prayers for blowouts

It Wasn’t God

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The following post was written for PFB by Jason Boyett, author of the Pocket Guides to the Bible, the Apocalypse, and Adulthood (among other books). Jason, a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, is currently NOT working on a book titled “The Pocket Guide to Dumb Baseball Curses”. His thoughts on David Tyree’s miraculous catch and subsequent comments are after the jump.

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When Tyree made the catch — that crazy, backbreaking, hand-to-helmet miracle reception with less than a minute to go in the game — I thought it might happen.

When the Giants ended up scoring and securing the win, I absolutely KNEW it would happen.

I just knew that Tyree, a religious guy who’s had his share of personal hardship (his mom died suddenly in December), would refuse to take credit for the catch but would, instead, give all the credit to God. “That wasn’t me, man,” I imagined him saying in the post-game press conference. “That was all God. Gotta give big ups to the Almighty for that one.” Because athletes have a well-documented history of attributing great plays, great games, and great seasons to God, who apparently takes great interest in the outcomes of American sporting events.

But Tyree, to his credit, kept it subtle. He sort of leaned in the direction of “it was God,” but didn’t fully camp there. Here’s his exact quote: “My opportunities are too far and few to let that one go. It was supernatural, you know? Some things just don’t make sense, and that catch is a good example.”

Thank you, Tyree. Thank you for not resorting to a cliche. Thank you for actually taking personal credit for having made an incredible 32-yard catch to rival Dwight Clark’s “The Catch” (TM) back in 1981. Because it saved the drive. And you made the catch. You. David Tyree. No person alive — not Randy Moss, not Lynn Swann, not Spiderman — should be able to jump three feet in the air, catch a ball with one hand against the back of his helmet, then hold onto that ball while being folded in half backwards by Rodney Harrison after appearing to float parallel to the ground. It just shouldn’t happen. It doesn’t make sense. It seems a little…supernatural.

But it probably didn’t have much to do with God, so I’m glad you didn’t just come right out and say that. Because when it come to pro athletes, it’s always “God” when they make a great catch, or return a punt for a touchdown, or throw a pinpoint game-winning pass. But it’s never “God” when they get tackled on the previous play, or when they fumble in the first quarter. And what if they guy on the opposite team who caused the fumble also gives credit to God? What you end up having is God causing Himself to fumble, and at that point the theology gets so circular and weird that N.T. Wright can’t even make sense of it.

I’m all for more spirituality in the sporting world when it comes to being good examples for the children and saying no to performance-enhancing drugs and doing something with your millions of dollars other than buying blingy toys and overly big homes. But when it comes to the winning and losing of games, it’s probably better to leave God off the scoreboard.

Thanks, David Tyree, for taking a good step in that direction. May “supernatural” become the new “it was God.”

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Tags: God, post-game interviews, Super Bowl