Faith, Family, and Football

Some say you know Fall is here when Pumpkin Spice Lattes start popping up at your local coffee shop, but Fall for me has always been marked by Football. When you can turn on the TV every Saturday and Sunday to listen to Al Michaels, fans cheering, whistles blowing, you know the time is here.

I grew up cheering for Arizona State on Saturdays and the Arizona Cardinals on Sundays while watching countless games all around them. Something about watching football just brings out the fanatical nature of our culture. We eat lots of food, we cheer hard in stadiums and on couches, we are filled with foolish optimism, and there seems to be a new joy that comes with the season.

This past weekend we felt that joy in College Football and anticipating what is coming with the NFL kicking off this weekend. For me, it’s like the dream of Faith, Family, and Football is never more real during this time, but the conviction comes…do I care about football too much? I will be honest: I arrange my calendar based on ASU and Cardinals games, I get happy, sad, or mad while watching games, I can let the outcome of a game dictate my emotions for that week, and I devote time to listening or following along with Sports Radio, podcasts, and/or social media.

Maybe you are nothing like me and you could care less about football, but is there some form of entertainment or hobby that you feel similarly as passionate about? Do you have something that almost feels like you care way too much about?

Well, believe it or not, I know my faith and my family matter way more than my football teams, but the question I ask is how can football be an enjoyable form of entertainment that pours into those other buckets rather than drains them?

Family and Football

Football gathers people. Just drive around our country and from Pop Warner to high school to College to the Pros, and everywhere there is football being played, crowds are forming around them. Of all sports in America, football is king at bringing people together and honestly does so at more effective rates than any politics or pop culture.

On the extreme side, football can be an idol of pushing our kids to play more and longer than they want, it can become an idol in scheduling every aspect of our lives around it. But, when in its proper place it can be a wonderful vehicle to bring family together and create community and traditions.

The memories I have of watching games with my Dad and Grandad are ones that have stuck in my mind. The memories created of going to the stadium, watching big playoff moments, and spending time with my family and friends are ones that bring people closer together and strengthen bonds that God has already created. Can football and family healthily coexist and even complement each other? Absolutely, but the important question we need to ask of it and every hobby or piece of entertainment that competes for our time, energy, and emotions:

Is this an avenue of enjoyment or is this something my joy is dependent on?

If your kids all have to stay away from you cause your team lost, that’s a problem (I’ve been guilty more than once). If you are just bidding time and coasting all week to get to that game, that’s a problem (still guilty). And some may read this and think it’s absurd that anyone would have so much investment in a game, but the problem is whether it’s football, another sport, or another source of time and entertainment, this is a trap that all of us can fall into.

Are we using these vehicles as an avenue of enjoyment with people around us or are we using them to fill us up with joy?

Faith and Football

Football has produced so many great testimonies over the years. Stories of people like Kurt Warner are so inspiring and give platforms for those to share their faith and Make Jesus Known to many who may not otherwise hear it. But, is football strengthening the faith of the average churchgoer in America or is it a stumbling block along the way?  

How many people don’t go to church on a Saturday or Sunday because of a football game? How many spend time at church checking scores and fantasy points (guilty again)? How much time is spent watching, listening, or consuming information about football compared to reading the bible, praying, and being with God’s Church?

If we are honest, football is an idol for many in the American church, and on a personal level, it takes doing an honest assessment to admit whether or not we are giving the same effort to growing in our faith that we are to simply entertaining our minds. And if we are not diligent we can find more joy and put in more effort to following a game than to following the God of the universe!

The bottom line is I love football, it may be the most American thing there is, I mean we stole the most popular sport name in the world and assigned it to our better sport! When it’s here, it just brings an amazing time of the year, but I find the need to continually remind myself, convict myself, and challenge myself to make sure I am valuing my faith and my family over my football teams.