that gift of hope and faith, inside and I refuse to give into defeat. That is a divine gift to everyone. Faith and hope area we all need to rely on in these tough times.

Sources:

• http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/invincible/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Papale
• http://www.nbc10.com/entertainment/9619321/detail.html

Faith Watch

Even before the current vote, communities of faith were taking on the torture issue:

Faith Groups talking tough to halt torture

• http://www.religionnewsblog.com/13843/critics-cite-us-faith-groups-talking-tough-to-halt-torture
• http://www.multifaithpeace.org/article.php?story=against_torture

Sojourner's website speaks out against torture

• http://www.sojo.net/

Amnesty International's Web Site

• http://www.amnesty.org/

The Interfaith Alliance's web site (they are taking on this issue as well):

• http://www.interfaithalliance.org/