football musings

(originally written June 2008)

So a wonderful friend and mentor in my life wrote a note the day after the Pats' loss in SuperBowl XLII. In trying to process what happened, he wondered about God's favoring of the underdog. It's something I've wondered too, and hashed over and over in my head since I saw the game. S now, however many months later, I finally responded. Here, in it's unabridged glory, are my thoughts on God and His role in the Pats' loss:

Does God love the underdog? Without delving into the innate worth or deservedness of the underdog to be loved, I would maintain that while God has in the past and still today uses the weak things of the world to shame the strong, He does not love the underdog just because they're the underdog. God loves God, and He is certainly not the underdog. And therein lies what I keep returning to:

In every instance in scripture where God uses the "underdog," it is to accomplish a specific task to display to people (often large groups of people) that this thing could not possibly have happened without God's favor or intervention. The glory is given to Him, and men are left without excuse or plausible explanation.

But that is not what happened when the Pats lost to the upstart Giants. Even we who know the Lord can only muse about possible theological implications. I don't think it fits the pattern of God displaying his character and power through the endorsement of the underdog. Perhaps one team was more loaded with Christians than the other, though I doubt that was the case...perhaps one team was more arrogant than the other, but I honestly saw more arrogance from the men in Blue and White than from the men in Red, White, and Blue. If anything, and I have thought this repeatedly (and admittedly, perhaps naively) over the last 7 years, that if God is a football fan, He would condone the kind of graciousness, humility, and single-mindedness that has come to characterize the Pats, and that we now take for granted.

I have a possible alternative explanation for the outcome of the SuperBowl, though again, I am only musing and posting this in good fun:

1. God loves and desires excellence. While the Patriots certainly embodied excellence over their 18 wins, the Giants, in my opinion, embodied it more on SuperBowl Sunday. A tough pill to swallow, but that's just what happened.

2. God loves fun - childlike wonder. The Giants simply played for the joy of the game, while the Pats were too stoic, too businesslike, too...professional. It's a game, and when teams forget that, they usually end up losing.

3. All theology aside, the Giants peaked at the perfect time, with no expectations on them. The Pats took everybody's best shots every week, and felt the weight of history and everyone's expectations since pre-season. Key injuries combined with the exhaustion of carrying this load, and in the end, the Giants clean slate and momentum were better than what the Pats had to bring to the table. Just a hair better, but better nonetheless. And while it still stings a little bit, I find it hard to complain as a New England sports fan these days.

And pre-season is less than two months away...