The
Bible has some simple solutions to widely publicized problems experienced by
many high profile athletes and coaches.
God’s word contains the wisdom of God and applies to all situations in life. If just a few passages in the Bible were believed
and practiced, it would have averted a lot of heartache and ruined lives. I do not need to list names of high profile
athletes, coaches, announcers and others who have been in trouble with
authorities, have destroyed or tarnished their reputations, etc. Every sports enthusiast is all too aware of
these things. It is major sports news
that there will be no inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2013 due to
the drug scandals of the 1990s and early 2000s. Recently, the cheating of Lance Armstrong,
the great road racing cyclist, is every where talked about. And the beat goes on and on.
A little foolishness can destroy a reputation that took years to
develop. And that foolishness will stick
to that person for the rest of their lives.
Ecclesiastes 10:1: “Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so
a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor.” There
are many examples of this truth in politics, in religion and in sports. You supply the names. Two players, whose decision to trade their
wives and children during the off-season (just a little indiscretion) totally
shocked the baseball world in the early 70’s.
One of the parties involved is still surprised, after more than 40
years, that his whole career is defined by this one incident. He stated that it is just not fair! Maybe not, but this is reality. However, with the rapid moral decline of our
country, and with homosexuality becoming more commonplace, I wonder if the
matter of trading wives and family would create much of a stir today.
“A” Rated Problems
Baseball
players have a rating system. A “five
star” player is one who is outstanding in hitting for average, hitting for
power, fielding, throwing, and
running. So this is my rating system
for players or coaches with problems. Most
problems can be explained very simply as AAA problems. By this I mean, Alcohol, Adultery and Anger
--- three of the leading causes of all problems. One of
the most practical books in the Bible is the book of Proverbs and, guess what,
it speaks a lot about fools who mess up their lives with women, drinking and
the inability to control anger. Another
major subject in Proverbs is controlling the tongue. So maybe I should call it a four “A” problem (Alcohol, Anger, Adultery and Audio) just to keep it simple. By adding “arrogance” I can call it a five “A” problem. Maybe this could be a new 5 star rating plan
for players who are headed for trouble. By alcohol
I am including the whole range of
recreational drugs that has exploded in our society. By audio
(sound) I am referring to a whole range of speech including “trash talk”,
vulgarity, blaspheming others, using God’s name in vain, boasting, etc. James writes that out of the same mouth
should not come both “blessing” and “cursing”.
Anger
and arrogance seem to go hand in
hand in most cases, but not all. Along
with “anger”, just throw in violence,
for violence is a by-product of anger. Adultery usually refers to married
people, but here I will just use it for all illicit sex. While I am at it, I might as well throw in
pornography, for that seems where we are today in society.
Alcohol
Now
you don’t think that alcohol is a problem in sports. Well, it has always been a problem in
sports. Alcoholism is a problem even
among some top athletes. I get “Sports
Illustrated” and cannot help but notice the number of hard alcohol
advertisements (Vodka, Whiskey, Scotch, etc.) inside its covers. I am also aware of all the beer companies
that sponsor sports. It is legal, but it
presents a real problem on the sports scene.
It seems that alcohol and sports go hand in hand. I am just saying there might be a problem
here.
The
Bible addresses the problem drinking with these words of warning: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink
a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise. . . . . . . Keeping away from strife is an
honor for a man, But any fool will quarrel”
(Pro.
20:1, 3)
Pro. 23:29-35:
"Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without
cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it
is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; At the last it bites like a
serpent And stings like a viper.
Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things.
And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one
who lies down on the top of a mast. They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I
did not know it. When shall I
awake? I will seek another drink.”
Adultery
For
years it has been known that booze and women can ruin a young athlete’s career,
and yet the exposure to both is found everywhere. I am including in this the wide spread use of
pornography, which is most demeaning to women and men, and is a gateway to
sexual perversion. Classified among the
works of the flesh are such things as immorality, outbursts of anger, drunkenness and carousing
(see Gal. 5:20-21) and those guilty of
such things cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Watch the halftime program of this year’s Super bowl and you will get a
taste of what I am talking about. Along
with the subscription to Sports Illustrated magazine is the swim suit issue,
which features barely clothed “Babes”.
It is interesting that if you subscribe to Sports Illustrated you can
e-mail and option out of the “Swim suit Edition” thus recognizing that this
might be a problem. A large percentage
of proverbs is devoted to the danger of “strange women”, that is, any woman who
is not your wife. This was a problem
3,000 years ago and it is a problem today.
The
Bible has clear warnings as to this behavior:
Pro. 6:32-33: “The one who commits adultery
with a woman is lacking sense; He who would destroy himself does it. Wounds and disgrace he will
find, and his reproach will not be blotted out. For jealousy enrages a man, and
he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not accept any ransom, nor
will he be satisfied though you give many gifts.”
Pro. 9:13-18: "The woman of folly is
boisterous, She is naive and knows nothing. She sits at the doorway of her
house, on a seat by the high places of the city, Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight: 'Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,' And to him who lacks understanding
she says, 'Stolen water is
sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.' But he does not know that the
dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol."
