[The following is a guest post written by Jason Mankey. He is the writer and podcaster behind Patheos Pagan Channel’s blog Raise the Horns. Jason has been involved with Paganism for the last twenty years as a speaker, writer, and High Priest, and can often be found presenting on the Pagan festival circuit. He lives in Sunnyvale CA with his wife Ari and two cats.]
For many Americans the Thanksgiving holiday is about food, friends and family, but for some of us there is a fourth “f” in there too: football. I know that football is not all that popular in Pagan circles, but it truly is America’s pastime. In 2012 over 216 million Americans tuned in to at least one college football game. The ratings for the National Football League (NFL) are even stronger, with this year’s Super Bowl attracting 111.5 million viewers for a single (noncompetitive) game. For many of us Thanksgiving is just as much about football as it is about turkey.
![[Photo Credit: ishutterthethought, cc lic. / Flickr]](https://wildhunt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/3571786954_5951dac18e_z-500x274.jpg)
[Photo Credit: ishutterthethought, cc lic. / Flickr]
In addition to brain injuries and bad behavior, there’s another troubling aspect of football that bothers me as a Pagan. It’s an extremely conservative institution from a political standpoint. In the college ranks, football and Christianity mix freely. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a coach is a tactician of the game or a missionary, and some will proudly admit to being both.
Today’s Egg Bowl between Mississippi State and the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) is a good example of this. At Ole Miss, football and Evangelical Christianity often walk hand in hand. Head coach Hugh Freeze wears his faith proudly on his sleeve. Players and coaches meet every Sunday for church services and Bible study. Attendance isn’t mandatory, but they are certainly made aware of it. In a recent Washington Post story the coach is quoted as saying: “I tell them, or our position coaches will: ‘We have worship on Sunday,’ ”
Freeze’s Twitter account feels more like that of a minister than a highly paid head football coach. On Nov. 9 Freeze tweeted:
I am really excited to listen to some of our players lead @ FCA service today. Come join us worship the only one Worthy of our praise. 11:00
— Hugh Freeze (@CoachHughFreeze) November 9, 2014
Not surprisingly many of his followers chimed in with comments like “So excited for what the Lord is doing there,” and “Thanks for leading well and pointing them to God.” Freeze isn’t alone in using Twitter as a missionary tool, Mississippi State’s coach Dan Mullen has been know to tweet out a little scripture too.
In some ways the Mississippi schools and their coaches are outliers, but only a little. In many parts of the country the walls between team, religion, and coach are much thicker, but those walls have all but crumbled in America’s South. Much of that can be laid at the feet of cultural shifts in the region. While Christianity is in decline in many parts of the country, the religion remains a dominant part of South Eastern U.S. culture. Couple that with the rise of “Tea Party” style politics and you’ve got a recipe for in-your-face Jesus testimony on the gridiron.
As a former Southerner, I can attest to the quasi-religious fervor many of us feel towards our football teams, but the insertion of actual religion into the game has been more noticeable in recent years. Much of that is likely due to the rise of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in college football. Over the last nine years, seven of college football’s “national champions” have come from the SEC, with the other two winners from states like Texas and Florida.
Even in the Midwest, aside from Notre Dame, coaches are sharing their Christian faith rather openly. A recent USA Today article profiling Michigan State University coach Mike Dantonio highlighted both the coach’s faith and that of his players:
“He puts God first,” MSU freshman running back Delton Williams said of Dantonio in the euphoric locker room after the win against Ohio State ‘And we put God first. Why do you think we’re doing this?’ . . . ‘You can talk about your faith or you can live your faith,’ he (Coach Dantonio) said. ‘You can talk about this program’s culture, or you can be in this culture, live this culture. There’s a difference there. Is it smoke or is it real?’”
Perhaps no college football coach has been more open about his faith than Clemson University head coach Dabo Swinney. Two years ago Swinney stopped practice early so one of his players could be be baptized on the practice field. That story was included in an article published by the Chronicle of Higher Education last November:
Last season, Dabo Swinney, the head football coach at Clemson University, gathered his team on the practice field one day for an important announcement. ‘Someone is about to turn their life over to Christ,’ he said …
DeAndre Hopkins, a star wide receiver, stepped forward. A livestock trough had been placed near the 50-yard line and filled with water. Mr. Hopkins, still wearing his uniform and pads, climbed in. As several dozen teammates and coaches looked on, he was baptized.
At Clemson, God is everywhere. The team’s chaplain leads a Bible study for coaches every Monday and Thursday. Another three times a week, the staff gathers for devotionals. Nearly every player shows up at a voluntary chapel service the night before each game.
