Posted on
March 18, 2008 by
bryan
The PFB Sports Survey is a weekly 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 manicurists to see if they like sports as much as we do.
Today’s spotlight is on Jeff Miller, who likes ketchup on his eggs and who almost left his bandmates over a Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings spat (ok, not really).
Jeff is the bassist for INO recording act Caedmon’s Call, who have sold over a million copies of their 14 studio albums to date. When he’s not on the road or in the studio with the band, Jeff gets the bills paid by putting his University of Texas MIS degree to good use as a computer/IT dude in Houston, TX. Jeff shares a birthday with yours truly (9/28), which, as a result, makes him unbelievably cool.
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1. What number best describes the role sports play in your life on a scale of 1 to 10?
JM: I’m probably right in the middle, maybe a bit further to the 10-side on this one…so, let’s say 5.1 just to be different. I’m one of those fans that is fanatic about “my” teams, but, with the exception of baseball and college BB (and golf when I have time to nap), I probably don’t follow sports in general as fanatically as some.
2. Rank your 3 overall favorite sports.
JM:1. MLB – I was not a BB fan all my life until about 8 years ago…now I count the days to the Astros season opener!
2. College BB – March Madness is the best sporting event of the year, hands down! Anyone can win on any given day and I love that about this sport.
3. Football (although golf and/or tennis comes in a REAL close 4th as golf/tennis are really the only sports I personally play that much anymore – besides being incredibly bad at “old guy” softball)
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?
JM: Definitely the Houston Astros. And I think this year, if Tejada doesn’t get shipped of to a Federal Prison, and we have a surprise or two in the starting rotation, we will be “in it”! I’m also very passionate about Texas Longhorns sports – all of them! (since I went to school there and currently live in Austin) I try and catch a Longhorn football, baseball, or BB game whenever I can (which isn’t too often these days).
Along with being a Longhorn fan, I have to say that OU/OSU fans are absolutely the worst – any school/state that markets themselves (not only their sports but their entire institutions) as being “better than Texas” has some issues they need to deal with. I mean – walking through Hobby airport in Houston last year, there were ad billboards up all over the place on how OSU was “a brighter orange”?! How does that say anything constructive about why I would want to go to school there other than it is not Texas?
4. Do you play fantasy sports?
JM: I play fantasy football with the guys in my Sunday School class. That’s pretty much it (although my brother tries to get my into Fantasy gold, baseball, hockey, and probably soon-to-be curling every year)
5. What is the most memorable sporting event you have ever attended in person?
JM: When I was young (maybe around 10 years old) we went to Steelers Training Camp in LaTrobe, PA. While not really a sporting event, per se, I got to meet Joe Green and Jack Ham and Lynn Swann and Rocky Bleir, and see Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, etc. – that was definitely the coolest sporting thing that has ever happened to me. BTW – that Steeler team of the late 70’s was by far the best EVER (sorry Dolphins and Patriots fans!)
6. What is the best highlight and/or worst lowlight of your sports playing career as a child or as an adult?
JM: Highlight would have to be just playing tennis back in Houston – we would play every day for fun as well as play on the neighborhood team and enter in tournaments…it was the way sports should be played…for the love of the game. And I was pretty good too!
Lowlight would have to be playing softball last year on my work softball team – we were the worst team in the novice league and I was by far the worst player. Maybe I shouldn’t have quit playing sports when I picked up a bass guitar?
7. If you could change one thing about sports, what would it be?
JM: Definitely (get rid of) the DH…
Oh, and I hate the fact that it seems like most athletes these days are in it for the money and fame as opposed to the love of the game. I’ll watch Brett Favre or Craig Biggio (not anymore for either of them) or Hines Ward any day over TO or Kobe. If you act like a jackass everytime you make a tackle or hit a three-pointer you should get over yourself! I think professional sports has lost the “team” and “love/respect” aspects of the game and rewards athletes who showboat as opposed to those that just want to play the game because they love it!
8. Do you have an opinion on Christian athletes who, without being prompted, talk about their faith in post-game interviews?
JM: I probably shouldn’t be, but I guess I’m ambivalent about this question. I don’t go around and thank God publicly when I roll-out a successful new piece of functionality to my company’s website, so I wouldn’t expect an athlete to do so after winning a game. I think that if they play to the best of their ability and play professionally, with good sportsmanship and have fun doing it (no showboating!), that is the best example they can give of who they really are as Christians. Someone who does a crazy touchdown celebration and gets into fights on the field and then talks about God post-show comes off as a little strange to me…
9. High school gym class…your favorite 45 minutes of the day or the source of countless nightmares and embarrassments?
JM: I didn’t have to go to high school gym?! Since I was on the tennis and basketball teams I was able to skip gym. Of course, when I was in elementary school I hated gym because I couldn’t do a forward roll. That was embarrassing.
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.
JM: For most folks I think this criticism is invalid. Sports can be a great way to fellowship with others and it can certainly be a diversion. Not to mention that exercise is good for the body…but that’s a whole other argument. For someone who spends more time watching or playing sports than spending time with their family, well then, that’s probably not a good thing. I don’t see how pastors and clergy can single out sports as a negative influence in general however.
11. If you had to compete against other musicians, 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.
JM: Definitely Golf or Bowling.
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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.
