The Place Sports Have

THE Grand Creator is described in the Bible as “the happy God,” and he wants his creatures to be happy. (1 Timothy 1:11) So it should not be surprising that he created humans with the capacity to enjoy play. The New Encyclopædia Britannica thus reports: “The history of sports and games is a part of the history of man.”

The appearance of the ball is said to have been the most significant factor in the history of games. “The observation that animals enjoy gambols with playthings,” says the above-quoted encyclopedia, “suggests that there may never have been a time . . . when a ball substitute was not chased or thrown.”

Interestingly, some instrument has also long been used to bat the ball. “Certainly there were stick games played by the Persians, Greeks, and American Indians,” the Britannica notes. “Polo, a word of Tibetan origin, was apparently well known in some form to the Persians at the time of Darius I (reigned 522-486 BC). Golf, though claimed by Scotland in its modern form, had respectable antecedents in Roman times and in many European countries.”

Early Emphasis on Games

Hundreds of years before the writing of the Hebrew Scriptures (“Old Testament”) was completed, organized sports were popular. For example, games were held every four years at ancient Olympia, Greece. The Britannica reports: “There are records of the champions at Olympia from 776 BC to AD 217,” or for nearly a thousand years! The Olympic Games were so important in Greek life that time was measured by them, each four-year time segment between the games being called an Olympiad. Thus, according to that early method of counting time, Jesus Christ was born during the 194th Olympiad.

The Hebrew Scriptures do not say anything about organized games, although one of the prophets speaks about “the public squares of [Jerusalem being] filled with boys and girls playing.” (Zechariah 8:5) Over a hundred years before Jesus’ birth, Greek athletic contests were introduced into Israel. A gymnasium was set up in Jerusalem, and even some priests neglected their duties in order to engage in the games.​—2 Maccabees 4:12-15.

Augustus Caesar, Roman emperor when Jesus was born, had a love for athletics, and games became popular in Rome. However, the events that really interested the Roman citizenry were those that involved fighting, such as boxing and wrestling. These “sports” often deteriorated into violent, bloodletting contests in which men were pitted against one another or against animals in fights to the death.

Sports in the “New Testament”

Yet, such terrible abuses of sports did not mean that playing them was wrong. Never do we read in the Scriptures of Jesus or his followers condemning games or the playing of them. Rather, the apostles often used features of them to illustrate points of teaching.

For example, the apostle Paul evidently had in mind the footraces featured in the Olympic Games when he encouraged Christians: “Do you not know that the runners in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may attain it.” He added: “Every man taking part in a contest exercises self-control in all things. Now they, of course, do it that they may get a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one.”​—1 Corinthians 9:24, 25.

On another occasion, Paul said that a Christian should run with determination to win the prize of life. “I am pursuing down toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God,” he wrote. (Philippians 3:14) Further, when illustrating the need to adhere to the rules of a moral life, Paul reminded Timothy: “If anyone contends even in the games, he is not crowned unless he has contended according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:5) And the apostle Peter wrote that Christian shepherds who fulfill their responsibilities “will receive the unfadable crown of glory.”​—1 Peter 5:4.

No doubt young Timothy would have been involved in shepherding young Christians who enjoyed sports. Therefore, Paul wrote him that “bodily training [as a gymnast] is beneficial for a little,” thus acknowledging that the gymnastic exercises practiced rigorously by the Greeks were of some benefit. “But,” Paul quickly added, “godly devotion is beneficial for all things, as it holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.”​—1 Timothy 4:8; see The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures.

A Proper Place for Exercise

So the Scriptures indicate that bodily exercise can have a proper place in life. Yet, there is a need for balance, for reasonableness. “Let your reasonableness become known to all men,” Paul wrote. (Philippians 4:5) How difficult, though, to find this balance!

The early Greeks overemphasized games, and the Romans featured types that harmed the participants as well as those who took pleasure in the gory spectacles. On the other hand, some in the name of religion have repressed and even prohibited games. The New Encyclopædia Britannica observed: “The puritanical attitudes of the 17th century reduced the amount of fun in Europe and America.”

Sports have recently experienced a resurgence perhaps never equaled in history. “Next to the weather,” says The World Book Encyclopedia, “people probably talk more about sports than about any other topic.” Sports have even been called “the opiate of the masses.”

