Readers React: Does Jesus care which team wins a football game?

To the editor: If you really think about asking for God’s help in winning a sporting event, you might not be inclined to ask for God’s help at all. (“What a team — football and Jesus,” Op-Ed, Sept. 13)

If we ask for God’s help and we win, it must mean that God disfavored the losing side. In a team sporting even, why would God take sides unless one team was morally or spiritually deficient? Why would we ask for God’s help in prevailing over other individuals who are equally deserving?

This obviously puts God in an awkward position, and that seems rather selfish.

Further, we can imagine that God is fairly busy with matters of greater concern than sports. Do we really want to consign God to the level of an exalted fan? Why not keep it simple and let our sporting events be decided by athleticism and chance?

Ron Ellsworth, La Mesa, Calif.

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To the editor: Diane Roberts’ intriguing piece on Christianity’s close connection to the gridiron recalls Times sports writer Sam Farmer’s column on Dec. 26, 2014, looking back at the iconic “Hail Mary” pass from Roger Staubach to Drew Pearson in the 1975 NFL playoffs.

After that last-second desperation play notched an improbable win for Dallas over Minnesota, Staubach — a devout Roman Catholic — disclosed that he’d said a “Hail Mary” prayer as the football arced toward Pearson.

Divine intervention won the game? Maybe not.

Farmer’s column went on to note that while Staubach led the offense downfield, some Cowboys defenders were at work elsewhere. Linebacker Dave Edwards, a superstitious sort, convened a stream of defensive players to walk along the sidelines as he uttered a mystical chant. To their delight, this pagan ploy “worked” — Pearson made the pivotal catch.

Who knows whether Staubach’s Catholic prayer or Edwards’ superstitious chant won the game? Perhaps both were right. You gotta believe … in something.

Edward Alston, Santa Maria

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To the editor: It has always seemed blasphemous to me to expect God to intervene in the outcome of a football game while he ignores birth defects, wars, murders and other problems.

Kevin McGill, Chula Vista, Calif.

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