Sports. Humor. Faith.

The PFB Sports Survey: Jon Acuff 3

Posted on Thu Oct 30th, 2008 - 03:10 pm

The PFB Sports Survey is a feature here at Prayers For Blowouts where we throw a few sports related questions at some of the most notable voices among Christian authors, pastors, musicians, and roofers to see if they like sports as much as we do.

Today’s spotlight is on Jon Acuff, who would have you believe that a respect for all Frisbee-related sports should be a tenet of salvation.

Jon is the creator and sole writer of Stuff Christians Like, the extremely popular and always amusing blog that pokes harmless fun at the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the Christian subculture (although Jon does like to throw some “serious” curveballs in there from time to time as well). Jon also blogs at 97 Seconds with God.

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1. What number best describes the role sports play in your life on a scale of 1 to 10?

JA: I would say a 6. That number went up to an 8 when the Celtics won the championship last year and then dropped significantly when Tom Brady got hurt this year. Up until that point I was pretty sure God was a Patriots fan.

2. Rank your 3 overall favorite sports, college or pro.

JA: College basketball, NBA, NFL Football

3. What is the one team that you root for more passionately than any other, and is there a team that you hate, maybe a little too much?

JA: Love: University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Hate: The Yankees

4. Do you play fantasy sports?

JA: I used to play fantasy basketball and actually won a season. I remember that year as “championship year.” My wife remembers that year as “fantasy basketball widow year.” I stayed up until 3AM switching out players against our one friend that is a highly competitive auditor. He always wins every league he’s in and I knew that he was out there competing against me. I won the entire season by three rebounds or something that small. I kind of retired at that point.

5. What is the most memorable sporting event you have ever attended in person?

JA: Triple overtime game between UNC and Wake Forest. ESPN called it the best college basketball game of the year. Chris Paul was playing for Wake then. Sean May, Rashad McCants and Raymond Felton were playing for the Heels. Carolina lost but it was still an amazing game.

6. What is the best highlight and/or worst lowlight of your sports playing career as a child or as an adult?

JA: My worst? Everyone on the other team laughed at me when I stepped up on the scale in my tighty-whitey’s for the weigh in before a wrestling meet in the eighth grade. My best? Beating the kid I wrestled that day.

7. If you could change one thing about sports, what would it be?

JA: I would retire the phrase, “that’s just Manny being Manny.”

8. Do you have an opinion on Christian athletes who, without being prompted, talk about their faith in post-game interviews?

JA: I guess I look at that like I look at how Bono uses his celebrity equity to do what he feels is important. They’ve got the microphone for a minute and if they can honestly answer the question and give God a shout out, I’m cool with that. If the question is “who do you think is the toughest player to throw a curveball against” and they answer “sweet baby Jesus” I’m not sure I’m down with that.

9. High school gym class…your favorite 45 minutes of the day or the source of countless nightmares and embarrassments?

JA: Dodgeball? Favorite. Square dancing in the eighth grade? Nightmare.

10. Sports are often the whipping boy of pastors and clergy because so much passion, money, time, and energy is poured into them. Do you think this criticism is valid, or are sports okay as a diversion from the stresses of life.

JA: I think sports are like a lot of other things in life, they aren’t evil or pure. What we bring to them shapes them. Sports can be a great vehicle of worship. Sports can be a great hiding place for people that want to escape the responsibilities of life. It depends on the situation.

11. If you had to compete against other bloggers, in which of these 5 competitions would you have the best chance of winning? 5-mile run, 18 holes of golf, free throw shooting contest, arm wrestling match, or a game of bowling.

JA: Maybe the 5 mile run but when I saw that you left off both Frisbee golf and ultimate Frisbee from your list I got a little worried about your spiritual walk.

12. What is your favorite sports movie of all-time?

JA: I feel like I should say “Hoosiers” or “Chariots of Fire” but that’s not true. I’m going to have to say the 6 minute clip of the special needs high school kid hitting six three pointers. I know that’s not a movie, but I have watched that clip on youtube roughly 18 million times. I love it.

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You can click here for an exhaustive (but not exhausting) list of everyone who’s been featured as a PFB Sports Survey participant.

If you’d like to be considered for the PFB Sports Survey, or know someone who should be, send along a name and email address to prayersforblowouts(at)gmail(dot)com.


3 Comments

  1. Ron Davis

    I’ve been reading Stuff Christians Like for some time, but I might have to rethink that now that I know he hates the Yankees. ;-)


  2. bryan

    Ron, if you cut off everyone in your life who hated the yankees, you’d have nothing to read, eat, drive, or watch on TV. I mean, I just figured you were used to folks hating your team by now? ;)


  3. Ron Davis

    People are always jealous when you’re better than they are. Sometimes that jealousy comes through as hatred, but as God’s chosen people (i.e. Yankees), we must love those people anyway. It’s not their fault their teams are inferior.


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