If the baptism wasn’t enough to stop you in your tracks, “nearly every player” showing up for a “voluntary chapel service the night before each game” most likely did. Many coaches seem to lead religious services, though all of them go out of their way to share that attendance at such things is voluntary. I can’t help but wonder if “everyone showing up” for something keeps it truly voluntary. Peer pressure (and pressure from coaches) is most certainly going to influence young men.
Overt displays of religiosity are a bit more toned down in the professional game, but many NFL players are extremely open about their religious beliefs and often sound like missionaries. Most teams also have team chaplains, and you can bet all of those chaplains are Christian.
On the eve of this year’s Super Bowl, then Seattle Seahawk Chris Maragos credited Jesus for the team’s success. He said, “We understand that we can’t do any of this on our own. You look at what guys have been able to do and the strength that He gives us — that’s really where we draw everything that we have. That’s a cornerstone of what we rely on.” Comments, like Maragos’s, are rather commonplace in today’s NFL.
![George Wilson in Prayer [Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon, Flickr via Wikimedia]](https://wildhunt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/George_Wilson_Buffalo_Bills_prayer-500x404.jpg)
George Wilson in Prayer [Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon, Flickr via Wikimedia]
Coming into this piece I had assumed that most NFL owners donated overwhelmingly to Republicans, but that’s not always the case. Many do support Democrats. However, I have yet to find a player or owner interested in donating to the Green Party.
Just after World War II, sports leagues were ahead of much of the rest of country when it came to social issues. While Jackie Robinson is famous for breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball back in 1947, that barrier was actually first broken by the NFL in 1946. However, since those days, football has been slow to embrace change. The NFL’s first African-American coach didn’t take the field until 1989, and hiring of minorities was so behind the times that the NFL was forced to institute the Rooney Rule in 2003 requiring teams to interview minority candidates.
This year saw the NFL almost take a major step forward with the drafting of an openly gay player – Michael Sam of the University of Missouri. Sadly Sam was cut before the start of the season, and then cut a second time after landing on the Dallas Cowboy’s practice squad.
Reaction to Sam was mixed, with former coach Tony Dungy saying that he wouldn’t have drafted Sam because he might have been a “distraction” to the team. Dungy, an outspoken Evangelical, went on to say that Sam deserved a chance to play in the league and that he would “not have a problem” with Sam on his team. Sam was a big half-step forward for the NFL and I hope that he ends up on an active roster next season.
Muslim players have been a part of the pro-game since 1972, but even those forty years were not enough to gift the NFL with an understanding of Islam. Just this season Kansas City player Husain Abdullah was penalized for going to the ground while praying after an interception returned for a touchdown on Tom Brady of the Patriots. Players aren’t allowed to “go to the ground” when celebrating a touchdown, but religious observances are supposed to be exempt from that rule.
After much public outcry, the NFL admitted that the official on the field had made the wrong call, and with good reason. Abdullah wasn’t just praying he was performing sujud. The position calls for toes, knees, hands, and forehead to all be touching the ground while facing towards Mecca. Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow is well known for taking a knee and praying after a touchdown, and his actions have never drawn a penalty. The NFL often looks a little lost when dealing with religious traditions outside of Christianity.
As a Pagan I often feel like an outsider while watching the NFL. The players, coaches, and many of the fans would probably find me hard to relate to. At this point I have yet to hear of a college Pagan player, let alone a Pagan NFL player. I’d like to think that I’m capable of retiring my football addiction but I realize it’s hopeless. I’m a sucker for the game and would much rather watch the Super Bowl then attend an Imbolc Ritual, and the two are often on the same day. Now if you’ll excuse I’ve got an Egg Bowl to go watch that will most likely end with one of the coach’s thanking Jesus. Pray for me.
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I think you forgot a word in the title, let me fix it for you:
Guest Post: Religion in America’s American Football Pastime
In the United Staes “America’s Football Pastime” could only refer to the American version of the game. I’m a fan of the beautiful game too, but it’s ratings are minuscule on this side of the pond.
Association Football is rather big in metropolitan Cascadia … 😉
Perhaps, but the CFL is the second most popular sports league in Canada after the NHL. Even the NFL averages over half a million Canadian viewers on Sundays.
Just because I want to create problem: Rugby’s better than American Football. I said it and I’ll stand by it.
It’s also better than Hockey.
And cricket too!
“(American) Football is men trying to kill each other over a ball. Rugby is men actually killing each other over a ball, and then eating the dead.”