Anger
Sports
is supposed to be about self-control, but anger is often a part of the sports
landscape. Anger is closely associated
with alcohol, arrogance and audio (speech).
Anger is often displayed in full public view involving players,
managers, coaches, etc. as if it is a badge of honor and shows you really
care. This fact is so well known that I
do not need to give specifics. Again,
the Bible is full of warnings about this.
Here is a sampling:
Pro. 12:16: “A fool’s
anger is known at once, But a prudent man conceals dishonor.”
Pro. 14:29: “He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is
quick-tempered exalts folly.”
Pro. 15:18: “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger
calms a dispute.”
Pro. 19:19: “A man of great anger will bear the penalty, for if you
rescue him, you will only have to do it again.”
Pro. 22:24: “Do not associate with a man given to anger; or go with
a hot-tempered man”
Ecc. 7:9: “Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger resides in the bosom of fools.”
Pro. 29:11: “A fool always loses his temper, but a wise man holds it
back.”
Audio
(Speech)
I
am using the word “audio” to include sound or speech. This may be a bit of a stretch, but it does
fit in with staying with “A” words.
Speech gets a lot of athletes into trouble. I played Major League Baseball for twenty
years, and early on I learned that common speech in the clubhouse and on the
playing field included taking God’s name in vain, vulgarity, swearing and just
plain filthy talk. Now it includes what
is called “trash talk” on the playing field hoping to increase you chances for winning
by provoking the opposition. I learned
very early in my education as a Christian to control my speech. If I used such words growing up, and my
parents learned of it, the seat of my pants would have lit up a bit. Such words are offensive to God and demeaning
to man who is created in God’s image.
Here
are some passages that warn about the bad use of our tongue:
Exo. 20:7: “You shall not take the name of
the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes
His name in vain.”
Matt. 5:37: “But let your statement be,
'Yes, yes ' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.”
Col. 3:8: “But now you also, put them all
aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your
mouth.”
Eph. 5:3-4: "But immorality or any impurity
or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness
and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of
thanks."
Arrogance
It
is quite proper for an athlete to express confidence in his abilities, but a
boastful and arrogant attitude is something else. In our day and time we have seen too much of
the latter. Maybe this is because so
many top athletes have been pampered or it is the corruption that comes with
money and power. I think that our
society still honors a good but humble athlete. Just because an athlete excels in a
particular field of endeavor, that does not make him superior to others. Anger and an unbridled tongue often are the
products of arrogance. When we think
more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, we are headed toward
problems. Here are a few warnings in the
Bible:
Pro. 18:12: “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, but
humility goes before honor.”
Pro. 29:23: A man's pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
Why
are we experiencing more problems in the field of sports? Is it because of the corruption of
money? Is it because we have not paid
much attention to the moral and spiritual development of our athletes? Is it because many have made a “god” out of
our sports heroes and super athletes? Is
it because our society as a whole is becoming more corrupt? Is it because there has been a neglect of the
development of the whole man (physical, mental, social and spiritual)? Do we really think that the only cheaters in
sports are those individuals who took steroids in the 1990’s? Since sports is my background, I enjoy watching
good competition as much as anyone, but we do not need to make “gods” out of
these fallible men. We need to develop
a proper sense of values.
I
personally wish that more athletes and people connected with sports possessed a
stronger background in the Bible and the way of righteousness. Many of these problems can be solved with a
Bible course 101. But more than this,
there is a general lack of Biblical knowledge on the part of society, and since
our athletes come from society in general, it perhaps is not surprising that
such problems have become newsworthy.
The truth is that all of us need to understand and apply the five “A’s”
of how to avoid problems.
The
fact that many athletes do experience trouble and have fallen out of favor with
the public is perhaps a good sign that many Americans have not completely lost their
moral compass. We do indeed expect
better from our top athletes and coaches.
Lindy
McDaniel, January, 2013
The
photo at the beginning of this article was taken in 1957 and includes Stan
Musial (in the middle), myself (on the left) and my brother Von. Musial died recently at age 92 and had a
great reputation among fans, players, and sportswriters. He set many records in hitting and was a
gentleman. He never argued with the
umpires. He was not guilty of the five
“A’s” The great manager, Earl Weaver
of the Baltimore Orioles, died on the same day as Musial, but he was known for
his tirades, salty language and getting thrown out of games by the
umpires. One umpire, who was the object
of some of his angry tirades, said: “When he dies the family will have to pay
the pallbearers.” Earl spawned a number
of managers just like him just as the legendary fiery manager/player Leo
Durocher did the same. As long as you
win, all is forgiven in baseball. These
men had problems with most of the “A’s”.
If
you know of others who would like to receive advanced copies of Pitching For
The Master attached to E-mail, please write to me at: 1095 Meadow Hill Drive, Lavon, Texas
75166. Or contact me at my E-mail
address: lindymcdaniel77@reagan.com.
