Having Perspective as a "Fan"

I've really become hooked on monitoring social media sites while watching sporting events, particularly when the favorite team of many of my facebook friends or twitter list is playing a game. Having a sense of perspective during those sporting events appears to be the last thing on the minds of many.

Living in Arkansas, the majority of people are passionate about the Arkansas Razorbacks. Particularly this season as the Arkansas football team had one of its best seasons in recent history and made it to the program's first-ever BCS game.  They're also passionate about the Arkansas basketball program, but lately that passion has resulted in, well, let's call them "less-than-positive" status updates, tweets and message board posts.

Regardless, people are passionate about their favorite sports teams and they have been for many, many years. This isn't new.

But what is new is the ability to communicate with others while games are going on.  I had the thought while watching Arkansas' Sugar Bowl game against Ohio State that sociologists could do some tremendous research while monitoring social media sites during big sporting events.

People are fans, which is short for fanatics. They want their team to win. They want everybody else to lose. They experience the highest of highs after victories and the lowest of lows after losses. Some can't watch the games live because their blood pressure goes through the roof. I remember listening to a sports call-in show several years ago on a Monday and the caller said that he hadn't been able to sleep since Saturday when his team lost the game.

I used to be one of those. Now, I never have been accused of losing sleep over much of anything, but I have been known to get fired up over a football game. And a basketball game. And a baseball game. And sometimes a basketball game and a football game at the same time.

When I was 8 years old, I remember running into the living room from the den and hiding behind a couch to watch Kendall Trainor kick a go-ahead field goal (and the eventual game-winner) for Arkansas against Arizona State in the 1985 Holiday Bowl. It was as if it would be a little less disappointing if he missed it if I was 30 feet from the TV rather than 10 feet.

I remember being on my hands and knees like a dog in front of the TV in April of 1994 when the Razorbacks' had a nail-biter against Duke in the National Championship game. Scotty Thurman hit a three that would go down in Arkansas basketball lore and my knees were better off for it. (As a sidenote, can you imagine what twitter and facebook would have been like in Arkansas that night if they had been around 17 years ago?) -- yeah, yeah, keep your Arkansas jokes to yourselves.

You undoubtedly have several examples that are very similar to that one. I know I'm not alone. You have superstitions that you do on game day, you have rituals that you go through because your team won the last time you wore that t-shirt or jersey. How many of you have a stinky shirt that you haven't washed because your team hasn't lost the last three times you've worn it...ok, don't admit that -- but I know you're out there.

Can a fan keep perspective while watching his or her favorite sports team? Based on my very unscientific research last week during Arkansas' Sugar Bowl loss, my answer would be that it's tough.

Is that healthy? Not the "watching sports" part. I know that is healthy. I have to say it's healthy as much as I do it (Exhibit A - my last blog entry). But to let it affect for so long after it's over -- win or lose? I have no problem with people being "all in" during a game. To each his own. But to let it affect their day to day lives is a little much.

There aren't a whole lot of things more fun than cheering for your favorite team and seeing them win, but there are a whole lot of things that are more important in life.

When you take a look at this subject of having perspective as a fan from a Christian viewpoint, it takes on an additional twist. Does it please God when I'm so passionate about my team? Does he care? He can't care if my team wins as opposed to the other team can He?

I've seen a few stories on this recently and it revolved directly and indirectly around Auburn's BCS Championship game against Oregon Monday night.  In his post-game interview, auburn coach Gene Chizik made a comment something along the lines that God was with the Tigers that night. The natural presumption is that a statement like that insinuates that God was not with the Ducks that night. Now, with those highlighter-colored socks Oregon wore the other night, I wouldn't have wanted to be associated with them either, but I highly doubt God cares about our fashion.

ESPN.com writer Tim Keown, co-writer of Josh Hamilton's biography "Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back", gave his take on the subject of God being with the Tigers on Tuesday.

Author Chad Gibbs (www.chadgibbs.com) has also taken on the question of faith and football in his book "God and Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC."

This quickly became one of my favorite books and I 'm ready for Gibbs' next book on the best rivalries in sports. Gibbs' inspiration for the book came after the 2008 football season when his Auburn Tigers struggled mightily and eventually parted ways with then-head coach Tommy Tuberville.  Gibbs found that he struggled to worship on Sunday when the Tigers struggled on the football field on Saturday.

Gibbs had a rough fall of Sundays in 2008 as Auburn went 5-7 overall and 2-6 in the SEC including a 36-0 loss to archrival Alabama. That probably accounted for four or five additional bad Sundays just because it was the last game of the season and it was a 36-point loss that all Auburn fans would have to live with until 2009. To add insult to injury, one of the two SEC wins was a 3-2 win over Mississippi State. If the NCAA allowed an exception for both teams playing in a game to be declared a loser, that game would have fit the criteria.

I encourage you to read the book, but Gibbs traveled around to all 12 schools in the SEC during the 2009 season trying to find people who struggled with balancing their fanaticism for their football team with their faith and walk with Christ.

Gibbs has done the speaking circuit in the fall of 2010 promoting his book and has also appeared on a few national media outlets talking about this idea.

- You can see his interview with CBN News here.
- Gibbs wrote an article for Relevant Magazine entitle "Does God Care About Football" the morning of the BCS title game against Oregon.
- And because Auburn decided to go undefeated in 2010, they didn't allow Gibbs to test the lessons that he thought he learned from traveling and writing the book. Instead, his change in attitude was captured in this touching piece from his website.

To sum up his book in one sentence, Gibbs told CBN News that on his trip to Tuscaloosa a minister who was an Alabama fan made the statement that "football was a great hobby, but it's a terrible God."

Even when I watch what is now my favorite team, the Ouachita Baptist University Tigers, I still enjoy it when they win and hate it when they lose. But it's over when the game ends. I yell loud for the Tigers and pump my fist when they come up victorious. 

There may not be anything wrong with being on your hands and knees nervously watching your team play on TV. You just might not want to take that time on your knees to pray that God helps your team win.