” I just think it’s rather odd that a nation that prides itself on its
virility should feel compelled to strap on forty pounds of protective
gear just in order to play rugby.” – Rupert Giles
;- |}
(Cascadia, not Canada.)
Not denying American Rules Football’s pre-eminence in North America; just repping my bioregion as well as my fav form of football, as a tongue-in-cheek aside.
I like all kinds of football: Rugby (my Dad’s a rugby player), Australian Rules, Association (aka soccer), American Rules. I know we’re not supposed to refer to soccer as football in the US (as per Ken Olbermann), but – informed by my Paganism – Iike to promote pluralism and solidarity, Iin sport as in religion.
My long-winded aside aside, I enjoyed and appreciated your piece, and even have a proper comment that is all about (American Rules) football.
Australian Football is rather funny…But I’ve never heard of anyone playing it in the Northern hemisphere.
When I visited Seattle with by G.F this summer we were amazed, taking the bus, to see literally hordes of people wearing green scarves and tees…It was almost like i Europe. Plus the team did a good job against whichever English club they played.
That’s what I’m saying! Cascadia is soccer country.
This was definitely a tongue-in-cheek comment. I’ve been in the New World and I sure know Football only means one thing there.
Great post, Jason! I identify with so much in your article (like I knew that I would).
In high school, our football team was one of the top in the state. We had several players make the NFL. Even at a public high school, the football team had a chaplain attending all the games. Leading prayer before, during halftime & after the game. Even back then, I wondered if some players felt excluded? I knew we had a few Catholic players, but maybe there were players on our team that were still not sure where their path may lead? It always made me question if there really *was* a separation of church and state in public schools in the south.
I love an opening inspiring talk that brings everyone together. A grounding + centering, so the team can get their heads into focus and on the same page as their teammates. When I played soccer, I would ignore the God/our Lord, etc portions & make it my own in my head. Maybe that’s what these players do, as well?
I look forward to the day that players from other religions can thank their God on TV if interviewed by a reporter, or celebrate (in their own way) on the field with the same consideration that was given to Tim Tebow. The good news? Being a Pagan, there really isn’t one way to give thanks to the Gods & Goddesses. We could have Pagan players out on the field, and not even know it!
I’m going back to watching College GameDay, and Georgia Tech beating Georgia today!! Followed by, Alabama beating Auburn!! #THWG & #RTR & Blessed Be for a good game for your Spartans against the Nittany Lions!
You say:
I love an opening inspiring talk that brings everyone together. A grounding + centering, so the team can get their heads into focus and on the same page as their teammates.
The ATS style bellydance troupe, House of Inanna with whom I dance is about 1/2 Pagan. The rest of the (Monday evening) class is Pagan-friendly. Before we perform, Fearless Leader Petra gathers us into a small circle where we ground ourselves and feel the energy amongst us, and unifies us as dancers, as well as giving us better focus for the routine.
The one time we didn’t, we didn’t do well at all.
“Though it is important to point out that arrest rates for NFL players are actually lower than for the majority of men in their age group.”
The median household income in the US is under $52k. The median NFL salary is $770k. A low arrest rate doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t commit the crimes. It may just mean they have the privilege and money to get out of an arrest record. Just as many rich people do.
770.000 US Dollars per yer?
So, like, 70 grands a month?
No wonder they don’t feel the impulse to rob someone then…
That’s the median salary. The top-end quarterbacks are making nearly $20 million a year.
So… yeah… they’re not being driven to crimes of desperation, and they’re mostly not in positions to be embezzling and most white collar crimes. But the kinds of crimes they are likely to commit (say party drugs that are common among the rich), those are things that they are not likely to ever be investigated for in the first place (nobody is going to search an NFL player’s car or home for pot, unless they pulled him over for Driving an Expensive Car While Black), and if they are caught holding, they have the money and influence to make it go away, especially in the areas where their teams are based. Hell, it’s pretty easy to make a high school football player’s misdeeds go away — the Steubenville rapists were convicted because they put the damn video on the internet, and too many people saw it to cover it up, but there were still a lot of people arguing that their “lives shouldn’t be ruined” by the rape and nothing should happen to them; when the act itself isn’t publicized that way, it’s very easy to make it just vanish — because football (and baseball and basketball) is powerful in the US. These athletes, like the big name Hollywood stars, can get away with massive amounts of criminal activity without ever being arrested. (Whether or not they do so, they can do so.)
Their arrest records aren’t a good measure of what they’re actually doing, any more than the arrest records of any group of wealthy, popular, and powerful people are, is what I’m saying.
Mind you, there’s then the whole race dimension. A lot of NFL players are black, and that means that if they do get arrested or a criminal act becomes public, a whole lot of other shit kicks in. But that’s a whole ‘nother conversation.