What are some of the problems that such fervor for sports has created? Are you or your family suffering any adverse effects as a result? How can you keep sports in their proper place?

Problems With Sports Today

PEOPLE used to argue that sports were of value because they built character. They claimed that games promoted appreciation for hard work, sportsmanship, and the joy of playing. But to many today, such arguments sound hollow, even hypocritical.

The emphasis on winning is particularly a problem. Seventeen magazine calls this “a darker side of sports.” Why? Because, to quote the magazine, “winning overrides concerns about honesty, schoolwork, health, happiness, and most other important aspects of life. Winning becomes everything.”

The experience of Kathy Ormsby, a U.S. collegiate track star, was used to illustrate the sad consequences of overemphasis on athletic achievement. On June 4, 1986, a few weeks after setting a national collegiate women’s record in the 10,000-meter footrace, Kathy veered off the track while competing in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) championships, ran to a nearby bridge, and jumped off in an attempted suicide. She survived, but she was paralyzed from the waist down.

Scott Pengelly, a psychologist who treats athletes, noted that Kathy is not unique. After Kathy’s suicide attempt, Pengelly reported: “I got phone calls that said, ‘I think this is about me.’” Another athlete, Mary Wazeter of Georgetown University, who set a national age-group record for a half-marathon, also attempted suicide by jumping from a bridge and was paralyzed for life.

The pressure to win, to live up to expectations, can be tremendous, and the consequences of failure devastating. Donnie Moore, a star pitcher for the California Angels, had been within one strike of putting his team into baseball’s 1986 World Series. But the Boston batter hit a home run, and Boston went on to win the game and the American League championship. Donnie, who according to his friends had been obsessed by his failure, shot and killed himself.

Extreme Competitiveness

A related problem with sports today is the extreme competitiveness. It is not an exaggeration to say that competitors may be transformed, in effect, into monsters. When he was boxing’s heavyweight champion, Larry Holmes said that he had to change when he entered the ring. “I have to leave the goodness out,” he explained, “and bring all the bad in, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Athletes develop an obsessive compulsiveness in an effort to prevent others with equal talent from beating them.

“You must have that fire in you,” a former football coach once said, “and there is nothing that stokes that fire like hate.” Even former U.S. president Ronald Reagan reportedly once told a college football team: “You can feel a clean hatred for your opponent. It is a clean hatred since it’s only symbolic in a jersey.” But is it really good to work up hatred for an opponent?

Bob Cousy, a former all-star basketball player for the Boston Celtics, once told about his assignment to guard Dick Barnett, a high-scoring player for the Los Angeles Lakers. “I sat in my room from morning to night,” Cousy said. “All I did was think about Barnett, partly going over the way to play him and partly working up a hate for him. By the time I got on the court, I was so fired up that if Barnett had said ‘hello’ I probably would have kicked him in the teeth.”

The fact is, players often deliberately try to incapacitate opponents, and they are rewarded for doing so. Ira Berkow, a newspaper sportswriter, said that a football player who is able to knock an opposing player out of the game is “hugged and squeezed [by teammates] for a job well done. If he has delivered enough of those damaging blows, . . . he is rewarded at season’s end with either increased salary or, for fringe players, further employment. Thus do players proudly wear badges in the form of nicknames, like Mean Joe Greene, Jack (the Assassin) Tatum,” and so forth.​—The New York Times, December 12, 1989.

Fred Heron, a defensive tackle for the St. Louis football team, related: “The coaches told us that [the Cleveland Browns’] quarterback had a bad neck. They suggested that, if I got a chance, I should try to put him out of the game. So during the game I broke through the line, beat the center and guard, and there he stood. I tried to tear his head off with my arm, and he fumbled the ball. My teammates were praising me. But I watched the quarterback on the ground in obvious pain. I suddenly thought to myself, ‘Have I turned into some kind of animal? This is a game, but I’m trying to maim somebody.’” Yet, Heron noted: “The crowd was giving me an ovation.”

Injuries resulting from extreme competitiveness are lamented by many as being a major problem with sports today. Sadly, millions of these injuries involve children who are introduced early in life to highly competitive play. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, every year four million children are treated in emergency rooms for sports injuries and an estimated eight million more are treated by family physicians.

