78 Sermon Illustrations on Sports

February 88 “I&I” column quoted former Dodger pitching great Don Newcombe on the inconsistency of the sport world piously warning about “drugs” at the same time it is being taken over by the breweries. He rightly referred to alcohol as “the most devastating drug on the face of the earth,” yet just about every sport in America is sponsored by some brand of beer.

Frank Dolson of the “Philadelphia Inquirer” agrees and wrote a scathing editorial. “Tell the truth, didn’t you gag just a little bit when you settled back in your easy chair... and then saw what looked very much like a beer label framing your screen when an announcer intoned, ‘This kickoff is brought to you by Budweiser’?”

“Here we are, in an all-out fight against drugs, one in which every major sport is supposedly taking part, and yet the games they play are being used to promote one of the most devastating drugs of them all. Yes, alcohol is legal. It also can be deadly.”

A century ago, William Morgan faced a dilemma. A physical director at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts, he had a class of older businessmen who needed exercise. Tennis and basketball were not quite right for them. After some thought, he divided his men into two teams, separated them with a tennis net raised to the top of two six-toot poles, inflated the lining of a basketball, and the sports world met volleyball.

"If Jesus were a football player, he'd play fair, he'd play clean and he'd put the guy across the line on his butt."

[Liberty University football player Barry Rice, on how Gospel and gridiron coexist at the Baptist school founded by Jerry Falwell.]

The measure of manhood is Jesus Christ. Sound crazy? Sissy? Wimpy? That’s what I used to think. But I learned otherwise by seeking fulfillment in other ways.

Striving to find worldly acceptance, I sought to become the image of the rough, tough macho man. At the end of my quest, I felt confused and defeated. I may have looked big, but I was a weak-kneed, spineless jellyfish.

A chubby, slow, uncoordinated youngster, I grew up desperately seeking approval.

Though often jeered for my clumsy, slow-footed ways, my size worked to my advantage when I started putting my efforts into sports. But my red-letter day in elementary school came when I took on the toughest kid in class. I made this bully mad on the playground and he came running full speed at me.

Actually, I didn’t stand up to him. He scared me to death. Trembling, when he swung, I ducked. He missed and his momentum sent him flying over me.

Without realizing what I was doing, in the same motion I stood up and caught him with my shoulder. I tossed him in the air; he landed on his back, got up and slumped off, crying.

Suddenly I was the school hero. Though my success was a complete fluke, I thought, “Hey, look at the acceptance I got through fighting this guy.”

That launched my quest to become a “macho he-man” by building up my body to ultra-tough proportions. I thought being a man meant someone physically intimidating. I wanted to look so tough no one would challenge me to a fight.

It may sound simplistic to trace all my actions to a grade-school fight. But that was the turning point that set me on the path of “bigger means better.”

Years later I arrived at the University of Southern California boasting a 20-inch neck, 20-inch arms and a 54-inch chest. I used my physique to land a job as a bar bouncer, where I brawled regularly.

I amazed people with my physical stunts. Three times I wrestled bears standing as high as 7 feet, 4 inches and weighing 650 pounds. It was all a show, but my willingness to enter the ring impressed my fraternity brothers. I meant to prove I was the roughest, toughest, most fearless dude on campus. When I got drunk, I would run into 4-by-4 wooden stop signs and knock them over with a loud crack.

Even though I never started, and mainly warmed the bench, I was still one of the few walk-ons to stick with the varsity football team at USC. My willingness to mix it up with future NFL stars like Marcus Allen and Keith Van Horn earned more admiration in my social circles.

Besides persevering in football, my fraternity brought access to two of my primary dreams in life: great parties and lots of sorority sisters. In addition, I was on my way to earning a marketing degree from a dynamic business school.

Despite my physical exploits and campus status, I was bankrupt inside. There was a huge void inside — one only God could fill. My lifestyle covered up the insecurities, fear and failures gnawing at me. I wanted to be a man but didn’t know how. As time passed this void expanded through a steady diet of lust, pornography and immorality. I didn’t realize these things strip a man of purpose and responsibility. They made me feel even weaker.

Ironically, while I was partying away my college years, I called myself a Christian and belonged to a campus ministry. Finally, when USC made it to the Fiesta Bowl my senior year, things began to change. Upset over the hypocrisy and inconsistencies that plagued me, I aimlessly wandered the streets of Phoenix. Fortunately, I later wound up in a Christian gathering. The speaker was former LA Ram and Hall of Fame member Rosey Grier. Seeing through my counterfeit faith, he challenged me to get the sin out of my life.

The night he spoke I felt like laser beams were shooting out of his eyes toward me. The only way to serve God was to quit compromising, he said. The words stung with the force of a wooden stop sign against my nose.

As “fate” had it (there is no such thing, the Lord arranged it), Rosey spoke the following week at USC. He introduced me to my current pastor and an evangelist who spoke that night. As they counseled me, I saw that I had never understood what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I saw that Jesus was not in control of my life. From studies to athletics, work, social life and family, he must be “Lord of all or not at all.”

That’s when I repented and God’s power changed me. The void in my life vanished. For the very first time, I felt like a whole person. A real man.

This country is staggering through a leadership crisis. The times demand bold men of character who are not afraid to proclaim the Lord in the midst of a wicked, perverted society.

Everywhere, whether in business, politics or education, people are crying out, “Will somebody please take the lead?” Or, as Psalms 94:16b (New American Standard) asks, “Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?”

Men are the foundational strength of any government. From family to workforce to public affairs, as men go, so goes the nation. As TV host Ben Kinchlow says, “Being male is a matter of birth. Being a man is a matter of choice.”

Going against peer pressure. That takes guts. Daring to be a role model by doing what is right in the sight of a holy God. That requires bravery. Courage stands out from the crowd instead of bowing to it.

God has placed in the heart of every man the deep, burning desire to be a hero, a champion and an overcomer. Men want to stand up, do what is right and achieve greatness. That is leadership by example instead of seeking out the latest polling data to make up your mind.

In recent years the world has warred against this type of thought. Critics sneer, “Oh, you just have a big ego and you want to feed it.”

