When Faith Meets Sports
Posted by Danielle Bean in News on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 10:00 AM
My friend Jen Ambrose pointed me toward this article about Pittsburgh athletes and faith over the weekend.
Anyone who reads Jen’s blog or follows her on Twitter knows that she’s a rabid Steelers fan. As is my husband. So we feel like life-long friends. My kids love to talk about Jen and her family cheering the team on with them, all the way over there in China.
But back to the article.
Many members of the Steelers organization certainly do appear to take their faith seriously.
Catholic and nondenominational church services are offered to Steelers players in the hotel the night before every game. Team chaplain Kevin Jordan, a Christian minister, conducts the nondenominational service, which attracts as many as 30 players, he said. He also leads players, their wives and girlfriends in Bible study during the week.
Faith & Family has profiled Greek Orthodox Troy Polamalu in the past. (If you read that article closely enough you will find a reference to a likely explanation for Troy naming his newborn second son—born last week!—Ephraim.) Polamalu is an unusually athlete-celebrity in that he has always been quite comfortable talking about his faith openly and discussing it as an even more important part of his life than *gasp* football.
Not all athletes are role models. And even some who are public about their faith wind up making public mistakes sometimes. But reading stories like these makes it just a little harder to resent the NFL that takes over my living room every Sunday afternoon.
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