The Cold Football Showdown
This is so not the point of this post, but it about sums it up.
Crossing lines and building bridges seems to be what Jesus was all about: Samaritans and Jews, friends and enemies, first place and last place, none of that mattered to Him, as long as they were being pointed to His Father. As for me, sometimes I just want to do my own thing.
A bit over a year ago, I traveled with my friend Steve to Gillette Stadium to see the Patriots play the Steelers. Being a Steelers fan has its benefits, one of them is having the coolest, manliest colors in the NFL, so I wore my number 7 jersey proudly, along with a turtleneck, a Steelers coat, a Steelers hat, Orange long johns (nobody was going to see them anyway),blue jeans, my terrible towel, and a pair of work boots. Loving the Pats like he does, Steve opted for the red, white, and blue of Patriot nation, and the battle was on.
The weather cooled off that weekend just in time for the game, as what had been 60 degree weather turned into rain and 38 degrees on just over a few days. Our apparel was warm, and our ambition and competitive spirit was high. Arriving at the stadium early allowed us to find a decent parking spot to pay $40 to park, and this was a good price. If you’ve ever been to Foxboro, you understand that it isn’t like Boston. There’s plenty of room there, so the owners charge so much for no reason other than their own greed. This makes me happy I’m a sports fan. Let’s all cheer for teaching morals and values through sports!
As we walked the half mile or so to the stadium (I suppose a parking a quarter mile away was $60), the drizzle came down like a fine mist, and the conversation with Steve flowed about the game and the big players and our excitement for the evening. I also asked him in a most humble and wussy way, “Um, Steve, if someone tries to beat me up today because I’m wearing Steelers gear, you got my back, right?” Steve assured me he would be there. This made me much happier than the $40 payout I had just given to Bob Kraft and the gang. When we arrived in our seats, I noticed an unhealthy environment issue around me – When we walked to the stadium, I saw plenty of Steelers fans with their towels and heavy black and yellow clothing and beer in hand, ready for a great game, but when I sat down, my section enjoyed almost all Pats fans. It was after all, in New England.
I purposed in my heart that I would not overtly be a butt head or an over zealous ‘away team’ fan, so as the game started, when the Steelers had something good happen, I cheered, but did not stand or scream, or even wave the “terrible towel”. Of course, early on, very little happened to make me cheer, so this wasn’t difficult. Eventually two opposing things happened to make my night as confusing as a young teenager who just wants to be friends but can’t live without that person (please see your teenage friends facebook status for details): First, it started raining. The entire game it rained and rained, until everyone, myself included, felt miserable. Overpriced hot chocolate from McDonalds didn’t help. A hot dog, that based on what I paid for it could have fed a small orphanage in Peru, didn’t help. The rain came down cold and wet and nasty, and eventually pressed through my clothing into my skin like tiny tacks that the devil might sit on, ouch!
Secondly, by the time the game ended, even I, who cheered heartily for the victory the future super bowl champion Steelers pulled out that night (33-10, in case you wondered, though that was so not the point of this post) was happy to be walking back to my car. The entire crowd moved slowly and almost everyone looked down at the ground, not only because of the loss, but also because of the intensity of the rain at the cold at this point in the evening. As we walked towards the exit, I felt something happen to me – I no longer had my terrible towel in my hand. Very slowly I turned around a full 360 degrees and saw nothing. And then, deciding to take an additional 90 degrees for fun, I saw these three guys laughing at me and looking back about 15 feet behind me. I looked at the ground in that particular direction and saw my towel – cold, wet, and clumped on the ground being walked on by other passerbyers.
Glancing toward the direction of Steve, I noticed he had continued walking and with his hood on, he wasn’t able to see the stressful situation his friend had found himself. So I looked back at the 3 guys and said to the one that appeared to be the culprit, “What are you doing?” He was short and probably drunk and kind of reminded me of Johnny Lawrence, the anti-Ralph Macchio from the movie “The Karate Kid.” His response was typical of someone who was angry at the loss of his sports team and had numbers to back him up: “Whatever I want to do, what are you going to do about it?”
So now I have an ethical decision to make in the midst of all this chaos. Thousand of people walking all around me, most of which think I’m stupid for wearing the colors I’m wearing, and I’m processing, Do I say something sarcastic and inspire their ire, or do I stand back and not give in to what they clearly want me to do? Extra, extra, read all about it, local pastor arrested for inciting an argument after last nights game. He clearly was at fault because of his clothing choice. After some careful thought in 3 or so seconds I was able to think, I looked straight at them, and said:
“Well, I’m going to walk back there, pick up my towel, and celebrate MY team’s victory. Have an amazing night guys!”
Someday I will be more like Jesus and use that opportunity, not to have an ounce of sarcasm in my voice, but to point people to the Father. Unfortunately though, it didn’t happen that day…
and it probably won’t happen in that sport.
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you might feel better if you read Luke 12:49-53.
Maybe not.