Athletes thank God when they win. Some blame God over twitter when they don't (Buffalo Bills receiver Stevie Johnson here last year). Bob Costas and sportswriters tackle the thought from time to time and wonder if God really has anything to do with sports. A recent example is a look at Tim Tebow's faith by Charles R. Pierce here. Is God responsible for Tebow's success in the NFL this year? Is God responsible for Tebow's 6 game win streak that was broken Sunday by the New England Patriots? (More on them later). Could it maybe have been that they played a shaky Raider team playing with a new starting quarterback the first week? Could it maybe have been that they played an injury-riddled, struggling Chiefs team the second week? Could it maybe have been that they played a Jets team that is infamous for inconsistency the third week? Could it maybe have been that they played a San Diego team mired in one of their worst slumps with the current coach (Norv "I'm not quite sure what's going on" Turner) and quarterback (Philip "Cry me a" Rivers) in the fourth week? Could it maybe have been that they played a Minnesota team with two wins in the fifth week? Could it maybe have been that they played a Bears team without a starting quarterback or running back, with a quarterback who could play for Kansas City, he has been so futile, in the sixth week?
Then the Patriots came to town. Tebow finally faced a coach who knows what he is doing. Look at the six coaches Tebow has faced; Hue Jackson, a rookie coach, Todd Haley, who is now unemployed; a bragging blabbermouth in Rex Ryan who routinely blames his quarterback for Ryan's bad calls; Turner; Leslie Frazier (the team record speaks for itself); and Lovie Smith. Out of all of those coaches, I would only take Smith, who has coached in a Super Bowl (he lost to Peyton Manning).
But now, Tebow and coach John Fox faced the master, Bill Belichick. Even though the Patriots defense is one of the league worst, surprising for a Belichick team, they held the Denver Tebows to 23 points. To be fair, 23 points would have been enough to beat 4 of the 6 teams of suck that the Tebows had beaten the previous six weeks. But the Patriots scored 41 against the real reason the Tebows had won those games--the Tefense. The Denver defense kept games close even though the Tebow offense really just kind of sucked for three quarters in every game, and then came from behind on weird runs against tired defenses. Basically the Denver Tebows used high school tactics (run-run-run-run-long bomb...run-run-run long bomb) until the defense was tired in the fourth quarter. With a good defensive team like Denver has, they could apply this tactic. But against a Belichick offense that picks apart defenses? Not so much.
Belichick's team also figured out the way around the Tebow offense. Tebow scrambles; he is a very mobile quarterback. When he scrambles, teams react to try to hit him for a loss. When they do, they leave their receiver open for Tebow to hit with a short pass right over the defensive back-now-pass rusher. The Patriots figured out that if they let Tebow run until he crosses the line of scrimmage, they can then take free runs at him because he can no longer pass. Tebow would scramble and the db's wouldn't react. He would cross the line of scrimmage and then the linebackers and db's would collapse. This is what kept Tebow from being fully effective. An offense that was running on all cylinders came into Denver made it so that Tebow couldn't just run; he had to pass in order to try to catch up.
The Patriots exposed the Denver Tebows. They showed the weakness of the team. They didn't thwart the plans of a higher deity that prefers missionaries' sons over male models who happen to play QB. They didn't enter into some sort of cosmic theological contest for all of our souls. They played a football game.
That brings me back to the Patriots. Remember when they won the first Super Bowl after 9/11? When they were the good guys? They were the red-white-and-blue team who came back from a national tragedy and won a championship. Then came spygate in their taping the Jets sideline. Suddenly Belichick and the Patriots are the bad guys. They are still red-white-and-blue. They are still called the Patriots.
In 2007, the Patriots were the first team since the '72 Dolphins to go undefeated through the regular season. The way that they did so was one of that is commonly associated with the villain teams in 80s sports movies. They were a juggernaut that ran up the score and threw long bombs when the game was already out of reach. Their starters would play the whole game, even when they were up by 3 or more touchdowns.
The Patriots went from the patriotic heroes who pulled themselves up after the tragedy of a nation to the cocky champions that would often be seen as bullies. They lost the Super Bowl, their only loss that season.
Did they anger God with their cockiness and cheating? Is that why they lost? Did God turn his back on them? Most of the football fans outside New England did. One way of looking at religion is that it is an extension of the culture. The people drive what the deity is doing. The ancient Greeks conquered the people who had previously worshiped the beings we now know as the titans. In Greek mythology, the Greek gods defeated the titans. The general populace turned against the Patriots. Since we turned against them, we felt like they were the bad guys. Since they were the bad guys, God would also be against them. They lost and we felt vindicated. We felt like God had spoken and punished the evildoers.
Nearly four years later the Patriots with the same core, same QB, same star receiver, many members of the same defense, and, most importantly, the same coach, came into God fearing Denver. They played the God fearing Denver Tebows. They beat the Denver Tebows by more than double the Tebows' score. If God is involved in football, or any sport, games, then he is fickle and easily angered. What did Tebow do to anger God? Is it the rumors that he is dating a divorcee in Lindsey Vonn? Does God read the tabloids? I would think those were well within the domain of Lucifer. Right in between public officials and bankers.
Does the Patriots win over the God fearing Tebows have deeper religious implications? Are we really supposed to be vain, wrathful, disdainful of others, and unapologetic when we are caught cheating? Are all of those better than allegedly dating a recent divorcee (who denies she is dating Tebow)?
Or does God have better things to do than worry about the morality of football players? Looking at the current state of the image of the pro football player, I'd say he'd have a lot to worry about. With the exception of Tebow.
