We are mostly a peaceful society. And in those cases where our nation does wage war, most of us have little danger of facing any chance at combat. The age of the “warrior” is mostly over.
I have always thought that it’s in our DNA to wage that war, however. I think that in our DNA is the warrior, the defender of our “tribe”. It’s what explains the “atic” in “fan”. It takes the mild and meek long haired dude in the office and turns him into the illogical screaming fool who lives and [mostly] dies with the Vikings and the Twins. It’s that thing within us that can only be explained by a long standing evolutionary thing.
And when humans reach into their inner nether regions to grasp and channel this “yawlp” it shouldn’t be a surprise when we find another, strangely similar concept:
God.
And so it is that I don’t understand the conflict:
Tim Tebow is an N.F.L. quarterback, and Tim Tebow is an outspoken Christian. And while quarterback controversies are almost as common as quarterbacks, who play perhaps the most scrutinized position in American sports, what has erupted around Tebow this season is altogether different.
At the intersection of faith and football, the fervor that surrounds both Tebow’s beliefs and his struggles in his second season for the Denver Broncos has escalated into a full-blown national debate over religion and its place in sports.
I guess I get the idea that the religious guys are the soft spoken gentle soul. Characteristics not usually associated with the battle that is sports. I remember when Gary Gaetti found God. He was never the same player again. So I get that aspect of it.
But I don’t understand the mockery of it all. If a players obtains his inspiration from God, or from a desire to be the best or from wanting to bang Jessica Simpson, who cares? In fact, the idea that warriors took to the field in defense of their god is a history as long as the history of war.
I don’t see religion and sports as contradictions. I see them as complimentary forces.