Many children now suffer overuse injuries, which were rarely seen in earlier years. When children played just for fun, they went home when they were hurt and didn’t play again until the soreness or aching stopped. But in highly competitive, organized sports, children often keep on playing, damaging already sore or aching body parts. According to former star baseball pitcher Robin Roberts, adults are the main cause of the problem. “They’re putting too much pressure​—psychological and physical—​on the kids long before they’re ready for it.”

Money and Cheating

Another problem with sports is that money has become an overriding concern. Greed rather than sportsmanship and fair play seem now to dominate sports. “The innocence of sports, sorry to report, completely vanished during the 1980s,” laments The Denver Post columnist Jay Mariotti. “They swagger into the ’90s as a monster force in our culture, an incredibly mammoth, multi-trillion-zillion-dollar industry (actually, $63.1 billion [thousand million], 22nd-largest in America) that sometimes is better described as a racket.”

Last year 162 major league baseball players in the United States​—more than 1 in 5 of them—​made over one million dollars, with something over three million dollars being the peak salary. Now, a year later, over 120 players will be paid more than two million dollars, including 32 who will collect more than three million dollars, and at least one will be getting over five million dollars, from 1992 all the way through 1995! The quest for money and huge salaries has become common in other sports as well.

Even in college sports, the emphasis is often on money. Winning coaches are handsomely rewarded, making as much as one million dollars a year in salary and endorsement fees. The schools whose football teams qualify for the year-end bowl games in the United States receive many millions of dollars​—55 million in a recent year. “Football and basketball have to make money,” explains college president John Slaughter, “and they have to win to make money.” This results in a vicious cycle where winning becomes an obsession​—with disastrous consequences.

Since the jobs of professional ballplayers depend on winning, they often do practically anything to win. “It’s no longer a sport,” says former baseball star Rusty Staub. “It’s a vicious, physical business.” Cheating is pervasive. “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” explains baseball outfielder Chili Davis. “You do what you can if you can get away with it,” New York Mets’ infielder Howard Johnson says.

Thus moral fiber is undermined, and this is a big problem in college sports as well. “Some coaches and athletic directors cheat,” admits Harold L. Enarson, former president of Ohio State University, “while presidents and trustees look the other way.” In a recent year, 21 universities in the United States were penalized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for infractions, and 28 other universities were under investigation.

No wonder the values of young players are ruined, which is another major problem with sports today. Drug use to enhance athletic performance is common, but getting an education often is not. A major study confirms that players on campuses with major athletic programs spend more time on playing their sport during the season than they do studying and attending class. A federal study also found that fewer than 1 in 5 players ever graduate at a third of American colleges and universities with major basketball programs for men.

Even the few student athletes who eventually succeed in professional sports and draw good salaries all too often become tragic figures. They are unable to handle their finances and to face life realistically. Travis Williams who died this past February in homeless poverty at age 45 is but one example. In 1967, while playing with the Green Bay Packers football team, he set a still-standing U.S. professional football record, returning kickoffs an average of 41.1 yards [37.6 m]. He once noted that while in college “he never had to go to class. Just show up for practices and games.”

Spectator-Related Problems

Today people spend much more time watching sports than they do playing them, and significant problems have resulted. For one thing, going to games often involves being exposed to obscene and even violent behavior by other spectators. Fights are common in the emotionally charged atmosphere of some sporting events, and hundreds have been injured and some killed while in attendance.

But today most spectators are not physically present at sporting events; they watch them on television. In the United States, a 24-hour sports channel devotes more time to daily sportscasts than any of the major networks devote to daily newscasts! But is watching sports in the privacy of one’s home problem-free?

Far from it. “For years my husband has known every professional sport individual,” explains one woman, “and he is not at all an isolated case. Few are his friends who do not watch sports on a regular basis. The biggest crime involving this activity,” this woman says, “is the influence it has on the children.” She adds: “I resent that my husband uses his personal time to watch sports without consideration for me or the children.”

An isolated complaint? Not at all. In households throughout much of the world, there are family members who spend too much time watching sports to the neglect of other members of the household. A Brazilian housewife points to a dangerous consequence: “The love and trust between a husband and wife can gradually be undermined, putting the marriage in danger.”

Sports enthusiasts often are unbalanced in other ways as well. They commonly idolize players, which some players themselves see as a problem. “When I entered my own hometown, people stood there and gazed up at me as if they were expecting blessings from the Pope,” German tennis star Boris Becker noted. “When I looked into the eyes of my fans . . . I thought I was looking at monsters. Their eyes were fixed and had no life in them.”