I have heard of those rape stories. Truly disgusting. I don’t think anyone deserve to be considered beyond the law. Especially endowed pricks like that while ordinary people barely get by.
Those who argued that the Steubenville rapists “shouldn’t have their lives ruined” seemed to believe it was perfectly fine for the victim(s?)’s lives to be ruined.
Popular rich boys get the sympathy that the victims should be getting, but hey…
Compare to (real) football.
Christiano Ronaldo last year earned US$73 million in salary, bonuses and endorsements, with US$49 million in salary alone.
Sport is big business.
I don’t really like (real/European) football that much either. In some ways it’s even worse with all those investment funds from the Middle-East buying entire teams and players being exchanged for millions…I only really support my isolated and humble local team anyways.
I can’t stand football of any form (although Elizabethan football sounds amusing), and find their salaries obscene.
I am merely pointing out that the US$770kpa salary is actually fairly moderate.
That’s a good point but IMO, there aren’t that many differences between earning (almost) a million a year or several millions. It’s way too much and undeserved in any cases.
It’s actually pretty meritocratic, when you think about it. They get paid those figures because people think they are worth it.
A lot of people enjoy these sports.
Look not at the symptoms, but the causes.
People are more inclined to pay for pleasure than necessity, these days.
My thought exactly.
The crimes of the rich are no secret to anyone who’s been paying attention, but the jails and arrest records are filled with far more poor people (many of whom are actually innocent, and only the lucky of which have even the faintest hopes of exoneration). A lower-than-average arrest rate for NFL players means absolutely nothing.
Thank you, Jason, for writing this. This level of overt Evangelical religiosity from the coaches makes an unwelcoming environment for any players who are not Christians; that would include not only Muslims and Pagans but atheists and Jews. Laws are probably being broken, but who has the resources and the will to take on these groups? It also undermines the ability of the sport to be a unifying experience for fans of all races, classes and religions.
My father was a lifelong fan of college football and my parents had season tickets to Seahawks games. I’m saddened to think that in today’s culture they would be made to feel that it was not their sport.
and in the eyes of some, Catholics and Mormons are not “real Christians”…
Everyone’s an Heretic in someone else’s eyes.
No wonder God doesn’t have time to feed orphans, shelter widows, and punish the wicked – if the coaches and players are to be believed, He spends all year getting ready for Super Bowl and his favorite football matchups, lol
Waaayyyy too much emphasis in the USA on sports and not on academics and the arts. That’s why we’re slowly losing out to other countries. By the end of the 21st Century my guess is that China and maybe India will have the advantage.
Hum…India’s still very much a Cast country with huge instability (Maoists, Muslim/Hindu clashes) and China is very much a Plutocratic country with quite a lot of instability (Tibet, Ouigours). Time will tell if they’ll manage to get to the top.
The caste system actually works in India’s favour, in terms of economic advancement.
China already is the largest holder of US governmental debt (outside of the Social Security Trust Fund and the Federal Reserve), so I wouldn’t suggest that their (relatively minor) regional problems are going to get in the way of their fiscal dominance.
Still the Asia-Pacific region is much less stable than North-America. They might indeed hold paper-money but they’ve got much more serious challenges to deal with than the U.S.
Only if you care about equality, which they don’t seem to.
Good point.
Jason, great article. In response to your statement,
“As a former Southerner, I can attest to the quasi-religious fervor many of us feel towards our football teams, but the insertion of actual religion into the game has been more noticeable in recent years.”
From A Chat with Your Mother, by Lou & Peter Berryman:
There are jocks, who think that God himself
Is drooling in the bleachers
In a cold November downpour
With a bellyful of brew,
Whose entire grasp of heaven
Has a lot to do with football
It’s from them I would expect to hear
The F-word, not from you.
The public posturings of prayer by Christians (didn’t Jesus say something about praying in private, not in public with a showy display of piety?) bugs the daylights out of me. I don’t know if Judaism or Islam have an opinion on praying in public aside from the appointed times for same.
I have watched football all my life (American. .NFL )..and although I appreciate the point you are making and agree with it I have found this year to be different. I just can’t get into it. .why? Because beyond religion there are major issues with their disrespect towards women. Until they start really penalizing the players, coaches, staff for the domestic abuse, sexual assaults and overall abusive ways I won’t watch. I find it disturbing that they praise God for the plays they made then go home and beat their wives or girlfriends. So after 40+ years of watching the game I have now turned my full attention to hockey.
Could the Christian religious fervor of the game be related to the high incidence of concussion among players?