Positive organizations for students

Schools have also adopted the idea of hiring outside organizations to help bring in another element of religion to help educate athletes on how to apply religion within their sport.  Two major examples of these outside entities  are FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and Athletes in Action.  These Christian groups "promote spiritual growth, recruit new members and promote religious beliefs and organizations, and promote fundamentalist beliefs and evangelical orientations", (Coakley,2009). 

These groups all have mission statements depicting their views on religion through sport.  FCA was started in 1954 and their mission statement is, " to present to athletes and coaches and all whom they influence the challenge and adventure of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, serving Him in their relationships and in the fellowship of the church".  FCA also holds their values, Integrity, Serving, Teamwork, and Excellence as very important tools in serving the Lord through sport.

The impact that these programs have had are very great on college athletes across the nation. FCA's numbers have been very positive in the last year from Jan. 1, 2009 - Dec 31, 2009:
Total Reached in Eight Months: 1,834,875Faith Commitments: 35,159One Way 2 Play - Drug Free! Decisions: 34,712TeamFCA Commitments: 3,694
(FCA, 2010)
With numbers like these, it has made a positive impact on college campuses. The spread of religion in sport will continue to increase with the dedication and help of others outside of the university walls. The hope is to help college athletes, not only better themselves but to better the students around them, in hopes of creating a more positive, and unified team.

FCA Official Presentation Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnq-jFXmVzY

The NCCAA ( National Christian College Athletic Association) was incorporated to provide a Christian-based organization that functions uniquely as a national and international agency for the promotion of outreach and ministry, and for the maintenance, enhancement, and promotion of intercollegiate athletic competition in a Christian perspective (NCCAA, 2010).  The NCCAA focuses on not only assisting the student-athletes in sports but also in life in general through their "game plan" consisting of dedicated and caring leadership, national competition, international outreach and ministry with athletic teams, discipleship programs and materials for student-athletes and coaches, and conferences on current key issues. The link below shows NCCAA's statement of belief: http://www.thenccaa.org/statement.html



Coakley, J.  (2009). Sports in society. New York, NY:
     The McGraw-Hill Companies.
About athletes in action.  (2009). Retrieved from
     http://www.athletesinaction.org/about/
About the nccaa.  (2010). Retrieved from
     http://www.thenccaa.org/about.html#Mission%20Statement
FCA. (2010). Annual impact report. Retrieved from
      http://www.fca.org/AboutFCA/AnnualImpactReport.lsp

Whats legal whats not

There are many situations between religion and sports that are not clearly defined as legal or illegal. In 1962 the Supreme Court banned organized prayers in public schools, which meant, prayers may not be legal when they are said publicly and collectively at sport events sponsored by state organizations, such as public schools (Coakley, 539). Although in 1992 this still upset two families and they decided to bring this decision back to the Supreme Court, stating that it was in violation of the first amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." In turn this allowed public prayers in schools as long as it wasn't to convert anyone, nonsectarian and general in content. Although, this decision was not upheld for sporting events. An appellate judge ruled that sport events were not serious enough to require the solemnity of public prayer, stating prayers are inappropriate" (Coakley, 539).

This decision of the Supreme Court was not an effort to separate religion and sport but to make sure that it was not forced on to anyone who didn't not want apart of it. Which is why organizations and schools have been founded on religious beliefs for kids, who wish to further their education on the bases of that religion.

Although if you looked at a lot of individual athletes before a game or big event, they prepare them selves with prayer. Most players will take a knee close their eyes and say a short prayer, some may cross themselves in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; but, none of these things are forced on to anyone else, which is within the guidelines set by the Supreme Court.

Mormon student-athletes that attend universities primarily BYU (Brigham Young University) have to fulfill a mission trip. What that means is that students for two years generally go to another country and volunteer their time and services; such as building churches, libraries, homes, providing health care and education, while also preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ (N, 2009). These students who are called to these missions who are athletes are not penalized any years of eligibility, in some cases resulting in 20 plus year old freshman/student athletes. This is just an example of students being able to do works for their religion and colleges and universities not penalizing them for fulfilling religious duties (Bruner, 2010).

