Super Bowl Sunday and Redemption

Judging from much-hyped story lines around this just-concluded Super Bowl, "Super Sunday" seems to have morphed into "Redemption Sunday."

Ben Roethlisberger's return to the pinnacle after the much-publicized sexual assault allegations and resulting suspension. Michael Vick's just-announced Comeback Player of the Year Award following his incarceration for dog-fighting crimes. The NFL enjoying its highest-ever TV ratings this season despite rising labor strife and bad PR about violence and head injuries. Pro football and some of its most iconic villains appear to be in the good graces of the football-adoring public like never before.

"Roethlisberger Playing for Redemption," reads one typical headline. "Endorsement Deal a Big Step in Vick's Redemption," reads another. So far has Vick's image rehab advanced that he is one of two pro players featured in a faith-and-football DVD meant for playing at Super Bowl evangelism parties.

Not to begrudge the success of Roethlisberger, Vick and the league in which they play, but all
this fast-and-loose talk about "redemption" ought to be tempered with a little clarity lest we completely trivialize a concept with deep religious and philosophical meaning. To return to popularity -- to succeed on the football field while keeping out of trouble for a brief period of time -- is one thing. Whether these two players and their sport are "redeemed" in the deeper sense is another matter, one that remains very much unresolved.

Consider Big Ben's rise, fall and rise. Less than a year ago, as he faced the second set of
allegations around his abuse of alcohol and women, I was one of the critics pointing out the serious dissonance between that image of Ben and the "playing for Jesus" Christian image he had cultivated since his entry into the league. Following his return from suspension five games into this season, the on-field Roethlisberger has been the one we're accustomed to seeing: a solid, winning quarterback with a penchant for late-game heroics and exuberant religious expression. And yes, I am happy to report, there have been no more allegations of sexual assault.

Ben was back in the Super Bowl this year -- a major accomplishment even though his Steelers
lost to Green Bay -- but to speak and act as though that represents "redemption" is to completely miss the point. Roethlisberger was not in need of a football redemption. It's not as though he had fallen into the "sin" of low pass-completion percentages, high numbers of fumbles and interceptions, and last place in the standings. What he needed was character redemption -- a saving from the sin of immoral if not criminal behavior off the field. Whether he enjoys that redemption is known only by Big Ben and his maker.

As for the image rehab of that other Jesus-professing quarterback, Michael Vick, there is much to admire and celebrate. Could anyone have predicted two years ago, when he was released from Leavenworth, that his football and popularity comeback would advance this far, this fast?

The apotheosis, for me, has to be Vick's selection as one of two Christian-athlete poster men
to be featured in the "Power to Win" halftime evangelism kit, along the Cowboys' Jon Kitna. "Power to Win" is promoted as an "unparalleled ministry tool" by the Christian magazine Sports Spectrum, revolving around a DVD meant for playing at halftime of football-loving evangelists' Super Bowl parties. (I've often joked that I hope these hosts are playing back the game on a DVR so that they can fast- forward through those irreligious commercials glorifying sex, drinking and crass materialism. And thank God they had a built-in excuse to skip the Black Eyed Peas halftime performance.)

A trailer for the DVD shows Vick talking about the rehabilitation of his relationship with God,
with a graphic flashing, "Redemption, perseverance, and faith." Given the severe penalty Vick has paid -- prison as opposed to a few games' suspension -- and given the serious contrition he has expressed about his crimes against animals, Vick's redemption seems to have real depth. Cheers for Michael Vick, I say.

Then there is the league itself. During the 2009 season, amid the proliferation of evidence of the toll football takes on men's bodies and brains, I questioned my own fandom and wondered if the game would start taking a popularity hit. The hand-wringing returned in force after a particularly gruesome Sunday this past October, when the head shots, concussions and fines were flying and longtime NFL analyst Peter King remarked that it was the most violent day he had ever seen in the league.

If you were worrying that pro football would pay a price for its more-conspicuous-than-ever
violence, you needn't have. The league released stats last month showing that this was the most-watched NFL season ever in terms of TV audience. I suspect it will take a lot more than players' poor cognitive health to erode football's massive popularity.

But let's not mistake popular with good -- good in the moral sense. The NFL's TV ratings do not redeem the violence and concussions, just as Big Ben's Super Bowl success and Mike Vick's comeback award are not the measure of their moral or religious redemption.

As Mike Wise writes in a perceptive column in Saturday's Washington Post, winning can serve as a highly effective deodorant for players whose images have been marred by misdeeds off the field. For all its wondrous ability to mask a nasty smell, though, deodorant does nothing to improve the substance of anything. And it is the substance of their character that is ultimately the issue when we consider the "redemption" of these football heroes, and their sport, at the level that really counts.

Tom Krattenmaker is a Portland-based writer specializing in religion in public life and the author of the award-winning book 'Onward Christian Athletes' on Christianity in pro sports.

 

 

 

Comments

[LonosCurse]

03:56 PM on 02/14/2011

Mr. Tony warned about these redmption stories. No need to make a fuss. Just a quarterback having a good year.

[Gregor53]

03:18 PM on 02/14/2011

It would appear that God has a different favorite team each year.  I live in Cleveland and if any group of people should consider changing team each year, it is us.  However, each year we support them.  Guess God does not like Cleveland if indeed Religion and Sports are so connected.

[Hvartski]

09:02 PM on 02/13/2011

There's an old joke told in the context of Notre Dame or Marquette basketball where a priest is watching a game with his host and they watch a player crossing himself before a free throw. The host asks the priest if that helps, and the priest says, "If he can shoot, yes." A God who cares about Superbowl results is not one I want to revere.

