Sports Magazines and TV Shows

By Rev. Eric Andrae

We Lutherans believe that it is our duty to thank and praise God for His gifts of creation, for all the wonderful things He gives us purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy (Small Catechism). We love the things that make the fallen creation loveable—music, literature, the beauty of nature, and, yes, sports.

I love sports. God thinks that sports are great, too: He tells us specifically that “physical training is of...value.” (1 Timothy 4:8). He thinks our bodies are great: He created our bodies inside of our mother, He saved our bodies by the incarnated and crucified body of His Son, and He sanctified our bodies, made them holy by Holy Baptism, to be His temple. To receive the Lord’s physical Body and Blood in Communion, “bodily preparation [is] certainly fine outward training” (SC).

Today, sport in America is a huge and ever-growing business and entertainment force in our culture. Let’s take a look at some of the chief media in the world of sports.

Pardon the Interruption Weekdays, 5:30 p.m., ESPN. There are tons of fairly new discussion/interview sports shows: PTI, Around the Horn, The Best D*** Sports Show Period, Real Sports, Rome is Burning, Cold Pizza, etc. For my money ($13.66/month for basic cable), PTI is the best. Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon yap/argue/shout with a running clock for each issue. The right-hand column lets you know time and upcoming subjects (good for flipping to ESPN2 or FoxSportsNet if it’s not one of interest). I don’t always agree, but the hosts are truly funny, informative, provocative, and the show is fast-paced and unique. PTI doesn’t take itself or sports too seriously. Kornheiser is wonderfully ignorant of some of the details of sports news and names. Their commentary is sometimes colored by a “politically correct” streak, but, just as often, they rightly criticize the popular powers and opinions that be. Stray, infrequent foul language; harsher stuff is bleeped. Of course, keep in mind that what passes for sports news nowadays includes arrests, suspensions and Janet Jackson. For older teens and adults, this is great stuff.

The Super Bowl 1 February 2004, CBS This mega-event is annually the most-watched show in America. Families and friends gather together to watch the physical action, the cheerleaders, the uniforms, and the bright lights. And I’m only talking about the halftime show. Seriously, with a 7 1/2 hour pre-game show, a 20+ minute halftime MTV “live video,” a streaker, and fatal post-game rioting in Boston, the XXXVIIIth rendition of the super game, despite its high-scoring and last-second excitement, was sadly overshadowed. The halftime (peep) show gave us P. Diddy and Nelly apparently in need of Tinactin,“cheerleaders” seemingly in need of air conditioning, and, not to be outdone, Janet Jackson—seeking to rival the unholy trinity of female pop (Madonna, Britney, and Christina) in shock, sleaze, and slutiness—promoting her new single and album with old songs and a bit of obviously premeditated “northern exposure” (why else the nipple jewelry?!). CBS and the NFL claimed to be shocked, though if they had watched just a few minutes of MTV in the past decade they would have known what was coming. Ms. Jackson’s greedy and gratuitous publicity stunt is simply, in content and especially in purpose, immoral and unethical (talk about “sex-ploitation” of the naive).Too bad she didn’t follow the lead of Beyonce’s classy rendition of the national anthem.

The Super Bowl was at least two very different shows. The game itself presented the best of sport: physical competition and skill, team-play, learning to win with humility and lose with grace: many life-lessons can be taught and learned from sport. However, the halftime show was something different altogether, and aimed at a very different audience: “any publicity is good publicity” was its creed, sex its means, greed its faith, and your focus, trust, and money its aim. Are you buying? Sport, in and of itself, is probably the best thing on mainstream TV; it is essentially neutral. Sure, the camera catches the sporadic curse and some behavior can be unsportsmanlike, but the contests themselves, unlike so much else on TV, do not glorify illicit sex, senseless violence, or cruelty. Now, the halftime show, well...(see above). Watch sports on TV, but not too much. Win or lose, take the results of “your” teams in stride. And get outside and actually play sports, too!

Sports Illustrated (SI) This veteran weekly sports magazine is the #1 seller in the U.S., and has spawned SI for Kids and SI on Campus. As its name suggests, it is the leader among publications in photography. It covers virtually all sports of interest to the general American audience, with emphasis on the “Big 3/Big 4,”and also includes essays and special reporting by such excellent writers as Gary Smith and Frank Deford. Over the past decade, it has become more intentional in providing raw data, perhaps in response to The Sporting News’s practice of thorough statistical analysis. (TSN generally coves only football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and NASCAR.) Sport is beautiful. SI often takes the PC route, especially in its editorials and popular column by Rick Reilly. A recent one condoning/promoting sodomy caused me to cancel my subscription. Also, each winter the (in)famous “swimsuit issue” comes out. Over the years the pictures have gotten racier and racier; and, while the human form is certainly beautiful, how one can view this issue without lusting is beyond me. Furthermore, the models are not exactly doing the 100 m butterfly, so why Sports Illustrated puts it out is a mystery (well, actually, see above: greed, money, etc.). Read TSN. More sports, stats, analysis, local coverage, and less PC; get your international sports kick from the ‘net’.

ESPN the Magazine ESPN the magazine is your hip-hop, GenX, young, bi-weekly flavor of SI. Bigger (figuratively and literally) and bolder and in yo’ face. Sports is big and bold and in yo’ face...and colorful and graphic and fun and exciting. I like it a lot. Of course, if you like sports, you generally love all things ESPN: magazine, network, sports zone, radio, etc.

Rev. Eric R. Andrae is campus pastor of First Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.