But I’m here to say: God designed you with that ego. Not to exalt yourself or act like a “stud.” It is so he can provoke you to do great exploits for his glory.

Having an ego is natural, since it’s a gift from God. The ideal man is a hero. Women dream of a knight in shining armor who will appear at the right moment and whisk them off to safety.

It’s the same with young children, who are always eager to brag, “My dad can whip your dad” or “No one is as good as my dad.” In today’s divorce-filled climate, there are also the kids who cry, “I just wish I had a dad.”

Strong men, our society needs you!

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Excerpted from “Warriors,” released this month by Broadman & Holman Publishers. Sirotnak is an evangelist based in Anaheim, Calif.; Walker is a free-lance writer in Louisville, Ky.

Copyright (c) 1995 Baptist Press — RNbp5911mrjB5911g6912

Sermon in Philippians series. Forget past, press ahead. Phil. 3:12-14

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FORGET AND PRESS

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I. Think of it as a race.

A. Athletics in college and ancient Greece.

B. Three keys for successful Christian running.

II. The race isn't over yet.

A. Some Christians act like it is.

1) Perfectionism.

2) Smug triumphalism.

B. Paul: "Not that I have obtained all this."

1) Salvation is a process.

2) Face your faults.

III. Don't look back.

A. "Forgetting what is behind."

B. What we look back at.

C. What memory do you need to let go of?

IV. Focus on the future.

A. Pressing and straining.

B. Aim high.

C. What are you living for?

V. A prize is waiting.

#4346

*

There is an interesting story that is told about the legendary baseball players Hank Aaron and Yogi Berra. Hank Aaron was new to the Major Leagues but was already one of the best homerun hitters in baseball. Yogi Berra was the colorful catcher for the New York Yankees, and they were playing each other in the World Series.

Yogi Berra was famous for distracting batters with his constant chatter. Hank Aaron steps up to the plate -- it was the first time he and Yogi Berra had ever faced each other. Berra starts in on him: "Hank, you're holding the bat all wrong! You're supposed to hold it so that you can read the label."

Aaron ignored him. He then proceeds to hit the first pitch over the fence into the left field bleachers for a homerun. He runs around the bases, comes back to home plate, and says to Yogi: "I didn't come up here to read."

As the final seconds tick off the game clock, players stream off the sidelines until the two waves of team jerseys meet at midfield.

Football fans watch this colorful scene Sunday after Sunday on television. Many combatants trudge together to the locker rooms, while others rush to embrace former teammates. Soon, a circle forms as players from both teams kneel in prayer.

"That's when we pull back to that wide shot of the stadium and cut away as quick as we can to the studio in New York," noted Pat Summerall, who has called his last Super Bowl with John Madden, his professional partner of 21 years. "For years, I've been trying to tell people up in the booth that something interesting was going on down there and we ought to show it. ...

"Those players praying together on the field stand for something. This is one of the uncovered stories in sports today."

Summerall knows what is happening in that circle because he has lived it.

It would have been unthinkable, said the 71-year-old broadcaster, for his old New York Giants teammates to exchange friendly greetings with their opponents before the game and they sure wouldn't have been seen praying with them afterward. There were unwritten rules about that sort of thing 40 or 50 years ago in the National Football League.

Today, there are prayer groups inside and outside locker rooms. More players are openly talking about their faith and they don't care who listens. This has caused tension in some teams, while creating unique bonds of unity in others. Meanwhile, there are -- as always -- scores of professional athletes who abuse alcohol and drugs and whose private lives are, at best, confused.

Summerall has seen it all. He almost drowned in alcohol before drying out in 1992 at the Betty Ford Center. Then, at age 66, he found new life in the waters of baptism. Now, as he enters a new stage of his media career, Summerall is trying to figure out how to tell both sides of this story.

"You don't stay in the business he has been in as long as he's been in it without being able to grow and change and learn. That's just part of being somebody like Pat Summerall," said Claude Thomas, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Euless, outside Dallas. "But as his pastor, I think it will be fascinating to see how his growth as a professional is going to fit in with the continuing growth in his faith. ...

"I know one thing: God has a purpose for Pat's life and his talents."

In the weeks since Super Bowl XXXVI, Summerall said he has spent most of his time responding to the hundreds of letters and telephone calls that followed his graceful swan song with Madden and Fox Sports. It's too soon to start talking about contacts with other networks, but it isn't too soon to start thinking about options.

It would be easy to spend months doing nothing but public speaking, Summerall said. But even this part of his life is changing. In the past, groups asked him to come tell a few funny stories, share a few touching memories and serve up some insider sound bites about sports and television. Now, Summerall is being asked to focus on something totally different -- the very personal story of his battle with alcohol. That will mean talking about his faith.

"I know that I have a story to tell," he said. "What I'm discovering is that quite a few people actually want to hear about the baptism part, too. I can't be silent about that."

Summerall said it helps that he no longer feels helpless and alone.

Wherever he travels, he has been able to find athletes and coaches who are on the same path. Sometimes they even have to meet in football stadiums. It's getting easier to spot them.

"It's like an alcoholic looking for a drink. If he wants it bad enough, he can find it -- no matter what," Summerall said. "I'm like that when it comes to finding prayer services and Bible studies. No matter where I am working, I know that they're out there and I can find them."

*

The late Paul Hunsicker of the University of Michigan attempted to discover the answer to the question "What's the toughest sport?" by taking 41 physical activities and gauging their demands in each of the following areas: coordination, endurance, flexibility, agility, balance, intelligence and creativity. His answer? Ballet. --Chris Wood in Denmark, Wis., Press, quoted by Helen Cordon in Milwaukee Journal

The psychology instructor had just finished a lecture on mental health and was giving an oral test. Speaking specifically about manic depression, she asked, "How would you diagnose a patient who walks back and forth screaming at the top of his lungs one minute, then sits in a chair weeping uncontrollably the

next?" A young man in the rear raised his hand and answered, "A basketball coach?" Bits & Pieces, April 29, 1993, Page 22

The Christian Athlete's Prayer

It was right before the big one and the Christian athlete said,

"Excuse me for just a second while I go bow my head."

