Not my first day at the races, thanks

I feel like I have to do this after every playoff loss, which is ridiculous, but anyway. I am not a Steelers fan "only when they win." I have two words for you: Bubby. Brister. That was...1987 or so. And I have never wavered. Not once, not even a little. I remember the loss in the AFC Championship game to the Chargers in early `95. The loss to the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX (matter of fact, I still have nightmares. Oh Neil O'Donnell, why did you throw it straight to Larry Brown not once, but TWICE? And I'm pretty sure there's a third interception in there somewhere, but anyway). Broncos in `97, Patriots in 2001 and 2004, Super Bowl XLV, and last night.  And yet I'm still here. I remember guys like Yancey Thigpen, Dermontti Dawson, Jason Gildon, Myron Bell, Mark Bruener, Carnell Lake, Bam Morris, Barry Foster. And of course, Jerome Bettis. I remember the QB merry-go-round that was going from the time Bradshaw left (before I was born, just for the record) to the time that Roethlisberger showed up. Every single one from Bubby Brister up to now.

I remember the bad times, and there were many. Super Bowl XXX, the AFC Championship losses, the Thanksgiving Day coin toss debacle, three seasons of total mediocrity from 1998-2000. 6-10 in 2003. Hines Ward crying in the locker room after the loss to New England in the AFC Championship game at the end of the 2004 season, in which the Steelers finished with a regular season of 15-1, their best ever. I think that's why that one hurt the most. Everyone was telling me, "The Steelers are going to win it all this year!" This was something I wanted SO BADLY, because I'd been waiting years for it. I was in tears after that game. Saw the clip with Hines Ward the next day and started crying all over again. He wanted Jerome to come back for another year. We all did. And so he did.

The Steelers won Super Bowl XL the following year. I watched it in my dormroom on my 13" TV.  Huge rollercoaster, that one. Jerome Bettis fumbling on the goal line against Indy? *passes out* Oh, by the way...

That's for the Seahawks fans who are still whining. 

The Steelers wouldn't make it to XLI or XLII, but I was ok with that. I finally had my Super Bowl. They made it to Super Bowl XLIII, which I watched with friends. And got nervous, because one of them, who shall remain nameless, kept yelling against the Steelers, because he had money on the game. That year was actually the best, because, while Super Bowl XL was my first, and special in its own way - the touchdown in the above picture is most likely my favorite - Super Bowl XLIII marked the first of three of my teams winning their respective championships that year. The Penguins took the Cup, and the Yankees took the Series. I'd waited all my life for that to happen, too. All three of my teams winning in the same year, not the Yankees winning the Series.

Then there was Super Bowl XLV. I took it better than I thought I would - I think for two reasons. One: Roethlisberger is a waaaaaaaaaay better QB than O'Donnell, Tomczak, Stewart, Graham, and Maddox ever were, obviously. Even injured, because he did try to come back last night. The defense just...yah. Oops. The other QBs I mentioned would never have pulled that off. But Super Bowl XLV. Here's reason #2: I have seen not one, but TWO Super Bowl victories up to this point. It made it less painful to deal with, and same goes for last night.

I've been on this bandwagon for almost my entire life. And yes, I stuck with my team over Tim Tebow last night. Oh, that means I'm less of a Christian? Grow up. I've found the Tebow fans to be the most obnoxious. I like the guy; his book's on my shelf, waiting to be read, but come on. I'm not going to bail on the team I've stuck with for a couple of decades for one player. I'm accepting this loss with grace, as I always have. But man, you guys are making it difficult. Oh, by the way, next year? We'll be back.

God and Football

So the Steelers lost to the Broncos today. I'm over it. To be quite honest, I'd rather lose to Tim Tebow than Tom Brady. The former has more class than the latter. I hope they beat the Patriots next week, although I'm not holding my breath. I'm rooting for the Giants to get to the Super Bowl; failing that, the Saints. Anyway, the point of all this. I got a message through Facebook telling me that if I were a true Christian, I would have rooted for the Broncos today. Because God's apparently a Broncos fan, with Tim Tebow on the team and all. And apparently all the rest of the teams in the NFL are heathens. I applaud Tebow for not hiding his faith. But he's not the only Christian in the NFL. And he's definitely not the only one who shows his faith (Troy Polamalu, I'm looking at you).

(Yes, my boys pray, too)

People say that faith has no place in sports, because God doesn't play favorites. You're right, He doesn't. Here's how this works: God gives everyone something to work with. Then He leaves it to us. Randy Pausch wrote in The Last Lecture, "It's not about the cards you are dealt, but how you play the hand." God isn't steering everything. He may be saying "Well done, my good and faithful servant" to Tim Tebow for using what he was given to work with; however, He would say the same thing to Troy Polamalu, had the Steelers won today. So please...God doesn't love Tim Tebow more than anyone else. Tebow only seized the opportunities as they presented themselves. The Steelers didn't. That alone is why they lost.

I am Second: Daniel Sepulveda

Last Sunday, I was asked about my football jersey. Yes, I wear the football jersey of a punter on game day. Watch this video and you'll see why. The Steelers took Daniel Sepulveda in the fourth round of the NFL Draft in 2007. He has torn his ACL three times in his professional career; I believe he also tore it in college, but the Steelers took a chance on him anyway. And I'm glad they did. He has been hurt a lot, but he has brought something intangible to this team. To a lot of people, that's not worth much. They want whomever can make the team win. But character's big. Godly character's even bigger.

Tearing the Veil

Tearing the Veil

This is a sermon that I gave at High Peaks Church in Saranac Lake, NY on December 4, 2011. It was my first. The source text was John 9:1-3, where Jesus and his disciples encounter the blind man by the side of the road. His disciples assume that his blindness is because he or his parents sinned. This is a common Old Testament thought, which I talk about in the message. I also talk about why Jesus tells them they are wrong. I gave this message for a class, but I chose this text, because it is what I myself have been through. I have had people tell me that it was because I hadn't accepted Christ as my personal savior. I even got that from people after I got saved. A huge problem today with my fellow Christians is that they tend to cite only the Old Testament. When the veil was torn, a new covenant came to be. The old has gone, the new has come. Homosexuality, for example, is still a sin in the New Testament. At least, it is implied, which means it's open to interpretation; however, if you talk to the average Christian about it, they always cite Leviticus 18:22. They should try citing the New Testament; however, I see why they don't. There isn't anything in the New Testament that is anywhere near as explicit as Leviticus 18:22, hence the openness to interpretation. My sermon was about a couple of different things. It was an exhortation to do your best with the hand you're dealt and not play dead when an obstacle shows up. It was also an effort to get people to delve more into the New Testament. After all, the question we have to ask is "What would Jesus do?" He didn't preach messages of hate or defeat. He hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes. The Bible does say, "Be perfect as your Father is perfect." However, our perfection is not the same as God's perfection. Our perfection is purely legal. You follow the rules, you're perfect. But Jesus didn't follow the rules. He followed His rules. We need to stop using God to push messages of hate, and actually study the Word to see what it really says.