Training Camp has begun and I find myself getting a little excited about the football season. Last year was extra special because my STEELERS took the title.
But have you ever noticed people can become a little intense when it comes to supporting their teams? You see it all the time from painting faces, going shirtless in frigid weather, pelting others with beer and pretzels, and booing every time a play doesn't go their way. I have even seen fans cheer when an opposing player gets clobbered or worse, injured.
There is no doubt football season is an exciting time of the year--but sometimes we become so consumed by this form of entertainment that it is easy to make their world become a central part of our own.
I know some people who can't stop talking about football. I know some people whose emotional state is dictated by how their team performs. For example, during the Superbowl last year one of my good friends would not talk to me for a week because his team lost the game to my STEELERS. The funny thing is that he isn't even a Arizona Cardinals fan.
There are two psychological terms for this according to Sigmund Freud, perhaps the most well known psychiatrist ever in the profession. One is called repression, which is essentially stuffing or holding onto your feelings so they are stuck in your subconscious. (i.e. Not being able to let go of the fact that the Seahawks lost Superbowl XL to the Steelers). The other is known as transference, which means transferring your feelings to another like-minded object (i.e. Imagining that the Seahawks are in fact the Arizona Cardinals). This is what happened to several of my friends during the latest Superbowl. They were devastated when the STEELERS won again and they did not want to talk about it. Can you say, repression and transference.
In the end, Football is just a game and it cannot help you with your lot in life. The players in most cases don't know you and if they did.....they wouldn't really care about you. What they care about is their world. What they want you to care about is their world. In the end, we have to monitor what we allow to dictate our lives. We need to make sure that what we are passionate about is what really matters in life.
Ultimately, that is where God comes into the picture. He wants you to be passionate about acknowledging Him and helping others! If your going to paint your face or shave your head, do it for a cancer victim that is going through chemo. If you are going to consume your mind with something, make sure it involves making a difference in the world and allowing people to see the Jesus in you. Finally, don't try to help someone on your own. What makes football fun is being around your friends to enjoy the experience. Likewise, helping someone in need is more beneficial and more likely to happen if you do it with others who have a similar mindset. So don't live out this fall season by being consumed with athletes who don't care about you; instead be consumed with someone who does, namely your neighbor or someone in need of seeing the love of Jesus.
This doesn't mean you should stop watching football, that would be nuts. It just means enjoy football for what it is, simply a form of entertainment. Take a step back and recognize that it is pretty silly in the scheme of things to let a football team occupy your heart to the point where it borders on worship. Therefore, as we watch football in 2009 it will be important to make sure that we have our helmet on right.
In the meantime....Go STEELERS!