And in the quiet of that room the Christian athlete prayed,

"Oh, God, if nothing hear me now I know that fate is made."

"So help us Lord to win this game, for it's the big one, you see,

If we lose this game that's it for us, please do this, Lord, for me."

And as her body knelt in prayer, she looked up to the sky,

"And while I'm here, and have some time, I need to ask you why?"

"They say you never help teams win, just do it once I pray,

We will pay you back in kinder deeds or in some other way."

The Lord just then replied, "The reason I can't help you win,"

"Is as you're asking me to win, so are my daughters on the other side."

"I'm every Christian's father and I must not take one side,

So games are played all on your own or else they'd all be tied."

"But that doesn't mean you shouldn't pray," He answered her with care,

"You can pray that players don't get hurt and that all the calls are fair."

"And then I won't just watch the game, I'll bless it with my care,

Because, dear daughter, you need to learn that life's not always fair."

And while the player heard this voice, she bowed her head in prayer,

"I pray for fairness," said the girl, "and for your tender care."

"You shall be blessed," the Lord replied, "Your team and you the same,

And now you must excuse me daughter, for I cannot miss this game.

In the USA - more toilets flush at half time than any other time of the year.

Super Bowl Sunday is the most popular party day of the year -- surpassing New Year's Eve. It is also the slowest weekend for weddings.

Super Bowl Monday sales of antacids increase by more than 20% over other Mondays.

Dominos Pizza sales typically double on Super Bowl Sunday. Last year Americans ate more than 8.5 million pounds of tortilla chips on this day.

-- from www.uselessknowledge.com

A Sunday School teacher was telling her children about the importance of observing the Sabbath Day.

"I never go FISHING on a Sunday!" piped up little Johnny.

"VERY GOOD, Johnny!" said the teacher. "Won't you tell the other children why you don't go fishing on a Sunday?"

Johnny replied: "Because my Daddy won't let me go along!"

In recent years head coach, Jimmy Johnson, divorced his wife of 26 years when he left coaching a college team to become head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League. He said he needed a wife while coaching on the college level for social functions and to show families that he would be looking out for their sons. In pro football, however, she was an unnecessary accouterment and a distraction to winning. He said winning football was his number one priority and his two sons second. How tragic!

In contrast to this, Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas cowboys said, ”The thrill of knowing Jesus is the greatest thing that ever happened to me ... I think God has put me in a very special place, and He expects me to use it to His glory in everything I do ... whether coaching football or talking to the press, I'm always a Christian ... Christ is first, family second and football third.”

St. Peter and Satan were having an argument one day about

baseball. With a beguiling leer, Satan proposed a game (to be played

on neutral grounds) between a select team from the heavenly host and

Satan's own hand-picked team from Hades.

"Very well," the gatekeeper of the Celestial City agreed. "But you

realize I hope, Satan, that we have all the good ball players and the

best coaches too."

"I know," said Satan calmly, "but we have all the umpires."

Hoover Rupert, {Why Didn't Noah Swat Both Mosquitoes? }(Lima,

OH: CSS Publishing Co. Inc., 1994), p. 84

(Excerpts, see file "Sports" in filing cabinet)

Article gives an overview of Olympic history, ancient and modern.

Notes pagan aspect of originals, compares to "one-world-ism" and similar sentiments in modern Olympics.

"The Olympics are pagan. This statement may raise some eyebrows, but I believe it is true. The word 'pagan' comes from the Latin paganus, which means 'of the earth.' The religious festivals and rituals expressed at the Olympics center on earth spirits and mother earth deities." (p.3)

Spargimino's arguments are well researched and soundly reasoned. The modern Olympic movement is an element of the revival of the religion of man. We are overwhelmed with this in Western society these days.

Short-track speed skating: The constellations aligned, Australia's Steven Bradbury survives the carnage to win gold

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - He's nearly died on the ice, spilling two - thirds of the blood in his body. He's broken his neck in training, and he's been to four Olympics, rotten luck generally his faithful companion.

Saturday night, Australia's Steven Bradbury survived the carnage that was advertised as short-track speed-skating to win his country's first-ever Winter Olympic gold, proving that, eventually, nice guys finish first.

The most fertile imagination could not have scripted the circumstances that put Bradbury on the top step of the podium, the silver and bronze medalists from the U.S. and Canada hobbling up to join him, each having first been sewn shut with a half-dozen sutures.

Clearly the constellations were aligned for the bottle-blond, eyebrow-pierced Bradbury, a four-time Olympian who can't quite believe he's joined a pantheon of Australian champions.

"Freakish, I guess," he said of his victory. "Obviously I have the gold medal around my neck, but whether I deserve to be in the same place as people who won without the luck I had is something I'll have to come to terms with. This is the nature of short-track - today I got the spoils."

Bradbury had never before even qualified for an Olympic 1,000- metre quarter-final, and his road to gold here was paved with remarkable fortune. He described it with a grin something between sly and sheepish:

"I mixed it up in the quarter-final, confident of advancing," he said. "Unfortunately I ran out of legs with a lap to go and had three other guys go past me. But two of them went down, so I got through.

"In the semi-final, I planned on riding in the back and hoping for accidents or collisions so I could sneak up the inside. They went down again. And it was the same deal in the final.

"Obviously I'm not the fastest skater," Bradbury said, his audience by now laughing aloud. "But those were my tactics, and they worked like a charm."

He cruised across the finish line with arms down at his side, then raised in victory, with four skaters flopping around the ice like fish out of water. American Apolo Anton Ohno and Canada's Mathieu Turcotte, cut for six stitches in the thigh and butt, respectively, slithered to silver and bronze medals.

Bradbury's company, the Revolutionary Boot Co., manufacturers the skate boots for Ohno and others. He sent an E-mail to Ohno on the eve of the 1,000 metres asking the American to put in a post-victory good word for his product.

"I guess I didn't have to do that," he said, still grinning.

Bradbury grew up in the suburbs of Sydney, the son of a former speed-skater, and made his Olympic debut at Albertville in 1992. He won a relay bronze at Lillehammer in `94, though bitterly disappointed at his failure in individual events, and arrived in Montreal that autumn for a World Cup event that nearly ended his life.

