Sports Part 1 - Dangers of Sports

Sports have been a large part of my life for as far back as I can remember. From being a lifelong Minnesota Vikings and Twins fan, to scorekeeping for the church softball team when I was 12 years old, playing softball and broomball (think Field Hockey on ice with no skates - best sport ever!) with my brother and his friends, to coaching Bryce and Tyler, and many more. I enjoy sports. 

As with anything, there are good things and bad things about sports and competition in general. This week, I want to talk about some of the dangers of sports/competitions and next week, I will be talking about the Godly lessons that can be learned through sports. 

1. Win at all cost – The first danger is when winning the game is all that matters. There are many examples of this: a coach telling his team to play dirty, a player getting mad at his teammates when they make a mistake, a fan whose day is ruined when his team loses, and others.

As a Christian, we can play to win the game but the way we play is more important than the outcome. If we look at the competition, does it really matter? Is it worth losing your Christian witness over? This also applies to parents. Here is a test to see if your behavior is appropriate: If your son or daughter was sitting next to you doing what you do, would you stop them? Would you act that way if your pastor/teacher/boss/mother was sitting by you? Remember, it light of eternity, it is just a game. Let’s treat it that way.

2. Revenge – many times when someone does something to a player on the other team, either that player or others on the team will try to get back at them. In Baseball, the pitcher is “supposed to” hit the batter with a pitch in certain situations. In Hockey, they have “goons” that are on the team for their ability to fight. If any of the star players get hit hard, these goons go after the other team as pay back. You hear about games getting “chippy”. This means that teams are taking turns doing something to the other team and each play is getting worse and worse.

As a Christian, the Bible says that vengeance belongs to God. Also, Jesus commands us to “turn the other cheek”. But the best verse for this is Romans 14:12 “So then each one of us shall give an account of himself to God.” How silly does it sound for a little child to say: “He started it!” If that does not work for kids, it will not work for us before the Almighty Creator God.

3. Disrespecting other team, coaches, and/or referees – This is the one that I see most often. Parent’s and the some fans feel that it is acceptable to insult, call names, and be rude to anybody that disagrees with them. “Idiot”, “retarded”, “buffoon”, and “cheater” are all things that I have heard this year said to referees and the other teams. At one game this year, I saw one team’s fans stand up and turn around when the other team was introduced. To some extent, trash talking and /or taunting falls into this area as well. 

As a Christian, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. We need to remember that everyone is made in the image of God and since God loves them, we are supposed to also. Is this easy? No but God did not say life would be easy. He said that He would help us do the impossible…including loving that “jerk” on the other team.

There are more but these are the three dangers that I see the most and are the most harmful to the Christian. The Bible tells about sports and how they are similar to our life as Christians. The biggest warning I can give is that we need to watch our witness for Christ in the stands or on the field. God is watching you and you never know who else is watching. Will you be able to tell others about the love of Jesus after the way you behaved at the game?