[DucksBack]

08:30 AM on 02/13/2011

The levels to which both sport and religion have risen are examples of how misplaced priorities can hasten the ruin of a society.

[freddychef]

01:30 AM on 02/14/2011

gladiator days?

[bonum]

10:50 PM on 02/11/2011

so, if you don't flatter Jesus, then you are punished, like, let's say, the losing the Super Bowl? ...I'm just saying.....

[shatner99]

04:22 PM on 02/11/2011

American pro athletes like this are silly--except NHL players because of the Canadian and Swedish influence.

[freddychef]

01:32 AM on 02/14/2011

you dont see players in the NHL praying for a goal, thank gawd!

[bbriani3842]

11:04 PM on 02/10/2011

Anyone else notice the Steeler's uniformed guy praying?

[okakura]

12:09 AM on 02/10/2011

I've always felt that for more than a few athletes, religious appeals represent little more than a superstitious 'doubling down' for luck.

[H P]

11:24 AM on 02/09/2011

I THINK, most of the christian posturing of athletes, is just that posturing. Just something they do on the field, to guess what, get a large demographic behind them. Vick's transformation does seem genuine, but again that is just me. Ben.. that is REALLY hard to grasp. Lets see what happens this off season for him. I am tired of all the Jesus references in interviews etc. Like jesus is picking favorites. and if you don't win a super bowl a game or make a touchdown catch, then it is jesus' fault because.. for some religious reason?

[rjaxone]

11:46 PM on 02/08/2011

Any NFL player or team believes that Jesus has anything to do with their success, is delusional. If their goal is "winning" > practice more.

Save the prayers for things that really matter...

[pangaia]

02:33 PM on 02/11/2011

BRAVO!!!

[colah]

09:02 AM on 02/13/2011

"Save the prayers for things that really matter..."
You started off so well, but then showed your level of evolution to be just ahead of my cat.

[rjaxone]

10:53 PM on 02/13/2011

...from your understanding of my post I would judge your level of evolution to be, say, on the level your goldfish... > reflexive w/o cognition...

[raker]

04:03 PM on 02/08/2011

Jeebus won the Superbowl AGAIN!

[MNKen]

03:43 PM on 02/09/2011

Yep. Best record in the NFL.

[freddychef]

01:35 AM on 02/14/2011

always bet on jebus to win when he plays against humans.
but bet on satan when he plays against jebus.

[michelesda]

01:49 PM on 02/08/2011

Who cares whether or not Ben Roethlisberger believes in Jesus? I think redemption in the (football fan) public eye was probably the intended meaning.

[brenobacci]

12:51 AM on 02/09/2011

Good point. It's like Christians had ownership of the word. Of course, they've made it popular, but now it belongs to all, including sports writers.

[MrsFreeze]

10:03 AM on 02/10/2011

whether you look at this from a religious or secular point of view, there is still no redemption to be had on the football for ben. as the writer pointed out, it is not as if he had to redeem himself from a terrible season last year. a person can only truly redeem himself in the area of his sins, transgressions, mistakes -- call them what you will. winning redeems these guys of nothing. it is a life well-lived, a true change of heart that redeems a person and that is something that in the case of big ben and vick, only time will tell.

[michelesda]

12:13 PM on 02/10/2011

I partially agree with you. Though not a fan of either team, I was rooting for the Packers partly on an admiration for the quarterbacking chops of Rogers, but largely on the mere basis of a personal distaste for Roethlisberger, who is obviously not redeemed as yet with me. I'm sure none of us knows all that much about what's currently going on with him personally, nor whether his game has been enough to redeem him in the hearts of football fans, but I would personally prefer to see some evidence that he has managed to become no longer a bad human being. Until then, it is just as easy to lay his poor superbowl performance to, perhaps, the distractions of a bad conscience, or maybe even Jesus punishing him for hypocritically taking his name in vain?

[gdatomic]

01:13 PM on 02/08/2011

I did think Big Ben's finger point as if to thank God was a bit much. Redemption is personal and comes after intense soul searching. A few external actions might buy off a desperate fundamentalist seeking a hero, but is a bit hard to stomach for the rest of us.

Besides, do we think the Superbowl is any higher on God's list than, say, a birth? "Sorry, can't add that new human ready planet around your sun today... I have to oversee a football game in Dallas today." But he/she did need rest on the 7th day - with a big screen & chips?

[brenobacci]

12:53 AM on 02/09/2011

Those godless FIFA guys in Switzerland would have fined Beard Ben right away. On this football could learn with football, if you know what I mean.

[Eric N Davis]

05:36 AM on 02/08/2011

All I can say is, the more sports (and other entertainment options) there are on Sunday, the fewer people there are attending church. Just look at how the "non-religious" demographic has exploded over the past 20 years. That's about the same time that the internet, the cable giants, and the mini-satellite dish companies all got busy.

So hooray for the NFL and the Superbowl! Let's get more people watching games on Sunday, and hopefully we'll all leave religion in our dust--just a relic of our barbaric past, on display in a museum, like the gods of Egypt and Greece.

[capitaldysfunction]

05:00 AM on 02/08/2011

Alpha male sporting types abusing females for unrepentant pleasure in the context of capitalist football's national championship is enduring subject matter. But it must be observed that the hamburglar perpetrator was punished with defeat at the hands of Green Bay's Godly Goodness. The larger morality play of this Christian American Super Spectacle is that the only communally owned team in the NFL (Green Bay) beat the other team(s).

[brenobacci]

12:56 AM on 02/09/2011

And last year the Saints themselves won.