With one lap to go in a 1,500-metre race, he was collected in a crash with Canada's Frederic Blackburn and Marc Gagnon. Spills are commonplace in short-track, but this was particularly violent: "The three of us went down," Bradbury recalled, "and I somersaulted in the air and got impaled on Fred's skate."

Four litres of blood - two-thirds of what was in his body - poured through a gash in his right leg that took 111 stitches to close, and he credits the fast work of Montreal doctors for saving his life.

Eleven months later, Bradbury was back in a Montreal hospital, this time to visit British skater Nicky Gooch. He had wiped out during a 1,500-metre race and carved a 20-stitch cut in Gooch's forearm, razoring through the tendons; he felt so badly about the blameless accident that he smuggled his friend a chocolate cake.

Bradbury struggled at Nagano in 1998, and in the fall of 2000 crashed head-first into a barrier while training, fracturing his C4 and C5 vertebrae. He wore a halo collar for more than a month, a neck brace for six.

"That sort of wrecked my season," he said in delightful understatement. "But you know, I still wanted to go to another Olympics."

Saturday night, fate decided it finally was time to smile. With bodies piling up in the corner on the final turn, Bradbury chugged by, the last sedan running in this demolition derby.

"As I went by all the guys to the finish," he said, "I thought, `My God, I've won.' "

The American, Ohno, favoured to win four gold medals in Salt Lake, showed graceful, genuine happiness for the Australian. Athletes in short-track are tight - even when they're not banging off each other - and you'd find no one unhappy for this unlikeliest of Olympic champions.

Yesterday morning, officials in the Australian Olympic Committee office were still scratching their heads. "They're sleeping at home," one said, "but when they wake up, they're not going to believe this."

Bradbury sees his gold not as reward for one 90 -second race, but for 10 years of effort, Olympic heartbreak and gruesome injury.

"Maybe this is for the times I feel I should have been on the podium and wasn't," he said, shrugging. "But this will be the end of the Olympics for me. I think my dishes are done."

*

(Excerpt from article) Not such a pain in the gut: Thanks to laparoscopy, appendicitis is less of an ordeal.

Two games into the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs against Boston, Patrick Roy, the near-godlike Montreal Canadiens goaltender, refused to have surgery for an inflamed appendix. He insisted on playing against the Bruins. So team doctors gave him massive doses of antibiotics, closely monitored his condition, and allowed him to play after missing Game 3.

Roy came back in spectacular fashion in Games 4 and 5, stopping 99 of 102 shots thrown at him in two Montreal wins. He was shaky, however, in the seventh game, which the Bruins won to eliminate the Canadiens. Three days later, Roy succumbed to the pain and had an appendectomy, the most common of all abdominal surgeries.

Today, Roy could have been in and out of hospital in a day, and back on the ice shortly after, with laparoscopic surgery, a less invasive procedure that is becoming more widely used for appendicitis. Recovery times are much quicker for this technique, which has grown in popularity for appendix removal over the last two to three years.

"I have always approached practice as a kind of proving ground, especially with rookies. They might have seen me on television, read about me ... and might think they know what I'm all about... I want them to know it isn't gossip or rumors. I want them to know it all comes from hard work."

Michael Jordan

Retired pro basketball player

Cited in BITS & PIECES

Rulon Gardner keeps defying the odds. Earlier this year he survived a plane crash in Utah. He swam for more than an hour in 44-degree water before reaching shore and then spent the night without shelter. In February 2002, he had a snowmobile accident. After falling in a Wyoming lake, Gardner was stranded for 17 hours in temperatures of 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. In March 2004, Gardner, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, suffered cuts and bruises after he was tossed off this motorcycle.

Perhaps Gardner’s greatest feat of defying the odds came on September 27, 2000. That’s when the “Miracle on the Mat” happened. He pocketed a gold medal after defeating the world’s greatest wrestler of all time, Russian Alexandre Karelin, at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Mind you, this Russian had never lost in international competition. He’d never even been scored on in 10 years! He pummeled opponents despite broken ribs, torn muscles and opposing coaches who would spend years designing strategies just to beat him. Karelin was considered the most intimidating athlete in Olympic history, so feared by opponents that two prior finalists essentially quit on the mat rather than keep absorbing the pounding. And, according to legend, the Russian once carried a refrigerator home from the store and up seven flights of stairs.

So no one expected the American to win. In fact, the International Olympic Committee chairman even showed up at the match in order to present the Russian his fourth gold medal - the medal he wouldn’t get.

After the historic match, reporters swarmed around Gardner, “When did you think you could beat him?” they asked.

“When did I think I could beat him? About 10 minutes ago,” Gardner replied. “I kept saying, I think I can. I think I can.’ But it wasn’t until it was over that I knew I could.”

Turns out that Gardner used a simple strategy to counter Karelin’s dreaded lifts and relentless pressure. He said he approached the match with only two things on his mind: to stay focused and hang on. And for nine excruciating minutes, that’s exactly what he did.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #4385]

Charlie Ward was born and raised in Thomasville, Georgia, and at an early age, Charlie showed rare athletic gift in multiple sports. In high school, he starred on both the football and basketball team where his father coached. The senior Ward recognized something special in his son early on.

Ward’s athletic talents were soon noticed by the legendary Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden. He told Ward that if he could get his grades up, then someday he can be the quarterback for the Seminoles and play basketball too. Ward didn’t’ back down from the challenge. After spending one year at Tallahassee Community College, he enrolled at FSU in 1990. Ward was pivotal to the Seminoles’ success. That year, he had a 70% completion average and averaged 6 yards each time he rushed the ball. He set school records with 27 touchdown passes and 3,371 yards of total offense.

The Heisman voting was a no-brainer. Ward beat out Tennessee’s Heath Shuler by 1,622 points – the second-biggest margin ever. In doing so, Ward became the first Heisman and national championship winner since Tony Dorsett in 1976. When the NFL draft rolled around however, the Heisman Trophy Winner went shockingly undrafted. Despite the heaping praises Ward received from college coaches, pro scouts felt he was too short and didn’t have a great arm.

