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GOD & SPORTS
Are Sports and Religion linked?
Can sports get us closer to God?
We hope that this page can be used to answer some of these questions. We will provide here links to other websites and devotions that tie together sports and religion. We hope that this page will be a blessing to you.
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6/27/08 Update
Mariano Rivera
Pitcher :: New York Yankees
When I was a teenager, I thought the most important thing in life was partying. Because of this belief, I wasted a lot of time pursuing activities that left me feeling vacant and empty inside.
At first, my lifestyle did not prevent me from working my way up the ranks of professional baseball. However, during my fourth year pitching in the minors, I faced some personal trials that forced me to take a good, hard look at how I was living. Through this experience, I realized that if I ever hoped to reach my goals, I had to turn to Jesus for help and direction. So I asked Jesus to forgive me for my sins and invited Him to take charge of my life.
By the grace of God, I was drafted by the Yankees in 1995. The last ten years with New York have been an incredible experience, far greater than I ever imagined. I have helped my team win three World Series, including the 1999 championship, during which I was named Most Valuable Player. I have also been able to use my position as a professional athlete to help many people in need.
I still like to enjoy myself. But now Iʼm able to keep everything in perspective, because I know that following Christ is the most important thing in life. If youʼre caught up in a lifestyle that leaves you feeling empty, I encourage you to seek out a new life in Christ.
5/18/07 Update
Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat is a devout Christian and chose the number 3 because it represents the Holy Trinity. In addition, Wade tithes 10% of his salary to a church in Chicago.
3/11/07 Update
God Wins at the Super Bowl
I couldn't help but beam proudly at my television screen last night as the owner for the Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay, and his head coach, Tony Dungy , boldly gave God all the glory for their victory at Super Bowl XLI. "Now there's an awful lot of shining glory," said Irsay on the nationally televised post-game show. "But we're giving it all to God again because that's what got us here ... I know God has looked after us on this journey and bonded us into such a tight family."
Being the first African American coaches to reach the Super Bowl was an honor and a celebrated achievement shared this year by Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, the head coach for the Chicago Bears. Above this racial honor, Dungy explained, is Jesus Christ. When asked what the Vince Lombardi trophy meant to him, Dungy said, "More than anything, I've said it before, Lovie Smith and I, not only the first two African-Americans, but Christian coaches showing that you can win doing it the Lord's way. And we're more proud of that." Though they were opponents at the Super Bowl last night, Dungy and Smith share a close friendship. They are both committed Christians with deep spiritual convictions.
Dwight Howard
Twelve and a half feet is very high.
I walked down on the court after the dunk contest and looked up at the custom sticker Dwight Howard had stuck way up there. It was a little dizzying. Not to be gushy, but it was way up there. I suspect that if I stood on Dwight Howard's shoulders, I still wouldn't be able to even reach it. And I'd be scared to be up there.
I peered up at that sticker. Unfathomable, but apparently real -- as the whole thing was on international TV and exceedingly well documented. All the same, I urge you to look up at the top of the backboard from down below some time. Imagine a sticker a few inches shy of the top, and wonder: Could a human put that up there? Without divine intervention?
Yes Or no.
A photographer with a telephoto lens helped me get a good look at that sticker, and in addition to a pre-printed image of Howard's face, his initials, and his number, there was handwritten marker. Not too big. In fact, even with the lens it was very tough to read.
In this life, you always have to read the fine print. And the fine print on that sticker made clear that Howard, at least, doesn't believe he did it alone.
"All things through Christ" Howard had written in marker. Then "Phil 4:13." That's Philippians 4:13. Asked about it, Howard recited in a heartbeat: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Strengtheneth indeed.
Remember, Dwight Howard's Plan A for this contest was to dunk on a 12-foot rim, but the league nixed the idea earlier in the week. So Howard needed an inventive way to demonstrate his singular advantage: combining his height, his reach, and his hops to get a hand up higher than anybody else. It was so inventive that at first plenty of people here in the arena couldn't even understand it. This was an idea from Mars, or Lovetron, or wherever it is the good dunks come from. It stretched the mind. For a few seconds, nobody knew exactly what happened. He put a sticker up there? He had a sticker? In his hand?
