The Cougars and God - faith in basketball

The Spokesman-Review (Spokane's newspaper) has published an article by Nick Eaton on the Washington State Cougars basketball team and, specifically, the Christian faith of their coach and several players. The Cougars are still in the NCAA basketball tournament (Sweet 16) - the only Northwest team left.

I'm always interested in how the intersection of belief in Jesus Christ and involvement in sports is covered by the media. It's a mixed bag. This article is pretty good, on the whole.

What was most interesting, though, is a question I like to ask, not just of athletes, but of anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ - "What difference does it make in how you play/work/live/relate/teach/govern/parent, etc.?"

Some of the Cougars have the letters "ISAW" on their shirts. It's a reference to 1 Corinthians 9:24 which says, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win." "ISAW" - In Such A Way - is the Cougars motto this year. Coach Tony Bennet, a Christian, wants his team to do everything "in such a way" that they might achieve their purpose of winning.

Taylor Rochestie, junior guard, says that "in such a way" means "kind of not playing for yourself, that's what it really does mean to me. You gotta train in such a way to get the team better. Play in such a way - you know, go for the loose balls, do the little things. It's kind of the same way as saying, 'Do the intangibles.'"

Senior center Robbie Cowgill says, "Because of (faith), I don't have to worry about how people view me or if I miss a bunch of shots, what my identity really is. Because I already know I'm secure in who God says I am, and that's who I am...I think in basketball that helps me a lot, calms me down a lot."

Daven Harmeling, junior guard, says, "You know, tangibly, I think my faith helps me play with passion. For me, a way to honor (God) is to play as hard as I can. And, you know, that doesn't mean He's going to guide the ball (into the basket) every time; I don't think He does any of that. But it does mean that I can play in a way that I can honor Him with what He's given me."

Well done, guys. Beat North Carolina!

Super Bowl Thoughts

The Super Bowl was great!

We watched it with about 14 other people - not at our house, which isn't big enough - and enjoyed it tremendously.

Here are some random thoughts:

It was a great game.
Super Bowl's aren't usually that "super", meaning that the games are most often duds. This one wasn't. In fact, Super Bowl XLII was one of the best football games I've ever seen. The best game I've ever seen was a high school playoff game between two teams from eastern Washington state playing 8-man football - Odessa and St. John-Endicott. The final score was 92-68! Honestly. Believe it or not, the score was 8-8 at halftime.

The commercials were average.
Some of them I loved, some were interesting, one was hideously awful, and most were somewhere in the middle. The Doritos ad was excellent (a man sets a mousetrap and a giant, human-sized, mouse comes through the wall and attacks him) as were several others.

The pregame recitation of the Declaration of Independence was moving.
Fox Sports put together a montage of past and present NFL players who, when they were all pu together, recited the Declaration. Awesome!

It was satifying to see the Patriots lose.
The Patriots were fined by the league at the beginning of the season for spying on another team using a video camera. They, and all other teams, were specifically warned not to do this (they had received evidence of it being done the previous year. In short, they cheated. The Patriots paid $750,000 in fines from the NFL and lost a draft pick. This will hurt their legacy and will them as a team.

Sports teaches life lessons.
Sports reveal character as much as they build it. Eli Manning may have developed character, confidence, and skill he didn't have before the fourth quarter of Sunday's game. Bill Belichick revealed his lack of character when he left the field before the game was over, thereby showing disrespect for his opponents and a lack of class in general.

Experts don't know as much as they think or as much as we think. How many of them picked the Giants? Very, very few. It's that way in the rest of life, too.

The saying is true - "It's not over until it's over." The game isn't over until the clock gets to 0:00. Don't count yourself or anybody else out. We don't know what may happen.

Another saying is true, too - "They don't play the game on paper." That means that "on paper" (when you look at all of the statistics), the Patriots hsould have won in a rout. But they didn't and that's why we play the game. Remember David and Goliath? A perfect example of the point.

Being together with people is important and meaningful.
We were the only Christians at our "party," so it wasn't Christian fellowship we were enjoying. Nonetheless, it was good to be together with others and share a meaningful time and experience. Usually I don't like watching games with a group of people, but the Super Bowl is an exception.

Just some thoughts about the Super Bowl.