Ward didn’t let that get him down. After graduating from Florida State with a degree in Therapeutic Recreation, he was drafted by the New York Knicks as the 26th overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft. He was even selected by the Milwaukee Brewers and the New York Yankees in 1993 and 1994 despite never having played baseball in college.

CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY

Since accepting Christ when he was young, Ward has been very bold in living out his Christian life. When he was drafted by the Knicks, he took upon himself the role of being the team’s religious conscience. He would encourage players to attend the pre-game chapel, organize Bible study classes in his hotel room on the road.

Though he was often soft-spoken in interviews, he nevertheless remained a powerful influence in the locker room and never held back when it came to expressing his religious beliefs. He gave Van Gundy, then coach of the Knicks, tailor-made scripture verses for his game preparation, and handed out prayer leaflets to teammates and the media. He would even counsel married teammates against being seen with other women on the road. Though many of the Knicks attended the pre-game chapel, it wasn’t past Ward to drag out a few players from the visiting locker room.

His teammates respected him for his beliefs, because unlike other frauds running around the league, Ward’s actions lived up to his words. Instead of simply talking about clean and spiritual living, Ward lived that way. John Starks was converted under Ward’s influence and Allan Houston credits Ward for helping his spiritual growth.

Ward’s clean-cut off-court image hasn’t always been reflected on the basketball courts. He is a ferocious competitor on the court and has been accused of dirty play over the years. “Charlie isn’t the choir boy everybody thinks he is,” Miami’s P.J. Brown says. “They don’t do that in church.”

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Charlie and his wife Tonja Harding were married on August 26, 1995. Tonja works as an attorney and co-chaplain for the New York Liberty and the WNBA.

“I don't know where I would be without her,” Ward said of his wife. “It's good to know you have a strong wife with Christian values. I've been blessed with a spiritual wife.”

Community service is something that’s also very important to Ward. Though the years, Charlie has dedicated hundreds of hours to community service and charitable organizations. Ward hosts several basketball camps for young boys and girls, and also organizes an annual charity golf tournament, which benefits the March of Dimes foundation.

“God laid on my heart to have a Christian camp. We hope it will grow. We would like to go south, possibly in Georgia or Florida. Spreading the Word is the main thing,” said Charlie.

“These camps are a part of his makeup. He wants to give something back,” said Charlie Sr., who worked at the camp along with Charlie’s two brothers.

Among his other charitable endeavors, Ward has served Thanksgiving dinner to 700 needy people at West Harlem Soup Kitchen in Harlem, delivered Christmas gifts to PS 95 students at TASC program in the Bronx, and he was also named the official spokesperson for Florida’s “Born to Read” program.

God and family are the two most important things in Ward’s life.

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Television interview around 1993 (from Holwick's memory at that time):

In a 1993 “Street Stories” television interview, Ed Bradley spoke with a young black athlete, Charlie Ward. Ward has won the Heisman trophy that year.

Ward had become a born-again believer as a child and was aggressively Christian. Bradley suggested that the athlete's outspoken faith in Jesus would cost him endorsement money. The athlete agreed, but stuck to his guns.

A faith that doesn't cost us something, isn't much of a faith.

*

By now, we have all seen the footage from the near-riot that broke out at a recent game between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers in the NBA.

There have been plenty of attempts to figure out what conclusions, if any, we should draw from what happened. Some sportswriters, like Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post, insist that it was an isolated incident. Others, like Bryan Burwell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, see what happened as a consequence of cultural trends within the NBA, such as younger, less-mature players and the NBA's uncritical embrace of hip-hop culture.

While I tend to agree with Burwell, I think that there are other, more widespread and troubling, cultural trends that contributed to what happened on November 19, 2004. In our ministry here at Prison Fellowship, we see the results every day in the constant filling up of our prisons.

One trend is the coarseness and incivility that has permeated American culture. Friends of mine tell me that they dread taking their kids to professional sporting events. The combination of profanity, drunkenness, and boorish behavior on the part of fans makes us all uncomfortable and, worse, sets a bad example for any child.

Ten years ago unruly “fans” would have been asked to shut up or leave — now it's those who want to enjoy the game in peace who are faced with that choice. And this problem isn't limited to professional sports. A reporter for USA TODAY wrote about a fight that broke out at a co-ed slow-pitch softball game he attended. It's as if the entire country has, as we say in Virginia, forgotten its manners.

This coarseness and incivility is fueled by a belief that self-expression is always good and inhibition of any kind is always bad. The past few decades have seen the triumph of what author Rochelle Gurstein called “the party of exposure.” This “party” turned ideas such as manners, propriety, and decorum into synonyms for repression. It convinced our culture that, as Robert Bork ironically put it, “Let all be told, let all be shown, and we will be a society of well-balanced individuals.”

Of course, no such thing happened. A culture that has renounced inner restraints only has the cudgel of law to keep people from acting on their own worst impulses. If shame isn't enough to keep you from making a drunken spectacle of yourself, then the sight of a “rent-a-cop” isn't going to stop you from throwing your beer on the court — or charging into the stands swinging, only to go on talk shows the next morning to promote your new CD.

What makes this even worse is that athletes are, in many instances, the closest things kids have to heroes. The NBA and its advertisers have used this admiration to make our kids the biggest market for NBA-licensed apparel and expensive shoes and soft drinks. Whether they want to admit it or not, these guys are role models, and they failed miserably that night.

While thankfully events like the “brawl at the Palace” are the exception to the rule, the beliefs that helped make it possible are not. We see the results every day in prisons all across America. And while expulsions, suspensions, and even criminal prosecutions are in order, these won't change what most needs changing: a culture that has forgotten its manners. Only a good dose of repentance before a holy God is the necessary medicine for this cultural sickness.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

• Tony Kornheiser, “A Stern Test for the NBA,” Washington Post, 23 November 2004, D01.

• Bryan Burwell, “The NBA is hip-hopping its way out of the mainstream,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 22 November 2004.

• Jeff Zillgitt, “Fans make the world go 'round and other brawl theories,” USA Today, 29 November 2004.