Case: New Mexico State Sued by Three Former Players
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/60238/college_athletes_persecuted_for_religious.html





Bruner, R. (2010). What is a lds mission?. Retrieved from
        http://lds.about.com/od/programs3foldmission/p/lds_mission.htm
N, A. (2009, February 20). When sports and religion collide. Retrieved from
       http://sportsjabber.net/2009/02/20/when-sports-and-religion-collide/
Coackley, J. (2009) Sports in society. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Religious athlete

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS8qqNnR3aM (Tim Tebow answering a question about saving "himself," for marriage)

In today's era it is not uncommon to see players show their religion on the field, before, during, or prior to the event. A sport where you see religion most commonly "center staged," is in football, both at the college and professional level. Players such as Tim Tebow, and Sam Bradford really took the next step in showing their religion on the field. Tebow, who is now back up quarter back for the Denver Broncos really changed how religion was seen in college sports. He wore eye black under his eyes and wrote verses from the Bible that really motivated him. Sam Bradford, now the starting quarterback for the St. Louis Rams, wore his verses on his tape like most athletes do.

You see a lot of uses too in football of guys crossing the goal line for a touchdown and instantly either kneeling to the ground and saying a small prayer and signing themselves with the cross, or pointing straight up to the heavens as a token of appreciation of letting them get that score. Across the NFL as well players are not afraid to show their religion, players like Troy Polamalu, Deion Sanders, Reggie White. Religion has become a part of celebration, a way to glorify God fro the gifts these people were given.

Christianity isn't the only type or religion practiced in sport today. Recently ESPN did a story on the Abdullah brothers, two brothers who play safety in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals, and Minnesota Vikings. Hamza and Husain practice Islam and this past preseason Ramadan (the holiest month in the Islamic calendar) fell during mini camp. Ramadan is the month where the Koran was revealed to the prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him.(Farrar, 2010) During this time Muslims throughout the world fast. "From sunup to sundown, we abstain from food, water, anger, fighting, and were also supposed to maximize our good deeds," (Farrar, 2010). During mini camp, where football camps run all day the brothers were not able to eat or drink anything during the day and during practice. The taxing that hits takes on a person body is incredible and dangerous, but to be true to their religion the Abdullah brothers practiced Ramadan as if it were just another month.

Michael Irvin: 2007 Hall of Fame enshrinement speech: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/halloffame07/news/story?id=2961687


These athletes face many challenges and ridicule.  Shirl Hoffman describes Christianity as being based on an ethic that emphasizes the importance of means over ends, process over product, quality over quantity, and caring for others over caring for self.  But power and performance sports emphasize winning, final scores, season records, personal performance statistics, and self display (Coakley, 2009).  Where do athletes draw the line?  Every athlete wants to be the best that they can be and to win the game they participate in.  Athletes with serious religious beliefs do more than try to make just themselves better but to improve the entire team even the team they are competing against.  This is a good quality to possess as a teammate, but does this take away from the ultimate peak a religious athlete can reach?  These are challenges religious athletes face on a day to day basis.  Another challenge is ridicule, as shown previously in the Tim Tebow clip.  Soft spoken, spiritual players may be categorized as too soft or mean enough to play at high levels.  This is proven wrong by Troy Polomalu.  Year in and year out, the soft spoken safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers is one of the top players in the NFL.  He does so while staying true to his spiritual beliefs and not playing dirty and taking cheap shots.  It is proven that athletes can both be religious and successful.



