BEREA — A player points reverentially to the sky as he crosses the goal line. Dozens of players from both teams meet near the 50-yard line after the game and drop to one knee in prayer. The images are as familiar as touchdown dances and drunken fans.
Christianity has become as synonymous with the NFL as Brett Favre rumors and Peyton Manning commercials.
HBO’s “Real Sports” cited studies in which as many as 40 percent of NFL players considered themselves born again. The Lord’s Prayer is said after every game in the locker room. Interviews are increasingly filled with references to God’s influence. The Hall of Fame speeches in Canton sounded like sermons.
“The NFL’s a lot more receptive than when I came into the league in ’97,” said Browns cornerback Terry Cousin, who’s played for Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Carolina and Jacksonville. “It has changed. Guys understand the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

A home for faith

Religion has always been a part of life in America, and therefore sports in America. But the separation between church and football is smaller than ever.
“Some guys are more open with their faith now than it ever used to be,” said Browns coach Romeo Crennel, who entered the NFL in 1981. “I don’t know that that’s a bad thing. They’re stating what their beliefs are and more guys feel confident in being able to do that in today’s society and today’s environment.”
As groups such as Athletes in Action, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Champions for Christ have blossomed, the locker room has become a place where God and faith are increasingly welcome and openly discussed.
“There has been a lot of growth since the late ’70s, early ’80s,” said Tom Petersburg, a member of Athletes in Action and Browns chaplain since 1979. Athletes in Action is the sports ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. “But there’s probably a greater awareness the last 10 years.”
Petersburg is a regular in the locker room during the week and flies on the team plane to road games. He hosts a chapel service the night before the game and a variety of Bible studies during the week. Petersburg’s wife also leads a Bible study for the players’ wives and girlfriends.
He said the participation in chapel or Bible study varies by season. Some years 40 of the 53 players will go to chapel, while other years it’s seven or eight. Tuesday night, 15 players participated in the Bible study.
“The NFL is a great place to practice your faith,” said tight end Darnell Dinkins, who described himself as a powerful man of God.
Running back Jason Wright said the long season, close quarters of the locker room and common goal morph the team into a family, which creates an atmosphere conducive to growing faith.
“As far as people seeing what you truly believe and what you’re really about and what you believe about God, it comes across in a lot more clear way,” he said. “You get to know each other better than a cubicle mate.”
For many instant millionaires, the timing is right to reconsider the role of faith in his life.
“A lot of guys became a Christian in high school, went to college and took a left turn,” Petersburg said. “Guys arrive in the pros and have reached a goal and it’s not everything it’s made out to be.
“It’s a wakeup call. It’s not fulfilling. They think, ‘I really messed up in college, how do I get back on track?’”

Image isn’t everything

As the visibility of Christianity has increased within the NFL, so has the publicity of its dark side.
ProFootballTalk.com tracks the days without the arrest of an NFL player — 27 is the record. Former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth is convicted of conspiring to murder his pregnant girlfriend. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick goes to jail for running a dogfighting ring. Reports of drunk driving and domestic violence are as common as injury updates.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has been vocal about his desire to clean up the league and has increased punishment for bad conduct, but the league’s image in the general public is often one of thugs gone wild.
That doesn’t go over well inside the locker room.
“It’s a stereotype that’s hard to overcome,” Browns general manager Phil Savage said. “The negatives have been so amplified through the media.”
“For me, the 2 or 3 percent of guys that actually do do stuff and get caught up doesn’t take over for the 95, 96, 97 percent of guys who are going well, got foundations, helping kids, paying back, starting businesses,” Dinkins said.
More bothersome than a player who slips up is a self-proclaimed “man of faith” who ends up in the newspaper with a mugshot and negative headline. Falcons safety Eugene Robinson is the signature example, as he was arrested the night before the Super Bowl on a charge of soliciting an undercover police officer for oral sex. Earlier that day, he was honored with the Bart Starr Award by Athletes in Action for displaying “high moral character.”
The intense scrutiny for professional athletes is a fact of life, so Petersburg has a warning for players new in faith.
“I advise them to keep the volume down for a while,” he said. “He doesn’t need to be in the limelight right away with his faith.”

A melting pot

An NFL team consists of 53 players, not including the practice squad, coaching staff and front office. It would be impossible to get everyone to agree on a television program to watch, let alone a religious belief.
The Browns offer an interesting collection.
Owner Randy Lerner is Jewish, Savage is a devout Christian and Crennel is private about his faith. He grew up going to church and said, “I have faith,” when asked about his beliefs.
Inside the locker room, the evangelical Christians mix with Catholics, non-believers and Lennie Friedman, the lone Jew.
“There is definitely a lot of religion in the locker room and guys talk a lot,” Friedman said. “I always thought it was fun being different because people ask you questions and you get to meet people that way and explain your beliefs and stuff like that. It’s been very fun, very interesting.”
Sociological convention says not to discuss politics or religion for fear of alienating someone. The same concern applies to the locker room. Believers may want to spread the Word, non-believers may want to be left alone, Muslims may feel underrepresented.
“People are going to become friends and faith is going to come up as a topic, whether you’re on different ends of the disagreement or on the same end,” Wright said. “Some of my closest friends on the team are ones who believe almost exactly what I believe about God and some that believe completely the opposite.”
Friedman is a thoughtful, intelligent man who attended Duke University. He said he’s not put off by the pervasiveness of Christianity throughout the NFL.
“Most of it’s done by the athletes,” he said. “When it’s done by the athletes, it’s never a problem because people should be free to do whatever they want to do.
“If it’s something I don’t want to be a part of, I just step aside from it. I’ve never had a real negative experience with it at all.”
To a man, the Browns said religious conflict isn’t a problem in their locker room. But punter Dave Zastudil, a Catholic, said it became an issue during his time with the Ravens.
“Everyone respects everyone’s choice and their religion and how they go about it,” he said of the Browns.
The Bible study and chapel service are non- or inner-denominational, and the Browns also offer a Catholic Mass.
Petersburg has worked with the Indians and Cavaliers, and thinks there’s a greater respect for faith in the NFL.
“In football, they know a career can be over in any given second,” he said. “It broadens your perspective just a little bit. There’s a little more respect for what’s going on in life.”

A few good men

The Browns are just 20-28 since Savage and Crennel took over in 2005, but the GM claims a better success rate off the field.
“Romeo and I would point with pride to the very few incidents since we’ve been here,” Savage said.
Just about every front office speaks to the importance of character. It cuts down on distractions, improves the team’s public image, makes it easier to sell advertising and cures many headaches.
But where does character end and religion begin?
Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies made headlines in 2006 when a USA Today article depicted the organization as embracing a “Christian-based code of conduct.” Bibles were read in the locker room, while Playboy and Maxim were forbidden.
The organization was nervous about being so public with its beliefs and later backpedaled by stressing its acceptance of other faiths.
Savage isn’t shy about professing his faith — the cross around his neck ranges from half-inch silver to 2-inch wooden — but said he has never discussed it with Crennel and doesn’t know a player’s religion when drafting.
“We’re all here for football,” he said. “My job is to put a winning team on the field.”
That would elicit a consistent response from Browns fans: Amen.
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

 

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