Owen Schmitt was always a favorite player of mine during his tenure as starting fullback at WVU. Tough-as-nails, but always playing for the joy of the game, he seemed to like hitting more than positive yardage. He plays for the Seattle Seahawks, and is number 2 on their depth chart at fullback so I thought I’d have to wait a while before he made the top ten plays of the week on Sports Center. I was wrong, because he made it last Sunday. He didn’t make it for a spectacular carry (he didn’t have any), for a great catch (he had one reception for 3 yards), or for a crushing block (he did have a few of those). He made Sports Center’s Top Ten Plays (coming in at #4) for what he did as he came onto the field at the start of the game. To pump himself up he was hitting himself in the head with his own helmet. The place where the face mask bolts into the visor cut a sizeable gash in his forehead and blood gushed everywhere – mostly down his face. With his face covered in his own blood, he was still grinning, and screaming, and pumping himself up for the game. Awesome.
Also awesome is the pre-game war dance some teams are doing in High Schools and colleges. It is called the “Haka,” and comes from a war dance done by Tongans, and by the Maoris of New Zealand. The Haka was first done at a sporting event by New Zealand’s rugby team in 1905, and became a tradition. One hundred years later the dance made its appearance at a high school football game in Euless, Texas. Many Tongans had immigrated to the area, and Tongans on the football team taught the dance to their teammates. It was an effective way to pump the team up, and frighten the other team (something worked, Euless won the State Championship). If you have ever seen the Haka then you know how impressive and frightening it is.
My High School soccer team used to listen to KISS and slam each other into lockers to get pumped for games – but we went 1-12, so maybe we should have learned some Melanesian war dances (or made sure all the locker doors were closed first).
Successful teams have rituals to get focused and pumped up. By “pumped-up” I am describing a real, physical response – a self induced state of heightened energy and aggression that all who have played competitive sports have experienced. Maybe it just happens in your head. Maybe you induce yourself to release endorphins, and fight-or-flight hormones. But something happens. If it doesn’t – if the adrenalin doesn’t flow – then you get run over by the guy who is jacked-up on adrenalin and endorphins.
The New Testament uses sports to describe our daily struggle against Satan. Paul talks about training as a boxer, and a runner (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, 1 Timothy 2:6). The Hebrews writer gives an extended description of our Christian life as a stadium event, a distance race to be run (Hebrews 12:1). These passages emphasize the self control, and attention to the rules of play each successful athlete maintains. But there is more.
There is motivation. One motivation in these passages is the spectators – the “great cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1, and the “others” to whom Paul has preached (1 Corinthians 9:27). We’re not playing one on one with the Devil in the back yard, after sunset, under a single dusk-till-dawn light. We are playing in prime-time, on CBS, in the Superdome, for the National Championship. There are myriads of others who care – who are invested in our success.
A second motivation is the price of failure itself. When Paul describes being “disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27) we know what that means – the terminality, the finality of it. Satan is a predatory beast who wants to devour us (1 Peter 5:8). Many of our brethren had to face predatory beasts in the stadiums of the Roman Empire, in front of paying fans who considered the Lions the home team, so his words are particularly resonant. Preparation is necessary – we must be ready to fight. Hebrews talks about taking off the leg weights before the race starts (Hebrews 12:1). Paul, the spiritual boxer, talks about “buffeting his body” to stay prepared (Hebrews 12:27). Some translations use the word “discipline” for “buffet” but the word, specific to boxing, means to punch in the face, to give a black eye – which is the preparation boxers make when they spar, and something like what Owen Schmitt did before the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday.
A third motivation is Jesus himself. This is nothing so sentimental as winning one for George Gip. We “fix our eyes” on Him when we run our race, because he suffered more than we have (or will), and because he has already attained the victory for us all (Hebrews 12:1-4). He faced Satan down in the wilderness and Satan left in defeat (Luke 4:1-13), and so when we are told “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7), we’ve seen Jesus do it so we know that it can be done.
We are given ample motivation – the fans, the price of failure, the face of our savior. It is now ours to prepare – to cultivate discipline, to develop strength and endurance, to focus, to energize – to be ready. New Zealand and Euless, Texas footballers do the Haka. Owen Schmitt hits himself with his helmet. What will we do?