Coakley, J.  (2009). Sports in society. New York, NY:
     The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Farrar, D. (2010, August 21). Abdullah brothers balance faith, football, and fasting. Retrieved from
          http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/A-brothers-balance-faith-football-and-f?urn=nfl-264192

Sports as religion do fans take it to far

A lot of sport fans really take a being a fan to a whole new level. We can't begin to tell you how many times we have walked into someones home and see team paraphernalia everywhere. People today live or die for the teams. Living in "Steeler Country," has shown me how much this is really true. Ryan and myself have seen many tattoos that say "sixburgh," or tattoos for every Super Bowl won. Fans today make sport their religion, they like to wear a jersey on a certain day, or a color for a certain event. Fans and athletes really live or die for their team/sport.

Coakley explains several similarities and differences between religion and sports.
Similarities

• Sports and Religion both have places for gatherings. ex: churches and stadiums
• Perfection in body, mind, and spirit
• Hierarchical systems of authority and structured organizations
• Rituals before, during, and after major events
• Heroes and Legends about heroic accomplishments
• Give meaning to people's lives

Differences

• Religious beliefs, meanings, rituals, and events are mystical and sacred.  Sports are fundamentally clear-cut and secular
• Religion pertains to the pursuit of eternal life.  Sport seeks victory through physical performance.
• Religion involves faith in one's beliefs.  Sport involves competition to establish superiority.
• Religion emphasizes humility and love.  Sport emphasizes personal achievement and conquest.
• Religion acknowledges the sacred and supernatural.  Sport highlight a collective commitment to here and now.(Coakley, 2009)

We believe in some cases athletes absolutely take their actions too far, but we do believe that sport and religion can and should co-exist.  Fans and athletes should be dedicated to their sports team as well as their personal spiritual beliefs, but they should not take sports as a life or death situation and become hostile and violent.  We believe college athletes such as Tim Tebow and Ryan's ex-quarterback at Edinboro University, Trevor Harris, set great examples as student-athletes and apostles of Jesus Christ.  Athletes of all religions should be accepted and not ridiculed nor criticized and should be giving the opportunity to put their spiritual duties before sports activities.

Tiger Not Being Tiger

Well for the first time in Tiger Woods career he did not win a single PGA tour event. This will mark the first time in Woods career that he did not win a single event. I just might go on a limb here and say in Woods entire life.

Tiger Woods has been dominate since he was a child. Everyone knows the story of Tiger, and how his father pushed, and pushed him to be excellent. When Tiger turned pro on the PGA he DOMINATED. Now, everyone finds out that he really is the Playboy of the year, cheating on his wife with 14 different girls, (skeezy ones at that) and completely took him out of his groove, so he says. Tiger probably played the worst golf I have ever seen Tiger play since I can remember watching him. The whole red on Sundays meant nothing to me anymore and watching him was more like watching paint dry. Sure, he made some incredible shots, but, other than that he was very average. Needless to say Woods is no longer the #1 rated golfer in the world after 200 and some odd weeks. Will Tiger ever get back his mojo? Well you would think so now that he has no wife (divorced) no kids to worry about (she got custody) and all the time in the world to play golf and sleep with whoever he wants.

Tiger let a lot of people down, including myself. I guess maybe that's why we shouldn't allow athletes to be our role models.

Cam Newton

If anyone listens to sport radio or turns on any kind of sport news, then you have heard the Cam Newton, (QB from Auburn) story. Right now Newton is being investigated for he and his father trying to solicite money to go to school. After Newton transfered from Florida, while almost facing expulsion, he went to Junior College where teams where chomping at the bit to get this physical specimen. His father has been to have told Mississippi State that he wasnt going to send his son to college for free again, and asked for up to $200,000 to get  him there. Obviouly the start QB didnt pick Mississippi State, but Auburn where he is leading the team to an incredible season, and he is becoming an Heisman front runner.

Heres my thing, Cam Newton isn't any different from any of these other guys who go to college football. He was a top recruit and just like any other top recruit colleges want him. They feel if they can land players like a Cam Newton, or Reggie Bush; 1) They can make a lot of money off of them through sales and tickets at the University and 2) They can win a National Championship and bring pride and bragging rights to their institution.

