See also:
Jordi on Dan Snyder Should Be Controversial
The Pacifist Viking on NFL Coaches being Controversial
Leave the Man Alone on Who is Controversial
This week's situation with Jon Kitna claiming to be healed of a concussion nearly ruined my pick, but I'm sticking with Jesus as the controversial NFL figure no one's talking about. Christianity (or any faith, really) isn't controversial to many NFL fans or media members most of the time, and I wonder...why not?! Shouldn't it bother you that your favorite player cares more about the Good Book than his playbook?
See, here in America, we have made a deal with religion. You can believe whatever you want, and do whatever you want in your mosque, synagogue, temple, or church. That freedom comes at a price, however. You must not say that your religion is better than anyone else's. And you must not say that your religion is powerful in the real world. You can't upset the American status quo. Those are the rules in a free America, and most people are more than willing to play by them in return for complete freedom of religion.
Kitna broke a rule last week. By saying Jesus healed him of a concussion, he's admitting that he believes his faith has power in the real world, at his job. That statement provoked strong reaction. LZ Granderson had an interesting argument here. But I think in some ways LZ was being nice. Does what happened to Kitna, if it really happened, mean that if you're in competition with a job with a Christian, she could pray to God and get the position over you? Yes, it does. No wonder so many columnists reacted negatively. Who wants to compete against someone with God on their side if it really does make a difference?
But what if all NFL personalities, not just Kitna, decided to be truly radical in their Christian outlook? Let's take a look, based on what I know of the Bible. Now mind you, I'm not saying all of these actions would be accepted by all Christians. For example, many Christians would argue drinking is ok, just don't get drunk. I'm just saying, you could get to these decisions by reading the Bible.
Christian Players
What if an NFL player quit the league because he didn't want to play on the Christian worship day of Sunday?
What if a defensive player decided to quit because he didn't want to be responsible for causing lifelong injury to his fellow man, shortening their life and clouding their thoughts?
What if a player asked his coach to stop swearing around him because he didn't want to hear God's name taken in vain?
What if a player refuses to do commercials for a company because he thinks their product harms people's bodies or causes people to sin?
What if he dedicated himself to using his fame for preaching the gospel, and wouldn't give interviews unless he could preach during the interview?
Christian Owners
What if an owner turned down public money for his stadium and insisted it go to programs to help the poor, widowed, sick, and mentally/physically challenged?
What if he told fans to stay home sometimes from the games to make sure to spend time with their families?
What if he cut off the sale of beer at his stadium because too many fans get drunk and misbehave?
What if he got rid of his cheerleaders because he felt that they made women feel ugly and men feel horny and want to cheat on their wives?
What if she gave the team's RB a better contract than he deserved, just to make up for the years when his contract underpaid him?
What if he fired a successful coach because he was treating players badly or was cheating?
Christian Broadcasters and Media
What if a media member refused to go public with a spicy story about the QB's infidelity, but instead went to him and begged him to get pastoral/counseling help with his marriage?
What if the media would remind fans not to judge until the true facts were known, and to have more patience with their teams?
What if talk radio guys worked on discussing the truth about a team, instead of exaggerating points and mocking fans to make themselves look more manly?
Christian Fans
What if fans put their family and work before the NFL?
What if they did their best to behave appropriately, because they want to love their neighbor and not hinder their enjoyment of the game?
What if fans stopped questioning a referee's decisions because he is the authority over the game, and deserves respect?
Christian Coaches
What if a coach cared about his players not only for what they could do on the field, but for what they could do off?
What if the coach refused to cut marginal players because of injury, knowing they need the money even more when they can't work?
What if the coach admitted his faults freely when he messed up a game, instead of letting his players take the heat?
Now tell me Jesus Christ isn't the most underrated controversial figure in the NFL! (with apologies to Jordi, PV, and Leave the Man Alone's entries, of course, ha). True faith in anything is not passive. It is active, and it causes changes not only in you, but in the world around you. And that SHOULD create controversy.
Showing posts with label The Serious Tip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Serious Tip. Show all posts
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Tiki Barber is NOT controversial
I'm starting a new series called Controversial or Not to better identify which players in which leagues are wrongly identified as controversial or not controversial. Jordi graciously agreed to also join in for this post: here are the NFL players deemed NOT controversial:
The Serious Tip on why Randy Moss is NOT controversial.
MCBias on why Tiki Barber is NOT controversial
For my non-controversial NFL player, I chose Monsieur Barber, formerly of the New York football Giants. I do not think Tiki is controversial in his statements from his book. The complaints against Tiki are threefold:
(1) He is backtalking against his coach, and did so even when he was a member of the team:
(2) He is attacking the leadership abilities of his young QB teammate, Eli: and
(3) He is wrong to complain about not getting paid enough during his career.
Let's look at each one of those complaints. First, why are people so furious that Tiki is insulting Tom Coughlin? Look, I'm not too old to remember a distant day when you could blow up at your old boss, after you left your job, and not have to worry that your next workplace would hold it against you or that it would be read in a blog. Worker relations have become such a mess in this country over the last 20 years. You not only can be fired and mistreated, but now you have to pretend that you like it, too. Tiki didn't like his boss, and he's in the enviable 10% that can now say that without repercussions. Do you know what it's like when your boss makes you hate your job, that you used to love? And when you play football, your job is pretty much who you are. No, I think Tiki was more than justified to complain, and is NOT controversial.
