The Get Back Coach

This video is a humorous look at a phenomena in American sports.  In American style football most teams have a coach who is assigned to act was the “get back coach” during games.

Sometimes, during the heat of a game, one of the team’s coaches or players will become so emotional that he will run out onto the field of play. This can result in a penalty being assessed on the coaches team. In the professional version of American football, the action may even result in monetary fines assessed against the team. Sometimes, players and coaches in unauthorized areas on the field can even be injured by accidentally colliding with 300 pound men running while wearing protective armor and hard helmets.

To prevent penalties and/or injuries, one of the other coaches is assigned the in-game duty of being the “get back coach.”  He continually reminds the other coaches and players to “get back” when they get too close to illegally entering the field of play by crossing over the sideline “out-of-bounds” strip of paint.  He will often resort to grabbing the momentarily insane coach and “escorting” him back off the field of play. 

 Sometimes, we as Christians can go off on tangents and have to be grabbed and restrained by a loyal friend until we return to our senses.

“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” Galatians 6:1. 

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Christian Sport Bike Racing

Christian Sport Bike Racing is a ministry devoted to maintaining a Christian presence in the sport of motorcycle sport racing. The members of the group make their presence known at the track by wearing 
logo clothing and placing banners in prominent view. By making themselves known, they present the opportunity for those who are interested to ask questions or seek counseling.

The group provides chapel services, free Bibles, tracts, biblical literature, and Christian videos to anyone who asks. They take the message into the sport that Christian laymen have a ministry wherever they are, as ambassadors for Christ.


"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:20

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Jerome Riester: (b.1919, New York, USA – d.2011, aka: Brother Julian) Franciscan friar; carpenter, gardener, and handyman at Bonaventure University. Twin brother of Irving Reister; both died on the same day.  He should not be confused with the same-named Julian Reister (b.1986), a German professional tennis player. Their father had five daughters, asked for a son, and got twin sons. Roman Catholic.

Irving Riester: (b.1919, New York, USA – d.2011, aka: Brother Adrian) Franciscan friar; carpenter, gardener, and handyman at Bonaventure University. Twin brother of Jerome Reister; both died on the same day. Their father had five daughters, asked for a son, and got twin sons. Roman Catholic.

Laurece Davis: (b. 1965, Illinois, USA; aka: Rece Davis) ESPN sports television journalist, television anchor.

Jay Barker: (b. 1972, Alabama, USA) College and professional American football quarterback, radio sports commentator.  Evangelical. Husband of country music performer Sara Evans.

Sara Lynn Evans : (b. 1971, Missouri, USA) Professional country music singer, songwriter, quitarist, author. Evangelical.  Wife of Jay Barker.

Gridiron Men's Conference 2011

The Gridiron Men's Conference will be held July 29-30, 2011 at the Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  The conference is associated with Phil Waldrep Ministries  and with Pine Terrace Baptist Church.  Coleman Coliseum is the home of the University of Alabama men's and women's basketball teams.

Speakers at the conference include sports announcer Pat Summerall, 1996 Heisman Trophy Winner and National Football League quarterback Danny Wuerffel, National Basketball Association executive Pat Williams, Big Oak Ranch founder John Croyle, Christian comedian Ken Davis, and Baptist Minister of Music Charles Billingsley.



For those who may not know, "gridiron" is a reference to American-style football.  The rectangular shape of the football field, crossed by regularly spaced painted lines, resembles a gridiron (griddle), a metal frame of parallel bars used to broil or grill meat, fish, and vegetables.

The word "griddle" comes from the Old North French word "gredil" and, ultimately, from the Latin word "cratis," a lattice or wickerwork.

Sports Competition

     In yesterday's post I spoke against the Get Out of My Way or I'm Gonna Run Over You mentality.  I knew as I wrote it that it could be taken as a swipe against sports competition.  That's not what I meant at all.  In fact, in football, you're supposed to run over your opponent.  I support that.  The difference is in the underlying attitude.  One attitude is demeaning and belittling, the other shows respect for your opponent.

     It has become common for football players to want to gloat and to perform elaborate celebration rituals after scoring a touchdown or making a good play.  Some even want to stand over a knocked down  opponent and to glare menacingly at him to produce intimidation.  

     Football leagues have rightly established penalties for such behavior and the punishments are  appropriate not just because the behaviors delay the game.  The actions are demeaning and insulting to the team and/or players against whom they are directed.

     The legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant was certainly no stranger to rough, physical football and he was not, to my knowledge, particularly religious.  There were rumors about his personal failings, but, as a coach, he knew how to train young men in the proper attitudes for sports competition.  He taught them how to be proper men and most of his players came to remember him as almost a second father.

     When a player scored a touchdown, Bryant told him to act like he had done it before and as if he planned to do it again.  Players who would not comply lost playing time.

     Players who gloated over a successful quarterback sack, or a great block, or a brilliant interception, lost playing time.

     Coach Bryant was no stranger to the tactic of intimidation, but it was an intimidation which paradoxically showed a respect for the opponent.  He told his players to knock their opponent down and then to offer him a hand up.  Then to turn around and knock him down again.  After a few rounds of this process, the opponent would begin to expect to be knocked down.

     There are people who would like to ban competitive sport altogether because they say it crushes the spirits of the less talented.  The reality is that properly administered sports can teach teamwork, self-confidence, how to deal with failure without loss of self-esteem, how to deal with success, and how to engage in equitable and honorable competition without malice toward one's opponent.  The lessons which can be learned in competitive sports can be applied to one's work career and interpersonal relations.

     The Apostle Paul saw nothing wrong with competitive sports and even used a sports analogy to make a point.

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?  So run, that ye may obtain."  1 Corinthians 9:24.