I find it hard to believe that the NCAA only catches a few of these happenings, when it happens all the time. How many stories have there been with college football and mens basketball where kids are getting money to go to that school on top of their already full scholarship. There needs to be a standard here and a firm rule if this isnt to happen any longer. The NCAA needs to crack down and decide the statement it is trying to make. What are they saying when all they do is take away wins and vacate a Heisman Trophy? Nothing, thats just it. It is only a slap on the wrist, everyone knows who won the game everyone knows who won the championship and everyone knows who won that specific award. If its all to end something needs to be done, but, not in a light manner.

Vick Dominance

There are a lot of people out there that dont like Michael Vick. They dont like him because of how many dogs he killed and how he thought it was okay. I understand there opinion and understand where they are coming from but the man paid his debt to society. He was in jail for 18 months, and financially paid for everything that he did wrong. Now, he finally has it right, he finally is being with his family hanging out with the right crowd. He's not putting himself into situations where he knows he's going to fail.

Vick just had a monster game on Monday night against the Redskins and Donovan McNabb. He is playing out of his mind and playing like the QB everyone thought he would be some day.

I really like Michael Vick and have enjoyed watching him through this whole process. I think hes an absolute freak athlete, and the best in the NFL. He is regaining his confidence but he is also joining society in a good way. Doing the right things, being with the right people, not putting himself in the negative spot light. Its been very very impressive. Sure no one will ever bring back those dogs that he killed but if you look at him you can tell hes sorry, the way he speaks, the way he carries himself, its not the same. I think people need to get off the Vick Hate Train and let the man continue to rebuild his life and build who he is.

Rutgers Player Paralyzed

On Saturday, Rutgers played Army in a football game in which Rutgers won 23-20. Unfortunately during that game an unthinkable, non realizable injury occurred to Eric LeGrand, a Rutgers defensive tackle. With only five minutes left in the game Army's Malcom Brown was returning a kick off when Eric LeGrand made a head down tackle instantly bringing him to the ground. On Sunday while in the intensive care unit the school announced that LeGrand had become paralyzed from the neck down, as he suffered a spinal-cord injury. LeGrand was on the leadership council for the team and was a role model to most players. This is something that will deeply hurt the team, as they lost someone who carried a lot of responsibilities the past two seasons.

This is not the first time a spinal-cord injury has happened to a player in football, although it is rare, there have been several players to get this injury. Think about it, a person's whole life is centered around being active and excelling at a sport and in one second its gone. Its a horrifying thought, but, its also a thought that can help to change someones perspective on life. There has to be more to life than just sport there has to be something to strive for a higher purpose, thats what something like this has done for me. It has opened my eyes to really strive for more, to be understand what life really has to offer, before you know it, it could all change.

Moss to bring a ring?

On Tuesday Randy Moss was dealt to the Vikings, the team where he was drafted first round in 1998. Moss returns to a team where he had a lot of success, where he is second in recieving categories to football great Chris Carter. Not only is Moss a great reciever and quiet possibly the best deep ball threat ever in the game but he joins a team that is already fully loaded. The Minnesota Vikings spent a lot of time in the off season trying to get Bret Farve back under the helm, after that was done they felt that they were a legitament title contender again. Although, Percy Harvin has faced some injury issues and Sydney Rice is out for a few more weeks due to surgery, the Vikings were really lacking in the WR area. The Vikings now are put back to where they were last season, with the power running game of Adrian Peterson and the passing game of NFL great Bret Farve.

New England didnt really use Moss this season, especially in last weeks blow out to Miami, Moss had zero catches. Randy hasnt had a good year in New England since two seasons ago where he went for over 1,000 yards and 23 touchdowns. New England got a couple draft picks out of the deal but, I feel the Vikings are the ones that really made out in this deal. The Patriots arent the team they once were and Moss has moved into a better situation. Look for the Vikings to make a big splash in the NFC and return to the championship game.