Next, let's talk about Eli. If Eli was a rookie QB, yes, Tiki should give him a little bit of a break. But look, Tiki was in his last few years as a football player, on a team that had reached the Super Bowl a few years ago. And now, these veterans have to play big brother to a QB who apparently wasn't catching on very fast. I don't think it was the classiest thing in the world for him to take on Eli, but look, that's how veterans are when young players mess up. They get resentful, because they know they have few chances to ever be on a good team again. Not news.
Finally, the money thing. Here again, I see too many sports bloggers telling Tiki to shut up without paying attention to details. He got a six-year contract in 2000, before he was a real star at the RB position. He did sign an extension in 2005, but by then it was rather late. So he's right to say he was underpaid by 10 million dollars; once he started running for 1200 yards + a season, he did deserve a higher salary. Now, it's true that usually contract re-writes tend to be more for QB's than for other positions. But I still think Tiki is right when he says he was underpaid. Not controversial either.
What IS controversial is how poor Tiki Barber is in the booth. I did not see all of his debut, admittedly, but it looked like Costas and Co. had to carry him and ask him specific questions for him to add details. It's controversial to me how the networks fall all over each other to sign these ex-football players to be commentators, and these players are terrible. If they didn't play football, they wouldn't be hired. There's a sort of reverse discrimination going on here. If you play football and can put two sentences together you are SO intelligent and well-rounded and cultured! No, it's not true. Look at Terry Bradshaw, heh. Seriously, let's not pretend that our athletes would all be Rhodes scholars if they weren't pros.
Time to debut a new feature: the O. Henry quote of the post! I am perhaps the only person who really likes O. Henry in sports blog land, so I'm going to randomly insert quotes from his stories into my posts. This quote comes courtesy of "The Adventures of Shamrock Jolnes", a knock-off of Sherlock Holmes:
"I give you every credit; but how do you know he was leaving for the South tonight?"
"In his breast pocket" said the great detective, "something large and oval made a protuberance. Good Liquor is scarce on trains, and it is a long journey from New York to Fairfax County."
The Serious Tip on why Randy Moss is NOT controversial.
MCBias on why Tiki Barber is NOT controversial
For my non-controversial NFL player, I chose Monsieur Barber, formerly of the New York football Giants. I do not think Tiki is controversial in his statements from his book. The complaints against Tiki are threefold:
(1) He is backtalking against his coach, and did so even when he was a member of the team:
(2) He is attacking the leadership abilities of his young QB teammate, Eli: and
(3) He is wrong to complain about not getting paid enough during his career.
Let's look at each one of those complaints. First, why are people so furious that Tiki is insulting Tom Coughlin? Look, I'm not too old to remember a distant day when you could blow up at your old boss, after you left your job, and not have to worry that your next workplace would hold it against you or that it would be read in a blog. Worker relations have become such a mess in this country over the last 20 years. You not only can be fired and mistreated, but now you have to pretend that you like it, too. Tiki didn't like his boss, and he's in the enviable 10% that can now say that without repercussions. Do you know what it's like when your boss makes you hate your job, that you used to love? And when you play football, your job is pretty much who you are. No, I think Tiki was more than justified to complain, and is NOT controversial.
Next, let's talk about Eli. If Eli was a rookie QB, yes, Tiki should give him a little bit of a break. But look, Tiki was in his last few years as a football player, on a team that had reached the Super Bowl a few years ago. And now, these veterans have to play big brother to a QB who apparently wasn't catching on very fast. I don't think it was the classiest thing in the world for him to take on Eli, but look, that's how veterans are when young players mess up. They get resentful, because they know they have few chances to ever be on a good team again. Not news.
Finally, the money thing. Here again, I see too many sports bloggers telling Tiki to shut up without paying attention to details. He got a six-year contract in 2000, before he was a real star at the RB position. He did sign an extension in 2005, but by then it was rather late. So he's right to say he was underpaid by 10 million dollars; once he started running for 1200 yards + a season, he did deserve a higher salary. Now, it's true that usually contract re-writes tend to be more for QB's than for other positions. But I still think Tiki is right when he says he was underpaid. Not controversial either.
What IS controversial is how poor Tiki Barber is in the booth. I did not see all of his debut, admittedly, but it looked like Costas and Co. had to carry him and ask him specific questions for him to add details. It's controversial to me how the networks fall all over each other to sign these ex-football players to be commentators, and these players are terrible. If they didn't play football, they wouldn't be hired. There's a sort of reverse discrimination going on here. If you play football and can put two sentences together you are SO intelligent and well-rounded and cultured! No, it's not true. Look at Terry Bradshaw, heh. Seriously, let's not pretend that our athletes would all be Rhodes scholars if they weren't pros.
Time to debut a new feature: the O. Henry quote of the post! I am perhaps the only person who really likes O. Henry in sports blog land, so I'm going to randomly insert quotes from his stories into my posts. This quote comes courtesy of "The Adventures of Shamrock Jolnes", a knock-off of Sherlock Holmes:
"I give you every credit; but how do you know he was leaving for the South tonight?"
"In his breast pocket" said the great detective, "something large and oval made a protuberance. Good Liquor is scarce on trains, and it is a long journey from New York to Fairfax County."
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