Public display of God not part of competition

There was a bit of a controversy during Super Bowl week regarding a certain player's morals. It was not a question of drugs, rape or some of the other assorted criminal activities many players seem to engage in (remember, the Cowboys weren't in the Super Bowl).

White suggested he lead a world prayer after the game to let players, fans and viewers around the world express their faith publicly. The world prayer never came to fruition. However, after the game, as after every game White plays, he led a group of players and other personnel in prayer.

The prayer was shown, as usual, on television. During the postgame interview, White continually thanked Christ for all of the opportunities and good fortune in his life.

White decided there was no better place than the Super Bowl to drive home the message of Christ to the millions of viewers, and he did just that. The evidence is in the fact that it became a public debate as to whether White was right or wrong.

So what is the issue here?

Apparently, many people feel White should limit his praise to God and talk about football during football interviews. I didn't realize how offended some people were until I talked to a friend from home the other night.

Indeed, I have noticed athletes including White, Evander Holyfield and Brett Butler publicly express their love and thanks to God in various interviews, and some do go a little overboard by extolling God during every response.

I don't think the athletes mentioned above are hypocrites. I believe the people I mentioned have a special relationship with God and live their life in high moral fashion. However, I think they have made it status quo for a lot of athletes to speak about God during every interview, which can become very dangerous.

When someone says, "I love you," over and over again, it tends to lose its meaning and becomes routine. I think that's how a lot of fans are starting to feel about athletes praising God over and over.

In 12 years of Roman Catholic education, I remember being taught that Jesus said people who pray in front of everyone and make a big production out of it are hypocrites, and God would rather a person pray in private. And no, I can't point out the exact book, chapter and verse where it is in the Bible. That's not the point.

What I'm saying is that I believe prayer is a personal experience. I think it's great if White and other athletes want to praise God after a game -- once. However, if they want to frequently recognize God as their savior, they should do it in church or privately.

I don't want to limit their freedom of speech, but when athletes are asked how he hit a game-winning shot, "God guided the ball in the basket," is not a valid answer.

The situation with White got out of hand. He repeatedly said God had his hand on the Packers and the team was blessed. Does that mean God doesn't like the Patriots? Does that mean God plays favorites?

I think some people probably interpreted it that way.

Personally, I don't think God cares who wins the Super Bowl. I hope God doesn't care who wins the Super Bowl because I think there are bigger issues for God to deal with -- even though the game is played on his day off.