Can a hero ultimately be a zero

The Lance Armstrong charges of steroids has now really gone into action. Stephanie McIlvain, a friend of Armstrong spent the day in front of a federal grand jury, testifying that she never heard Armstrong to admitting to using PED's in a doctors office in 1996, while getting treated for cancer. McIlvain firmly stated that she had no reason to lie to grand jurors and would continue to stand by her statement no matter what. McIlvain said that she would gladly testify to what she heard in the doctors office, but, never saying she actually heard Armstrong say he used any type of PED. Armstrong has been tested many times but has also passed every test for use of any type of PED.

These charges have all be brought about by Floyd Landis, 2006 winner of Tour de France, but was stripped from his accomplishment after testing positive for PED's. Landis went on saying that seven time champion of the great cyclist event also used PED's after his comeback from cancer and in pursuit of each one his championships.

Do I want to sit here and believe that Armstrong is innocent? Yes, absolutely, its a great story of inspiration for people across the world. A man stricken with Testicular Cancer, battles through and overcomes the disease and then comes back to his sport and wins seven straight. A person only hears stories like that in film in books, its a true great American story. On the other hand, we are looking at a sport that has greatly adopted the use of steroids, and has many cyclist banned every year for the use. So when it comes down it, I want to look at the situation and say there is one honest athlete, but if baseball has taught us anything its that our 'heroes' are the ones that are breaking the hearts of many and cheating. There have been many to deny the use of steroids; Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds, that have also later admitted to using them. Even USA track star Marion Jones was found of using steroids after greatly admitting not using them, ultimately losing all of her medals. So its hard for me to believe that in a sport dominated by PED's that the greatest of all time didn't use them. But, if he didn't I can say its the one 'hero' that wont be made into a zero.

Ring Leader to Back Up Man?

On Sunday the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Detroit Lions on the back of three time Pro-Bowler Michael Vick. If you all remember Vick was convicted of an illegal dog fighting ring that he was the ring leader, where he set up fights for dogs, while also killing and beating many dogs in the process. Vick was convicted and locked up in jail for about two years. Since then he has made an attempt to fix his 'way of life.' With help from one of the most respected coaches to come through the NFL Tony Dungy, Vick has really started to turn his life into more positive outcomes. With Kevin Kolb down this past weekend Michael Vick was called to be the starting quarter back, putting up phenomenal numbers with 284 passing yards, two touchdowns and 37 yards rushing in a win over the Detroit Lions. In an interview with ESPN after the game Vick stated that Kevin Kolb was the leader of the team and had no problem with backing him up in the games to come. Before his jail time I think Vick would have been a lot more arrogant and selfish saying he was the better QB, but now, the age and maturity is starting to creep through. Michael Vick was once looked as a big time role model and star in the NFL, and now is trying to gain that respect back from both his peers and fans all around the football world. In my opinion I think Michael Vick has made astronomical moves in his life and is really heading the in the right direction, its not too often someone gets a second chance at life but, when they do its how you make it of it. As of right now I think its safe to say that Michael Vick is on his way to being the role model he should have always been.

An Athletes reputation

I think its safe to say that the athletes that rise above the rest want to make that known to everyone else around them. Wayne Rooney is another fine example of this. He is a super star forward for both Manchester United and England's National soccer team. Recent reports have come out that while his wife has been pregnant with his child, Rooney has been known to pay up to $1500 for hookers to visit him. To put this into perspective for some people its like Tiger Woods sleeping around with 14 "prude," woman, while have 2 kids and a wife. I think the destruction of athletes is growing rapidly across the world, considering they do not care about their actions the media is only going to continue to expose them as the villain. I guess what it comes down to; what do athletes want to be known for anymore, what they do on the field, or off?