• “Sell sport, not thuggery,” Palm Beach Post, 24 November 2004.

• Bill Simmons, “Tale of the tape,” ESPN, 22 November 2004.

• George Neumayr, “Rap Sheets,” American Spectator, 23 November 2004.

• Shawn Macomber, “Sporting Chance,” American Spectator, 29 November 2004.

• Ben Mathis-Lilley, “Fight! Fight! Fight!“ Slate, 23 November 2004.

• Sally Jenkins, “With Artest, a Human Quality,” Washington Post, 26 November 2004, D01.

• Mike Wise and Sally Jenkins, “An Enigma in the Hall of Infamy,” Washington Post, 28 November 2004, A01.

• Bill Littlefield, “Full Court Mess,” Washington Post, 28 November 2004, B01.

• Daniel Henninger, “From McLuhan to Artest,” Wall Street Journal, 3 December 2004.

• Todd Boyd, “Beyond black and white,” Charlotte Observer, 1 December 2004.

• Alan Drooz, “Playing the blame game: Maybe we need to blame the game,” San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 November 2004.

• Rochelle Gurstein, The Repeal of Reticence (Hill & Wang, 1996).

• Karen Santorum, Everyday Graces: A Child's Book of Good Manners (ISI Books, 2003). Bono of U2 refers to this book as “also a book of manners for rock stars.” We might add it's useful for college and professional athletes as well.

• Hugh Hewitt, In But Not Of: A Guide to Christian Ambition (Nelson, 2003). This book provides readers with valuable insights, wisdom, personal experiences, and advice on how to rise in the world and achieve the kind of radical success that honors God.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

*

In the two-week buildup to a championship game with hundreds of different plotlines, Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck leaned forward in his chair at the Super Bowl media day as if he intended to divulge one of the secrets for his team’s successes.

“I don’t think many people realize,” the softspoken, seventh-year quarterback from Boston College said as reporters learned forward for what they expected to be a juicy tip from the Seahawks playbook, “how many Christian guys we have on this team and how united we are.”

“There are a lot of us on this team from all parts of the country, but we are united in Christ, and the unity you see on this team is very encouraging,” Hasselbeck said.

Encouraged by their quarterback and their league MVP running back Shaun Alexander, Christian players on the Seahawks spent a majority of their hour-long session with the media sharing their faith and the need to focus on more than just Sunday’s final score.

“We believe life itself with Jesus Christ is more important than what we do on the field,” Alexander said. “We want to make sure our focus is on more than this game. We have a bigger calling.”

Nearly half of the Seahawks players and coaches who were given their own platform on media day spoke freely about their personal faith to the media.

Hasselbeck, whose father Don played in the NFL, has completed a remarkable personal transformation on the field: from a first-round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers when he came out of college, to a late-1990s trade to the Seahawks, where he lost his staring job to good friend and fellow believer Trent Dilfer, only to regain it when Dilfer signed with Cleveland last year.

He has received much of the credit for the Seahawks’ first-ever trip to the Super Bowl this year inside Detroit’s domed Ford Field.

Hasselbeck said his whirlwind of a football season, which will be highlighted on an international stage Sunday before a worldwide viewing audience of 1 billion people, has been made easier through his personal faith in Jesus Christ.

“If you let it bother you, the pressure of this week could really get to you. There is so much happening with interviews and posing for pictures and talking with ESPN and ABC and everything,” Hasselbeck said.

“I just remember what Trent [Dilfer] always prayed in the tunnel before the games, ‘Lord, may we perform for an audience of one.’ To know that I have God in my heart and that I’m performing for an audience of one on Sunday, and I want to be a good teammate, is very comforting.”

Fullback Mack Strong has been bashing his body into bigger and stronger defenders for almost a decade, clearing the way for Alexander and other more publicized backs, but he said the greatest moment of his career was when he became a Christian in 1997.

“We have been given a great opportunity to play football, but it’s short-lived. Five years from now people won’t remember that I sat in this chair on media day or even what I said unless they look at the video.

“We believe in something bigger than this game, that we have to stay strong for a bigger purpose.”

Asked to describe himself by one of the many non-sports reporters at media day, Strong, a committed husband and father of two kids, said his commitment to Christ as the biggest thing in his life.

“My turn-ons? Humility. My turnoffs? Pride before the fall. Am I afraid of a commitment? No, I already have a commitment to Christ. Have I had breakups in the past? Yes, I broke up with those who have a different philosophy.”

Backup quarterback David Greene, a rookie who starred at the University of Georgia where he was active in campus ministries and greatly influenced by his Christian head coach, said those looking to explain Seattle’s success coming into Sunday’s game need to look closer than wins or statistics.

“We have a lot of guys on our team who don’t get caught up in the extra stuff. We have guys who are in the Word every day when you could be getting stressed out.

“When you’re living with pressure, you have to surround yourself with good people and that’s what we try to do. If you believe in Christ, then you can live with pressure regardless of what happens on Sunday.”

Starting offensive guard Chris Gray spent 14 years in the league before ever realizing his dream of being in the Super Bowl, but he said the better blessing for himself and his teammates is knowing Christ.

“That’s the best blessing you can have,” he said.

Defensive tackle Michael Boulware will have the responsibility of helping slow down the Pittsburgh offensive attack Sunday [Feb 5, 2006], but he said he has been spending a good deal of his pre-game preparation working on another attack.

“The devil always tries to attack you along the way, but when I focus on Jesus Christ and put my heart on God, that’s the kind of focus I need for this game. We have great leaders on this team which lead the great way. That’s what its takes to be successful.”

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The other team:

While former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon once got media attention for writing offbeat messages on his headband during Super Bowl week, Pittsburg strong safety Troy Polamalu plans his own method of expression during Sunday’s championship contest, even if it will never be seen by the millions watching in TV on in person.

He will be wearing his simple, silver wedding ring under his black gloves as he goes about his defensive exploits against the Seattle Seahawks.

“I don’t think we put any value on marriage any longer in our country and, to me, the wedding band is a symbol of my wedding bond with my wife [Theodora] and my bond with God,” Polamalu said during the Super Bowl media day Jan. 31, 2006.