What? ESPN.com contributor David Thorpe of Scouts Inc. text-messaged me seconds after it happened: "I hate dunk contests," he wrote. "But that was the coolest dunk I've ever seen." Who can disagree? No one I have talked to, except, apparently, the judges. Howard got a measly 42, the second-lowest score of any dunk in the first round. Julius Erving and Michael Jordan both gave it an 8. I don't know what criteria they were judging by, but whatever it was, I say inventiveness was undervalued.
Hats off to 2007 Slam-Dunk champ Gerald Green, a worthy champion, but a year from now that sticker dunk is the one we're all going to remember.
March 1, 2004: -
Read an Article about Allan Houston and his Faith :
"Raised in a Christian home, Allan heard at an early age that God came first, even before basketball. 'My mom would always emphasize that God is in control of everything,'Allan says. 'And my father had principles of discipline , yet unconditional love . Principles, I now realize, that were from God and the Bible. I'm so thankful that God chose my parents as vessels to teach me and guide me.'But still, he had to develop this relationship on his own."
- Allan Houston, New York Knicks
The Supremest of Beings
In Alabama, they have a joke.
A University of Alabama alumnus dies, and upon his ascendance to heaven he is given a tour by St. Peter. They happen upon one fellow standing straight and tall, giving commands to everyone around him. "That's Shug Jordan," St. Peter says, pointing out the legendary coach of the Auburn Tigers. "He thinks he's God."
A few minutes later, they chance upon a similar scene. "That's Bob Neyland," St. Peter says, identifying the revered coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. "He think's he's God."
Finally, they stop outside a gilded room. Inside, another tall, commanding figure is barking orders. St. Peter is respectfully silent.
"Who's that?" the Bama alum asks.
"Oh, that's God." St. Peter replies. "He thinks he's Bear Bryant."
Succeed in Sports While Living a Visibly Christian Life
Joe Gibbs, the Hall of Fame coach of the Washington Redskins and owner of one of the most successful teams in NASCAR is public about his religious faith but conducts himself in a way that commands the same intense loyalty from non-believers as from fellow evangelicals..
"Joe is a guy who, in the right kind of way, a mature way, expresses his faith," Evans said. "That doesn't take away from what kind of man he is or how he would deal with a Muslim ballplayer. It probably makes him better at it."
Mauldin, of Motor Racing Outreach, said: "No man or woman is perfect. But many people have seen [Gibbs] in the quiet moments as well as the public moments. And they've seen the same person in both situations. They realize it's not just his religion. It's his lifestyle; it's who he is.
"There's a lot of folks who can profess religion, but is there a lifestyle that's reflective of that? And that's what you'll find with Joe."
If every Christian sports figure were so virtuous, the sports world would be much more inclusive, said Silverman of American Atheists - more reflective of the core diversity of America than just the simple colorblindness for which it is often praised.
Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens of the Philadelphia Eagles, who said he believed God had healed his badly injured ankle in time for him to play in the Super Bowl, is widely criticized for showboating on the field. In private and among his teammates, sports ministers say, he is a religious man who is widely respected inside the NFL.
Mark Myerson is not God. And that's not good enough for Terrell Owens. Myerson, one of the world's leading foot and ankle specialists, concluded that Owens, the Philadelphia Eagles' All-Pro wide receiver, was not fit to play in the Super Bowl. Myerson, who operated on Owens to repair a severely sprained ankle and a leg fracture he suffered just seven weeks before the Super Bowl, said Owens risked career-threatening complications.
Owens, however, had a different idea. He plans to be on the field for the National Football League's championship game. "What a lot of people don't realize is that I've been doing a lot of rehab on my own, a lot of healing on my own, but spiritually God is healing me, and I'm way ahead of where a lot of people expect me to be, even the doctor," he maintained last week.
Then, during the Super Bowl week, he insisted: "If you believe in miracles, just wait until Sunday. God brought me here for a reason."
"Unless you have so much belief in yourself that you know it's going to come out in your favor, like it did for J.T. This summer his three-year deal expires, albeit as a member of a possible NBA champion following a trade to Dallas in the summer of '04. And Terry finds himself the best available point guard in a thin free-agent market. "I'm a God-fearing man," Terry said last night when I asked if he was pleased by the way his contractual gamble had worked out. "It was all ordained to happen by God. Before I even knew how it was going to work out, God had a plan for me."" CNNSI on Jason Terry.