A Tale of Two Football Games
The Edmonton Eskimos were hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a Canadian Football League game. Back in those days, the Eskimos had a great deal for students. You could get a seat at Commonwealth Stadium for a mere $7.00. Sure, the seats were way up in the nosebleed section, but it was a cheap and entertaining way to spend a summer evening.
I was there with a friend and there weren’t too many other people in our remote section of the stadium. There were just a couple of guys in front of us wearing Roughriders jerseys. We knew where their loyalties lay. We found out later that they’d driven several hours from Saskatchewan just to watch this game.
This wasn’t our first football game. We knew the protocol: when your team scores, you clap and hoot and holler. When their team scores, you boo and heap scorn on them.
Saskatchewan scored a touchdown early in the game. So you know what we did (not that anyone on the field would have heard us from that altitude). After we’d calmed down, the two guys from Saskatchewan turned around. One of them said, “Hey guys, glad to see you’re enjoying the game. But can we give you a little tip?” We said, “Sure.” He said, “You know, watching a game is a lot more enjoyable for everyone if you can appreciate what the other team does just as much as your own team. You can be gentlemen and acknowledge a good effort. What do you say, eh? Are you willing to try it this evening?” We’d never heard of such an approach, but they said it so nicely that we could scarcely avoid trying. As I recall, Saskatchewan didn’t score many more touchdowns that game, but when they did, we politely applauded instead of deriding the Roughriders. It wasn’t that hard.
I’ve often thought of those two men. I think they shared with us a gem of wisdom when it comes to enjoying sports.
A short time later I was at a different Eskimos game. This was the Labour Day Classic game hosted by the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium. A bunch of young people from our church banded together and got on the bus to head down to Calgary for this big game. It was just a three-hour bus ride and there were many busses making the trip.
When we took our seats at McMahon, it was plain that we were in enemy territory. We were surrounded by Stampeders fans. None of us were wearing anything to identify ourselves as Eskimos fans, so we were safe until the beginning of the game.
Once we started cheering for the Eskimos, things became hostile rather quickly. The folks down in Calgary weren’t as friendly as those two fellows from Saskatchewan! It only got rowdier the longer the game went and as more beer was imbibed. Soon, whenever the Eskimos would score a touchdown, nail a field goal, or even get a first down, things would start flying through the air in our direction. Before long, they had enough beer in them that they didn’t even bother emptying the beer cans before throwing them at us. I don’t remember for sure, but I think security had to get involved. It was a memorable game, but not for any good reasons. I forget who even won.
Reflecting on these two football games got me thinking. Does God care how we behave as spectators at a football game, or at any other sporting event? Prov. 3:6 tells us to acknowledge God in all our ways, so that answers that. We can’t pretend we’re not Christians when we go to the stadium or arena to watch our favourite team. That would be a type of compartmentalizing that Prov. 3:6 forbids, i.e. thinking God can’t have the “me cheering on my favourite sports team compartment.”
I don’t know if those two guys from Saskatchewan were Christians. They were certainly acting like Christians should act and they taught us the same. Conversely, I don’t know whether some of those Calgary fans were Christians. Maybe some of them were, but they certainly weren’t acting like it.
If you profess to be a believer, remember how you’re a disciple of Jesus. That’s a full-time calling. We’re to be like our master all the time, everywhere we go, everything we do. What if Jesus were attending a game? How would he act? Would he be more like the guys from Saskatchewan or the people from Calgary? We all know the answer, so let’s go and live like our Lord in all of life.
