Joe Pa and the Bear

29 years ago Bear Bryant died 4 weeks after coaching his last football game.  Joe Paterno died this morning 11 weeks after coaching his last game.  Two legendary college football coaches whose careers have been compared many times over the years now share one more trait; they couldn’t live without the game.  As the dust has settled a bit from the awful November revelations of Jerry Sandusky’s alleged molestations of young boys, attitudes towards Paterno’s poor judgment in the matter have softened.  While it is still apparent that Paterno should have done more, his own admission of such as well as his failing health have caused the media to focus more on his “full body of work” at Penn State to capture his legacy. 

Joe admitted that he didn’t know how to deal with Mike McQueary’s  report of what happened in the  shower room,  and he settled for informing Penn State administrators thinking that they would have more expertise in dealing with the situation.  He should have done more.  He should have thought about future victims instead of potential embarrassment to the university.  This is obvious in retrospect, but given similar circumstances, how many of us would have behaved differently?  After all, he didn’t hide it; he passed the problem up the line. So did McQueary.  We think of our heroes like Joe Paterno as being better than the rest of us in all respects.  This event proves that while iconic football coaches like Paterno and Bryant are superior in one field, they can be extraordinarily human and average in other aspects of life.

Paterno’s longevity was both legendary and controversial.  He was asked to retire in 2004 after consecutive losing seasons but refused.  For the past two seasons his frail appearance evoked more pity than adulation and the injury that he suffered this season when accidentally hit by a player during practice took him off the sidelines and may have accelerated his death.  An argument can be made that he was too old to coach in 2002 when as a 75 year old man, he faced a decision that would later turn out to be career and life defining.  Would a younger, more energetic Paterno, a man of unquestioned  integrity and honesty, have dealt with McQueary’s revelation in a more proactive way?

It’s been said that Joe Paterno died of a broken heart.  In a sense, his sudden death relieves him of the pain of watching the sordid Sandusky affair unfold in the courts later this year.  Time does heal and Paterno’s legacy will be less tarnished as time moves on.  A lesson that we can all learn is that public icons are no better than the rest of us outside of their field and we all have a responsibility to act when presented with the opportunity to stop a threat to society.

Tebowmania

Now that the Denver Broncos have been eliminated from the NFL playoffs, “Tebowmania” should subside, at least for a few months.  After watching Tim Tebow’s play since he took over as starting quarterback in mid-season, I have to agree with Mel Kiper and the other draft gurus who claimed two years ago that he did not have the skill set necessary to be a successful quarterback in the NFL.  Yet despite lousy mechanics, so-so arm strength, and poor accuracy, he actually led mediocre Denver to eight wins including a first round playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Was there divine intervention at work here?  And so the Tim Tebow mystique continues and the legend grows.
Of course Tebow is so newsworthy because of his unprecedented combination of athletic ability and evangelical Christian focus.  Of all the athletes who have started a press conference by thanking their Lord and savior Jesus Christ, (and there have been too many), he is the most genuine.  The media, who love to build up and then tear down heroes, are unlikely to find a skeleton in Tim’s closet, but you know they will look hard.  Tebow’s evangelical work in prisons, with young people, and his habit of spending time with critically ill people before games is well documented.  These are admirable traits so why is he such a polarizing figure? 

People who outwardly demonstrate such a strong, confident faith can be disconcerting to those of us who struggle with faith or who remain bewildered by the mysteries of God and the universe.  The ministry of Bob Tebow, Tim’s father, is based on an extremely conservative, fundamentalist, Christian belief.  The Tebows believe that the words of the Bible are inerrant, including the book of Genesis.  They, like many other evangelicals, believe that salvation is only achieved through belief in Jesus Christ.   It is a ministry that is very intolerant of other beliefs (Christian or otherwise) and is blatantly anti-Catholic.  According to their website, their ministry in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, has five major priorities; Evangelism, Church Planting, Pastor Training, an Orphanage, and the Training of the Next Generation of Evangelists.  I’ll give them credit for the orphanage. 

It must be very comforting to have such a strong and simplistic faith.  Personally I struggle with the contradiction between John 3:16 (salvation through faith alone) and the 25^th chapter of Matthew (where Jesus instructs the Apostles to love their neighbor as the means to salvation).  I can accept the book of Genesis as an inspirational story of God’s covenant with man, but I can’t accept the contradictions with evolution or cosmology that arise if one takes the creation account literally.  I also can’t accept that there is no place in Heaven for those who live their lives in accordance with Matthew 25:31-46 whether they have ever heard of Jesus Christ or not.  I respect and admire Tim Tebow for his character and his virtue.  For at least a few months I won’t miss his press conferences with the obligatory reminders of his father’s religion.