He was one of several Steelers happy to talk about their faith in Christ to the assembled worldwide media at Detroit’s Ford Field, the site of Sunday’s championship game.

Wide receiver Antwaan Randle El eagerly surveyed the chaotic media scene of hundreds of journalists with notepads in hand, dozens of video cameramen and countless live radio interviews being conducted. Then he gave his assessment of the proceedings:

“People think this game may go down in history, but it’s really only temporary. I thank God that I am here, but I know I have to ask Him for guidance because I didn’t know what to expect....

“I can’t let this game get me too high or too low,” El said. “I have to stay focused on God and stay focused on His word.”

Steelers starting center Jeff Hartings, a former Detroit Lion who was nervous being a favorite target of local media welcoming home a former player, said his faith in God extended even into the media session.

“I’ve been praying every day that I would honor Him and I’m praying now that I don’t embarrass Him during this time,” Hartings said. “I want to give Him His praise all the time and use this time as a platform not for me, but for Him.”

Hartings accompanied Steelers chaplain Jay Wilson on a mission trip in 2004 and said that trip, along with the knee injury he overcame to gain his Pro Bowl status, has changed his career.

“God humbled me with the injury, but over last three years I’ve been able to refocus on Him and honor Him with my play. Every year, I just take it one step at a time if He wants me to continue to play. That’s the way it’s been lately for me and the way it should continue to be,” Hartings said.

“I just want to be a Christian man giving Him the glory. That’s my plan for this game.”

Steelers fullback Dan Kreider said the familiar routine of daily prayer times with his wife over the phone and morning Bible reading in an unfamiliar city is helping him overcome temptations connected with the Super Bowl.

“There certainly is a lot of temptations here with parties and women and things we know we shouldn’t be a part of,” Kreider said. “It keeps you humble when you can pray over the phone every night with your wife or spend time at the team Bible study.

Offensive tackle Max Starks said the annual media gathering, which drew more than 3,000 participants, was seen as a God-given opportunity to the Christian Steelers players, not a hindrance.

“I’m just a tool from God and this life is just a test from Him,” Starks said. “God has given the Christian guys a world stage in this big game and promises us a reward in the end. You have the opportunity to use your faith in everyday conversation. That’s what we need to be doing.”

Polamalu has been nicknamed the Tasmanian Devil for his frenetic on-field defensive style, but didn’t hesitate to use his opportunity to promote his faith as a key to success.

“Keep God No. 1 in your life all the time,” he said in response to an ESPN Argentina reporter who asked how his soccer-mad country could be successful in American football as well.

Former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Barrett Brooks, who is in his 10th year in the NFL but only his third with the Steelers, said the constant shifting of players among teams has made it difficult when Christian brothers face each other on the football field.

“You know a lot of Christian guys in this league, but we just have to keep strong for Him and give God the time He deserves,” Brooks said.

“God will have His will regardless of what we seek on the field,” he said.

With less than five days to go before the final showdown between the Steelers and Seahawks, there will be plenty of time to talk, scheme and study every possible way to defeat the opposition.

But for a number of the players, their focus is on more than just a three-hour encounter.

“This [Super Bowl] is big to the world,” Hartings said. “But I have to separate myself, give God the glory and honor He deserves. Give my best on the field on Sunday and off of it every other day.”

Ogden High School’s wrestling team showed up for a wrestling meet at Humboldt High School. The home coach greeted them with the news that one of his wrestlers had Down’s syndrome. “He has no skill but loves to compete. You can pin him in seconds. He knows he’ll lose; he just wants to roll around on the mat for a little bit. Would anyone on your team be willing to wrestle with him?”

First, there was silence. Then a lone voice on the Ogden team replied, “I’ll do it,” and wrestler Lane Brueland stepped forward to grapple with the boy named Brent.

The gesture alone was commendable, but what Brueland did next was exemplary. Instead of doing what the Humboldt coach requested, Brueland wrestled with the boy for the full six minutes. Not only that, he let the youngster score enough points to win the match.

When Brent’s hand was raised and he looked up in wonder and said, “I won?” There wasn’t a dry eye in the gym. Both boys got a standing ovation.

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Copyright 2007 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation’s leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS! For further information visit http://www.charactercounts.org

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of #21013]

Major League umpire Ted Barrett, who is working the National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets, doesn’t find too many players or managers willing to mess with him when they disagree with a call.

For one thing, Barrett is physically imposing. At 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, he’s bigger than most guys on the field.

For another, Barrett is a former amateur boxer. Add that to his size, and you get an umpire from whom players would just as soon steer clear.

“He’s a golden glove boxer, so don’t get in his face,” St. Louis Cardinals first base coach Dave McKay said of Barrett.

But despite the apparent barriers, Barrett is approachable. In a poll Sports Illustrated conducted this year of 470 Major League players, Barrett was tied for third as the best umpire in the game. Maybe that’s because of the way he goes about his job.

“You don’t want to be perceived as weak,” Barrett said. “The players see me, and I try to laugh and smile on the field a lot, and I enjoy my job. But I don’t want to be perceived as ‘Here’s somebody we can just run over.’”

Or, what Barrett hopes even more, is that the characteristics of Christ are shining forth through his life, attracting others and pointing them to his God. As he matures as a Christian, Barrett often finds himself acting in ways that run counter to the umpiring culture.

“Even though I was a Christian in the minor leagues, I wasn’t trying to be Christ-like. I was trying to be umpire-like,” Barrett said. “I realized I needed to start living this too, not just in my life, but in my work. It bends everything that’s been in the tradition of umpiring for 100 years.”

Barrett pointed to forgiveness, as an example. Most umpires try to keep a healthy distance between themselves and the players, even when a player or coach tries to apologize for his behavior.

“Take your apology and stick it” is a common response from an umpire.

But Barrett remembers an encounter he had with Doug Mansolino, now the third base coach for the Houston Astros. At the time, Mansolino was the bench coach for the Detroit Tigers, and Barrett had ejected him from a game for his behavior.

The next day, Barrett was working third base, where Lance Parrish was the third base coach.

