c. 1996 Religion News Service
(Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.)
(UNDATED) It comes as no surprise that Americans are increasingly obsessed with sports. Athletic competition has so permeated our psyches, our culture and our political thinking that it has become a new kind of religion, with its own saints and sinners, vocabulary, theology and rituals.
Again and again during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, glib TV commentators equated American athletes’ intense dedication with the religious devotion found only among the members of a monastic order. I even heard one announcer piously compare the quest for an Olympic gold medal to the search for the Holy Grail. (I wonder it ever crossed his mind that the legendary Holy Grail was believed to be the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper?)
Professional football has attracted millions of converts with its emphasis on weekly, violent confrontations with evil: the opposing team. Indeed, some ministers have been asked to conclude Sunday church services in time to catch the opening kick-off on television.
During the month of August, pro football teams train for weeks in secluded, even cloistered areas. The coaches _ who function as the elders and high priests of sports, demand total commitment from their flock of athletes, even including abstinence from alcoholic beverages and sex. Rookie players are considered novices or acolytes, desperately seeking admission to a unique fellowship. And of course, the scribes _ journalists _ are present to record every bit of wisdom that drips from the lips of coaches and athletes alike.
And we now have a true theology of sport. Instead of the traditional concept of redemption, which comes only after prayer and the mastery of self, the goal is now total victory over our opponents. The sports world has its saints, such as the late Vince Lombardi of Washington Redskins and Green Bay Packers fame. Another pro football saint, George Allen, summed up the new religion’s eschatology:”The future is now.” In synagogues and churches, the reformed sinner is always warmly received by the congregation. So, too, the gates of repentance are always open to those athletes who have committed various transgressions. Prodigal sons are especially welcome if the sinners in question can catch footballs like Michael Irvin, pitch like Doc Gooden, hit home runs like Darryl Strawberry, and punch like Mike Tyson.
True immortality in sports is achieved only by election to the Hall of Fame, and such elections come solely through the unknowable grace of the selection committee. Pity poor Pete Rose. He’s a deserving candidate for the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., but is currently being denied his rightfully gained immortality because of gambling sins. Sadly, the former Cincinnati Reds star lives in a kind of sports limbo.
The uniforms of professional sports teams have become a kind of religious garb. Star players give their personal blessing to specific helmets, caps, shoes, and jerseys, which along with baseball gloves, footballs, and other accoutrements of sport are eagerly purchased by the young (and the not so young) in vain hope that the power of the players will be transferred to them.
Today’s sports heroes and heroines often appear on breakfast cereal boxes, the secular equivalent of the traditional church icons. Football coaches are doused with gallons of liquid _ from water to champagne to Gatorade _ by exuberant players when their teams win a championship _ an apparent form of sports”baptism”conferred only upon a few true believers.
Historically, there was often an uncomfortably close relationship between organized religion and temporal leaders, but now we regularly see our political leaders, including presidents, rushing to identify with the idols of the sports world.
Presidents regularly visit practice sessions of their favorite teams, and make telephone calls to locker rooms offering praise or consolation. And the Republican National Convention has once again reminded us (could we ever really forget?) that one of Ronald Reagan’s favorite nicknames and film roles was”The Gipper,”a football star from Notre Dame.
Politicians routinely speak of”game plans,””playbooks,”and”throwing the bomb”(a.k.a.”the Hail Mary pass”). Republican vice-presidential nominee Jack Kemp, although a former pro football quarterback, now proudly calls himself the”blocking back”for Bob Dole.
It is no accident that President Nixon’s code name within the Secret Service was”Quarterback”. If the GOP wins the White House this November, I suspect Kemp will insist on that same code name.
But religious leaders should not be overly disturbed by the specter of sports as a new religious force in American life. They can draw comfort from the plight of any hard-pressed quarterback facing a critical”third and long”situation: This, too, shall pass.
MJP END RUDIN