No question about it, sports can be a magnetic force that creates excitement and strong loyalties. People are fascinated not only by players’ teamwork and feats of skill but also by the uncertainty of a game’s outcome. They want to know who will win. Moreover, sports offer a diversion for millions from what may be to them a humdrum life.

Yet, can sports bring people happiness? Are there real benefits they can provide? And how can you avoid the problems associated with them?

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The Religion of Sports

Canadian Tom Sinclair-Faulkner has argued that ice “hockey is more than a game in Canada: it functions as a religion for many.” This is typical of the attitude displayed by many sports enthusiasts, no matter where they live.

For example, sports in the United States have been labeled “a positive secular religion.” Sports psychologist David Cox noted that “there are a lot of connections between sports and the dictionary definition of religion.” Some “people treat athletes as if they were gods or saints,” added Mr. Cox.

Sports fanatics make great sacrifices, devoting time and money to their sport, often at the expense of their families. Fans will devote countless hours to watching sports events on television. They will proudly don their team colors and publicly display sports emblems. They will sing songs with gusto and bellow chants that identify them as devotees of their sport.

Many athletes even pray for God’s blessing before a game and kneel down for a prayer of thanksgiving after scoring a goal. In the 1986 World Cup game, one Argentine soccer star attributed his goal to the hand of God. And like some religionists, sports fanatics have even been labeled “dogmatic fundamentalists.” This fanaticism has led to bloody, sometimes fatal, fights among rival fans.

Similar to false religion, the “secular religion” of sports provides “saints,” traditions, relics, and rituals for its avid followers but gives no real or lasting meaning to their lives.

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Players are often incapacitated

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Watching sports on TV can cause family dissension

Keeping Sports in Their Proper Place

WHEN people play their favorite sports, they feel exhilarated as their bodies respond and perform feats of skill or endurance. God created us to enjoy physical activity. Perhaps even more people derive pleasure from watching others play. So sports are much like many things that are good when kept in their proper place.

To illustrate: When people go to the beach to enjoy the sun, what happens if they get too much? They suffer a painful sunburn that spoils the good time and even poses serious risks. It is similar with sports. A little is good, but overexposure can be harmful.

Sports can be excellent relaxation and fun, yet they should not be an end in themselves. They do not bring true contentment or lasting happiness. Unfortunately it sometimes takes a tragedy for a person to realize this. “All my trophies and my medals, it just doesn’t matter,” explained Mary Wazeter, the female athlete who jumped from a bridge and was paralyzed.

“I have learned many truths about life,” she reported. “One is that true contentment is not attained in the ways that so many people strive for perfection and achievement. Contentment for me didn’t come from having been a straight-A student, a state-championship runner or the possessor of an attractive figure.”

Putting matters rather harshly into focus, sociologist John Whitworth noted: “At the end of the game, all you have is a list of statistics. It all seems rather rootless. However, I suppose that fits with our society.” The undue importance attached to sports today throws everything out of perspective.

After his victory in the 200-meter sprint in the 1964 Olympics, Henry Carr explained: “As I rode back to the Olympic Villages, I took my first real look at the gold medal. . . . I actually asked myself: ‘What in the world! For all these years I have been working hard, and to receive this?’ I was mad, when I should have been happy. It was a real letdown.” Marlon Starling felt similarly after winning the World Boxing Association welterweight championship in 1987. “The title,” he noted, “doesn’t match my kid saying, ‘I love you, Dad.’”

So a vital lesson can be learned: Productive work, family, and especially worship of God should properly take priority. The Bible is correct when it says: “Bodily training [which sports provide] is beneficial for a little.” (1 Timothy 4:8) That indicates the proper place for sports in our lives. It should be a secondary one. Since sports can be so fascinating, a person must be ever vigilant that more important things are not neglected.

Wisely, therefore, be sensitive if family members complain that you devote too much time talking about, watching, or playing sports. One woman, whose husband made adjustments in his attention to sports, gratefully noted: “He now spends more time with the children and me. Sometimes our family watches a game on television, but most evenings we walk together and talk about the events of the day. This is very pleasant and helps to keep us happy.”

In view of the potential problems, why not honestly face the question: Could I be devoting more time and attention to sports than I should? Yet, there are other aspects to this matter of keeping sports in a proper place.

What About Competition?

