We can understand any football player who has deep faith. And we can understand any quarterback or any defensive end who wins a national championship being psyched out of his mind over his team’s success.
But even as quarterback Will Howard celebrated Ohio State’s title on Monday night after its win over Notre Dame by praising his “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” and defensive end Jack Sawyer thanked “God for giving us the ability to go out here and do it” and “through the ups and the downs, he was with us … on our side,” and even as Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard said afterward, “Us and Ohio State were the two teams who praised Jesus Christ the most and I think we strengthened each other in our faith …. I’m happy to see Godly men come out on top no matter what the circumstance is,” I have to underscore a point again with a prayerbook full of questions and then a conclusion.
Is Jesus a Buckeye? Is Jesus an Ohio State season-ticket holder? Did Jesus help the Buckeyes down the Irish and help Howard win the game’s MVP award? Was God really on Ohio State’s side? And if so, how should Notre Dame feel about that? Leonard, apparently, was OK with it, primarily because “Godly men” won in the end. He implied, at least, that it was no coincidence that the two teams who “praised Jesus the most” were the ones who played for the championship.
Look, we get it. These most likely are earnest, faithful young men who want to look outside themselves, even heavenward, in their pursuits. Doing what Ohio State — and Notre Dame — did this season is remarkably hard. The Buckeyes faced adversity and criticism, especially after losing to rival Michigan a couple of months ago. They won an NCAA football championship in the most challenging way — by qualifying for a 12-team playoff and then beating a string of quality opponents, including the Irish in the biggest game of the year. Good for them.
But was it good for God, too? Did Jesus arrange for Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith to lose the man guarding him in single coverage to catch a long Howard pass on third-and-11 late in the game, what with Notre Dame tightening the score and threatening to give the Irish a chance to even the count? Was that the Lord’s doing or was it Howard’s and Smith’s and all the other fellows’ executing the play? Was it their faith in God that helped them in that moment?
Players are usually well-intentioned after a victory, when they express and exult in their beliefs and praise the Almighty. As mentioned, it seems a humble move, offering up gratitude for God’s goodness. But when they do that, what exactly does it say about the poor dudes in the other locker room who just got beat? Who are hurt and suffering? Was Jesus not on their side? Did God favor the Buckeyes over the Irish? Were they more faithful? Did God have anything to do with what just transpired on the gridiron?
I have more respect for what Leonard said in defeat, but even he hinted that the two finalists were blessed by their Christian faith on the football field.
With all the urgent problems in the world, a baby crying for food in Africa, homeowners in Los Angeles asking for God’s help as they rummage through the charred, wasted remains of everything they own, a husband invoking divine comfort as he mourns the loss of his beloved wife of 50 years, does Jesus give a flying rip about the outcome — for or against — of a college football game, or the results of games of any kind in any sport? Is he micromanaging the action? Are the prayerful types more likely to be blessed to beat their opponents?
I’ve always thought a player taking a knee and sending up a prayer in the end zone after scoring a touchdown was and is the most aggressive form of smack talk ever contrived. In that case, not only did the player beat his opponent by scoring, but supposedly God sanctioned it or was somehow connected to it, too. So, the moment of defeat came from both heaven and earth, from human and deity.
Now that stings all the more.
Pretty sure that’s not how Howard and Sawyer meant it. Or any other enthusiastic athlete who gets caught up in a wave of faithful exuberance immediately after a win. They just want to give thanks to their Lord for helping them through every bit of work they put in to get to where they’ve gotten, to improve themselves and to work with their teammates through good times and bad to become the best they can be. Nice of them to think of something, anything, outside of themselves.
That’s legit.
But they should remember that alongside the thrill of victory, their thrill of victory, comes with equal force the agony of defeat, the other guys’ agony of defeat. Leonard was and is something of a rarity, a faithful quarterback praising his Lord and Savior Jesus after a loss. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a QB do that in the extreme, after, say, throwing four interceptions, including a couple of pick-6’s, and getting beat 49-0. I dunno. Maybe it happens, I’ve just never heard it. Never heard a defensive end who missed six tackles say, “God wasn’t on our side tonight.”
“I’m happy to praise Jesus in the lowest of lows,” Leonard said. For believers, that sentence, standing alone, is admirable. And the quarterback no doubt will be admired for saying it. But chances are, young Leonard will encounter in his life lows much lower than losing a football game to Ohio State.
Faith is good. Football is good. No argument there.
Not so sure, though, that they should be mixed with such conviction.
It’s one thing to ask and give thanks for God’s meaningful blessings, if that’s how you roll. It’s another, in the context of competition, to ask and give thanks for God’s blessings in making it to a championship game or for beating the snot out of the other guys, be they faithful or unfaithful. Is it sacrilegious or just nuanced to figure Jesus is likely busy tending to more important matters that have nothing to do with numbers on a scoreboard?
