If it is one thing that came out of the Penn State-Nebraska game, it was not a loss for Penn State. It was a win-win for both teams. Why? Check out how the game started:
That man standing in the center is Ron Brown, an assistant coach with Nebraska. Notice in the picture that in a packed stadium, both teams, game officials, and coaches are present. What a display of unity, support, and class for college football. While many students rioted (or for some, protested) Joe Paterno’s departure, these college athletes stopped and made a statement. They prayed. For some, it may have been a moment of silence, but for others it was a start to the path of healing.
This shows all the world what is at the heart of people in college sports despite the actions of key leaders in the Penn State football program and university. There is still a sense of concern for the victims, the university, and students. They are all in it together. We are all in it together.
Back to the picture.
Who is Brown? And what did he say when this picture was taken? The Washington Post gives us some more info on Brown:
Nebraska’s 54-year-old running backs coach represents is a deep Christian faith. His eagerness to espouse his conservative religious beliefs has earned him many fans but also critics who contend he wrongly uses his platform as an assistant to proselytize at a major public institution. Brown said he didn’t know until Friday night that he would be the leader of the solemn gathering, after he spoke with officials of Athletes in Action and campus ministries. They agreed that the alleged child sex-abuse victims of a former Penn State assistant needed to be acknowledged and remembered.
When pressed to explained what he prayed for Brown only talked about the whole situation:
“I really think that God was in the stadium,” he said. “We felt like it would be appropriate to let a stadium, a city, a university and the whole nation understand that the reality of the situation and that Jesus Christ is alive and wanted to heal, wanted to heal young boys across this planet who have gone through child abuse and also the healing situation at the university.”
“It wasn’t really a message,” he said. “I was talking to the Lord. I was asking God. The first thing I said was I thank God for being chosen. Why else?
“It was just a reminder that God chose this time. It was beyond anyone’s control, but what we could control was our attitude and our spirit and what we could remind America was that there are a lot of little boys around this country who are watching this game, trying to make sense of life, through a game of football.”
Coach Brown prayed for the victims and asked for foolish actions to be put away. Thanks to Coach Brown who led these college athletes into understanding the broader perspective. There is more to life than football, a coach’s career, and a university’s reputation.
11 Comments
and for this…I am thankful.
Diane, I was so hopeful that something like this, although small, would emerge at the game.
Honestly, I’m disappointed. Not in you, Alan, but in this display. Where’s the righteous indignation? Where’s the prophetic call for healing that says transformation is needed, that a change is gonna come? Where’s the lament, Alan? There’s no LAMENT! He should be weeping. The institutions and the people within them broke the law by either raping small boys or by not reporting the rape of the same. Lament or righteous indignation are the steps to healing we need from our Christian leaders right now. IMH(but irate)O.
I’m sorry…I should not say “broke the law” I should say “broke the very image of God, a child.” It’s not about legality though that turn of phrase is so common it slipped right in my post. I don’t care about the law. The law is at best the lowest common denominator in our common morality. No, for a Christian leader to skip lament and righteous-indignation, to ask these boys to pretend to be men and, I don’t know, play a game…It’s ludicrous to me. He should know better. Thus endeth my rant. I’m sorry if I come across too strident, Alan, forgive me.
Tripp, indeed the depth of the display was minor but it was the only good thing that has come out of the this scandal. As a former college coach, I know trying to do two things, prayer and pregame, are difficult to give full depth to. This pregame prayer was just a start. Lament for what happened is still forming. There will be other venues to go into the theological depth of grief and loss. Yes, there could have been more done, but it seems it was just a prayer.
No. I understand…and I know your personal stake in this. Thank you. I’m just…I wanted to see more.
Have you read this: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7233704/the-brutal-truth-penn-state
I don’t have much of a personal stake, but I understand the enormous pressure to get players ready. Interesting read from that article. There is a long standing tradition in football to pray after games, but this prayer was not vigil. It was moment before the game, for players and coaches, to think about the larger picture at hand and to pray.
There will be other ways to spiritual process this tragedy. Such as this vigil: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/candlelight-vigil-draws-hundreds-at-penn-state-tries-to-brighten-universitys-darkest-week/2011/11/11/gIQAphiiDN_story.html
Lovely story. Truly. And better to know this than the riots that followed the news that Paterno was fired.
On a more autobiographical note, I live across the street from Cal. The helicopters kept us awake the night that the police started smacking kids with their batons. Friends were injured and arrested. It was the same night the news of Paterno’s firing was made public. One group of students was standing in peace-ful protest over economic disparity. Another because the beloved coach had been fired. It’s just a curious juxtaposition.
No one ranted in the streets because little boys were raped. Maybe it was simply to astonishing. It’s a glorious sign of our humanity that we don’t have words when something like this comes to light. It should absolutely make us dumb.
It’s challenging in light of our present economic and social trouble to process the news of this cover-up and not want to turn the tables in the Temple upside down. In this case, the Temple is the football stadium. The priesthood is university athletic staff. Boosters are money-lenders. I don’t know what the sacrifice is, but after this week there are too many frightening options for my imagination to latch upon.
I think there should be vigils…for the children. We should seek forgiveness like the Amish community not too far from Penn did when their children were brutally murdered. And reconciliation, I pray, will come. But we have to stop kidding ourselves that we don’t have a seriously dysfunctional relationship at times when it comes to university sports.
It was troubling to see so many students protesting Joe’s firing. Many over looked that boys were abused. You are right. The are so many “shocks” that this scandal is exposing. And, the most impactful shock is the nameless, faceless victims. Unfortunately, Americans need a face to fixate on. That is why those missing white young women stories become so popular in the press. Unfortunately, the Joe story over-road the narrative of the victims. I think once the court proceeding starts, there will be more victim talk.
It’s truly a shame. The “mandated reporter status” of many of these people will be the noose. It’s going to be very hard for them and the university when this comes to light. I’m sure the university will survive it. And I am sure some will try to scapegoat someone there. Inevitable. But in all of that, our attention is still on the powerful. Even when they are proven ethically vacant or simply momentarily stupid, they are still the powerful. They still demand and command our attention and we love them for it. God, however, is with the boys, the victims, their families and proclaiming blessing.
I’m a gigantic Husker fan – grew up on a Nebraska farm, dreamed of playing for Nebraska only to fall a little too short and a little too slow, played in the Cornhusker Marching Band when we were killing everybody in the ’90s, and I devoutly schedule my way around Nebraska football when possible in the fall. That having been said, I’m finding myself aligning with Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini – I’m not sure this game should have been played.
I want the outrage, too. I want the lament. I appreciate Coach Brown’s devout faith, and I’m sure every player, coach and official in that pregame prayer was overwhemingly aware of the pain and suffering those kids have been forced to endure. I don’t mind the prayer because, frankly, those boys kneeling in prayer (and let’s face it, they’re still boys under the pads) had nothing to do with the sins committed by Sandusky, et al. Furthermore, those football boys couldn’t do anything to protect the other boys with whom they will always be connected. In such a case, a prayer might have been their only recourse, and as such I don’t mind this particular display of pregame public piety. Ron Brown won’t have a thing to do with the criminal prosecution going forward. Bo Pelini can’t help those boys as much as he’d like to help them. The Penn State staff who knew nothing about any of this have their hands tied by the legal process at this point.
The game seemed so inconsequential – I didn’t get to watch it live because of work commitments, and frankly I’m glad. But since it did get played, I’m okay with beginning the whole thing with a prayer. While it may not have been spoken out loud, I’m certain there was lament in that crowd of players, and I’m sure they’ll do what they can to protect the weak and innocent from this day forward.