Tebow is Awesome, but I'm Not a Fan of 'Tebowing'

Does anyone else ever get that really awkward feeling in your stomach when an athlete scores a touchdown and then kneels down to say some kind of prayer while his teammates are trying to mob him in celebration?  Is it just me or does that seem like the most inappropriatetime in the world for a kneel down, individiual prayer time?  Am I the only one who wonders why they never do that when they drop the pass in the end zone instead of catching it?  Or what about when a reporter asks a player how they prepared for a certain opponent and then the player totally ignores the question and says, “First of all, I just want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for giving me this opportunity to compete.”  Now, don’t get me wrong.  There is nothing wrong with praying or publicly proclaiming that Jesus is one’s Lord and Savior.  In fact, I highly recommend both of them.  However, there seems to be something amiss in all of the religious soundbites we get from athletes and I can’t quite get my finger on it, but I have some ideas based on a book I just read, The Reason for Sports – A Christian Fanifesto by Ted Kluck.

First of all, I think we seriously overestimate the ‘evangelistic’ power of a 5 second prayer or proclamation on national television.  I obviously don’t have stats or data to judge from, but my hunch is that these public displays of worship are judged as inauthentic to most simply because they always come after success/victory and they come from millionaire athletes at the very moment they are front and center of the cameras.  I do, however, think there is a venue in which a kneel down prayer would be powerful and effective – after a devastating loss.  If people saw men and women kneeling to give thanks and glory to God after their mistake had just cost their team the championship, this public act of worship would carry more weight because it is significantly harder to thank God for a difficulty than it is to thank him for scoring a TD as a $10 million a year pro athlete.  As it is, it seems players only thank God for touchdowns, victories and great plays.  Perhaps they are also tebowing after bad plays, losses, injuries and such, and the cameras simply don’t cover it?  That is possible, but I haven’t seen it at live events other than the collective end of game prayers led by FCA leaders where both teams participate at midfield.

How can you say this, Todd?  Isn’t that one of the most thrilling things we see, when a Tebow or a Colt McCoy publicly identifies with our Jesus in front of millions of people?  Doesn’t that give our faith new credibility with others who esteem these men?  My answer to that is a simple, “No”.  Listen, I am not down on these guys at all, as they are outstanding examples of what it looks like to follow Jesus, a thousand times better than me.  I just think we have bought into a system of sending out religious soundbites when good things happen and the message comes across as very unauthentic and sometimes even awkward.  I think there is a better way to do it and I have seen it done this way as well.  When Colt McCoy was asked about being knocked out the BCS Championship game against Alabama in 2010, he very appropriately gave God thanks and said all things happen for a reason, adding that he willingly submits himself to God his purposes for my life, no matter the outcomes.  His answer was in direct response to the question and it was in the midst of a very difficult trial in his life, not a touchdown celebration, so it carried real weight for all those who heard it and it is still talked about today.  Another thing I notice is that you don’t get this type of ‘touchdown tebowing’ from Christian coaches who are a little older, a little more mature.  Think Tony Dungy or Lovie Smith.  These guys find venues in which to give God glory or venues in which to pray I am sure, but you don’t find them kneeling on the sidelines after touchdowns or victories just as the cameras are focusing on them.  Why not, you ask?  Probably because they have been in this game long enough to know that these are far from the best venues in which to make a very individualistic show of one’s faith.  Neither of these men is ashamed of the Gospel and they proclaim it in various venues, but they resist the urge to pump their chest and point to the sky when their team makes a great play, and I am glad they do it that way because I think there is an unhealthy message sent through all of those quick religious shows.

I was recently asked why our church doesn’t have a cross on our building and part of my response was that I want people to know we are followers of Jesus by the way we live out his commands of love, generosity, humility and kindness, not because of a religious symbol placed on our building.  If we have to affirm our connection with Jesus with big, public displays such as that, then we are obviously not living out his commands.  In the same vein, I agree with Ted Kluck when he advises the following, “So maybe instead of thumping our chests and pointing to the sky in order to ‘be a light’ in the football community, the Christian athlete simply walks back to the huddle . . . Maybe instead of kneeling in the end zone for an elaborate show of prayer, he just flips the ball to the ref and thanks God on his own for life, health and the ability to play a fun game for money.  Perhaps he does so, praying that God will give him grace, and striving after true humility to echo Proverbs 3:34.  And in doing so, he might just shock the world” (from The Reason for Sports by Ted Kluck).  By the way, you know who did this with excellence?  USC’s own Marcus Lattimore.  He scored more touchdowns than I can count, but my vision of him post touchdown is simply tossing the ball to the ref, having an appropriate celebration with his teammates and heading back to the bench.  And yet, with no great public displays or kneel downs, we all know that he is a man of God because his subtle humility communicated more to us than any post touchdown ‘tebowing’ ever could.

What do you think?