“Doug wanted me to tell you he’s sorry,” Parrish told Barrett.

Barrett said that’s a tactic players and coaches often employ -– apologizing by proxy. He’s not crazy about the practice, and he nearly told Parrish what he thought about it.

“Right away I was about to come back and say, ‘Tell Doug to come and tell me himself. Tell him to stick it,’” Barrett said. “But in my mind, I think God was just laying it on me, saying, ‘I’ve forgiven you of so much. You need to forgive.’”

So Barrett told Parrish to relay a message to Mansolino: “Tell him I forgive him.”

“That was about seven years ago,” Barrett said. “And now, every time I see Doug, he comes over and says hi and brightens up. And he’s a hard, crusty guy. So, I think that probably ministered to him a lot. It completely goes against the grain of how we’re supposed to behave.”

Barrett said his Christian beliefs manifest themselves in his job in other ways. On the field, he tries to handle situations in a godly manner, especially when conflict comes. And conflict will come.

“It’s hard not to lash back,” Barrett said. “The biggest thing I try to do is listen. I try to be slow to anger. Soft-spoken answers sometimes turn back wrath.”

He also tries to assess the situation and discern where the manager or player is coming from and what the motive is. If they have a legitimate complaint, Barrett tries to give them room to air their grievance.

“But if I think a guy’s trying to manipulate me or mess with me for some reason, I let them know I’m not going to put up with that,” Barrett said. “I will get angry at times, if I think they’re trying to do something that’s not fair to me or the other team. I try not to overreact.”

Mike Port, MLB’s vice president of umpiring, said the qualities of tolerance, dignity, knowledge, ability and diplomatic control are necessary to excel in the job.

“While Major League Baseball is fortunate to have a great number of umpires who fit that profile, certainly Ted Barrett is right up there in those respects,” Port said. “He is now a 10-year veteran, and yet seems to keep right on improving, which is no surprise given the pride he takes in his work.

“To say he is respected by his peers is an understatement, as many look to him as an example and rely on his stability.”

Umpiring, however, is a thankless job. Everybody -– players, managers, fans -– expects perfection. But get every call right, and few will notice. Miss a call -– especially a game-changing call -– and get death threats.

“Honestly, if you’re not noticed,” is what Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Fultz says makes a good umpire. “If there’s no controversy, that’s the big thing.”

McKay offered a similar assessment.

“I think a good umpire is someone who blends in,” McKay said. “He doesn’t stand out.”

The job isn’t without its lighter moments. Barrett remembers one time when Terry Collins was managing the Angels and came out to argue a call.

“Ted, I’ve gotta get run. I’ve gotta get run,” Collins told Barrett. “Will you run me?”

“Yeah, OK,” Barrett replied.

“I’m gonna throw my hat, and then you can run me,” Collins said.

Then Collins started yelling and making a scene. “I’ve got this player over here, and he quit on me,” Collins griped. “My third base coach thinks he’s the manager. These fans are all over me.”

All the while Collins is waving his arms and raising a ruckus. Barrett started to chuckle.

“Don’t you laugh,” Collins said in Barrett’s face. “Don’t you laugh. If you laugh, they’ll know what I’m doing.”

Such encounters happen more than most people might think, Barrett said.

Another time, Jim Tracy was managing the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Barrett had made two calls on close plays at home plate that had gone against the Dodgers. Tracy came out to argue.

“I know you got both of those right,” Tracy yelled. “I had a good look from the dugout. I know you got them right, but I’ve gotta go.”

So Tracy started kicking dirt on the plate and after a brief tirade, which got him ejected, replied calmly to Barrett, “All right, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Whatever the situation, Barrett said his goal is to communicate the Gospel to his colleagues by the way he conducts himself.

“If I can have an attitude that’s reflective of Christ and trying to be obedient to Him, I think that speaks volumes to the people I work with,” Barrett said. “The reputation I strive for is, ‘He’s a good guy, but we don’t want to mess with him.’ That would be the ultimate compliment a player could give me.”

Former St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Grant Williams proudly wears his 2002 Superbowl ring (which he won by playing with the New England Patriots against the Rams!). At a gathering of men in Missouri he shared his personal testimony. Even though he grew up knowing the principles and stories of God, they didn’t impact his life because he was lacking a personal relationship with Jesus.

“I memorized Bible verses and we maybe missed church once a year,” he said. “But for me it was just something we did: It was tradition, ritual and agreeing to a set of principles. I could have told you that the wages of sin is death, that all have fallen short of the glory of God, and that Jesus paid the price for my sins, but it certainly didn’t strike a fire in me. There was no relationship.”

Instead he found his “fire” in athletics, playing in every sport available, eventually excelling in baseball and football and earning a position as team captain on the Louisiana Tech football squad.

“I thought I could get away with anything being as valuable as I was to the team,” he said. “As a player, I thought I was above the law.”

But after endless parties and his second DUI, he lost his place on the team and was barred from even setting foot on campus.

“For the first time in my life, I couldn’t make it just because I could help carry a piece of pig over a line of chalk,” Williams said.

He served hundreds of hours of community service and after a year was readmitted and allowed to play football for Louisiana Tech again, although his prospects of getting drafted into the NFL appeared slim. Then, at yet another party, he began to hear God’s still small voice.

“I realized in my heart that He had been there all along even though I’d never had a true relationship with Him,” Williams said. “Finally, as a senior in college, I gave up control, stepped back and gave my life to Christ.”

Soon after he became a Christian, the draft was held and no one called. But he was OK with that.

“For the first time, I realized that wasn’t the most important thing,” he said.

Then, 20 teams called him up inviting him to training camp as a free agent. It was the first major decision that Williams and his new wife would make as Christians. God eventually took them to Seattle, but Williams was still five slots from making the team.

“I knew that if I was going to make the team, it would be God’s doing and not mine,” he said. “I made the team, but it wasn’t just to help get a piece of pig across a line of chalk. I kept asking, ‘Why am I here?’”

Williams was there in part to move the chunk of pigskin, but it was on the team that he met an accountability partner and truly began to grow as a Christian.

“Knowing principles and Scripture are important, but a relationship with Christ is the only way,” he said.