For games to be beneficial rather than harmful, a proper attitude toward competition is important. “Coaches, gym teachers, parents, and the kids themselves have become so intent on winning that they forget what sports [for young people] are all about,” lamented a physician for a professional hockey team. The purpose of sports, he said, should be “to develop teamwork and discipline, to build physical fitness, and, most important of all, to have fun.”

Sadly, however, the emphasis on winning has ruined the fun for many. Sports psychologist Bruce Ogilvie noted: “I once interviewed the rookies [first-year players] in 10 major league baseball camps and 87 per cent of them said they wished they’d never played Little League baseball because it took the joy out of what had been a fun game.” A related problem is that extreme competitiveness contributes to a high number of injuries.

The Bible provides guidelines, saying: “Let us not become egotistical, stirring up competition with one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:26) According to Greek-English lexicons, the Greek word here rendered “stirring up competition” means “to call forth,” “to challenge to a combat or contest with one.” Thus An American Translation has the rendering: “Let us not in our vanity challenge one another.” And the footnote of the New World Translation offers the alternative: “Forcing one another to a showdown.”

Clearly, then, stirring up competition is not wise. It does not create good relations. If you are forced to a showdown and defeated, and the victor boasts of the outcome, the experience can be humiliating. An intensely competitive attitude is unloving. (Matthew 22:39) At the same time, if the competition is kept on a friendly, good-natured level, it can contribute to the interest and enjoyment of a game.

Some may want to look for ways to play sports in such a way as to minimize the element of competition. “I’m a firm believer in sport for sport’s sake up to the age of 13 or 14,” one English soccer coach said. He recommended not keeping records of results or of the standing of the teams​—“no ladders, no finals.” Yes, the emphasis on winning should properly be minimized or eliminated entirely.

Attitude Toward Athletes

Keeping sports in their proper place will also involve our attitude toward talented, well-known athletes. Understandably, we might admire their athletic abilities and amazing feats. But should they be idolized? Youths are often seen to display posters of such athletes in their rooms. Do the achievements of such persons really make them worthy of honor? Perhaps just the opposite is the case.

A new player on a National Football League championship team at first looked with admiration to a lot of his teammates. But their conduct and attitude, he said, “just completely blew all feelings and the respect that I had for them.” He explained: “For example, they would say: ‘Hey, I made it with five girls last week, not including my wife.’ And I looked at the person and thought to myself: ‘So this is the guy I idolized.’”

Really, it is improper to idolize any human, and especially would this be true of those who excel in activity that the Bible says has little or limited benefit. God’s servants are urged to “flee from idolatry.”​—1 Corinthians 10:14.

How Sports Are Beneficial

As we have noted, the Bible says that physical training, such as that realized in sports, “is beneficial for a little.” (1 Timothy 4:8) In what ways is this so? How might you benefit from sports?

The second-century Greek physician Galen, personal physician to Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, stressed the importance of exercise for general health. And he recommended ball games, since these exercise the whole body in a natural way. Ball games are also usually fun to play, so a person will be more likely to play these games he enjoys than to engage in other forms of exercise.

Many find that the exercise derived from sports gives them a sense of well-being. After a stimulating workout or game, they feel rejuvenated and refreshed. Yet this should not be surprising, since, as Dr. Dorothy Harris says, “exercise is nature’s best tranquilizer.”

Physical exercise, such as that furnished by calisthenics, jogging, and games, is generally recognized today as being important to good health. “Physically fit people perform their usual tasks easily without tiring and still have energy for other interests,” The World Book Encyclopedia notes. “They also may be able to resist the effects of aging better than those who are physically unfit.”

Regardless, however, of how physically fit sports may assist a person to become, the benefit is limited. Aging and death cannot be thwarted by human efforts. Yet, after saying that “bodily training is beneficial for a little,” the Bible states: “Godly devotion is beneficial for all things, as it holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.”​—1 Timothy 4:8.

Only Jehovah God, our Creator, can give us life. Nothing, therefore, is more important than “godly devotion,” that is, reverence, worship, and service to God. So those practicing godly devotion will have as their priority doing God’s will. They will expend themselves in God’s service, using their youth as Jesus Christ did, telling others of the good things about God and his Kingdom.

Yes, by putting God’s interests first, humans can win his favor and attain life forever in his righteous new world. There the happy God, Jehovah, will give them true and lasting happiness and contentment.