I have been challenged by the public displays of thanks/prayer by Tim Tebow. I have enjoyed watching an football player with unconventional skills shake up the football establishment. However in light of Matthew 6:5-6 about how to pray in quiet, I wonder if his public displays are unhelpful in setting a standard for Christian sportsmanship. When a team is up for a field goal, is it proper for both teams to be down on their knees, one praying for a miss and another for victory? I am confused on how to think about this.

I think it would be legitimate for both teams to be on their knees praying that the kick is good and that would be a truly counter-cultural testimony. Praying that the kick is bad in a game seems a bit problematic. IIRC C.S. Lewis had something on this - that the goal is to take as much ‘pride’ in the achievements of someone else as in oneself. In sports that would translate to a prayer that everyone plays a great game and so displays the strength, agility, stamina, skills of human youth, and so glorifies God.

In other words, I don’t think it is a problem that both teams pray, or even pray publicly that they’ll do well. That is one part of a Christian approach. Praying the other side does badly, that’s a different question IMO.

These are good points. Mark - Much appreciated - The frustrating thing is that honoring God publically can be such a challenge. Even in church when one gives a testimony of a healing. One wants to be sensitive that God doesn’t answer all prayers, but honor him for what he did (in this case for you). Avoiding Pride vs. Avoiding Underhonoring

I think the movie “Facing the Giants” had it right. You praise God when you win. You praise God when you lose. The focus is to remain on God and not YOU. And I love the public displays by Tebow. It has sparked more fruitful spiritual conversation with my unsaved, male coworkers in the past two weeks than in the previous two years! Would I have had this opportunity had Tebow not been so open? Glory be to God!

As much as I have enjoyed the Bronco’s win, and I will admit that part of that was because of the very much anti-God comments in the media and from other NFL folks (e.g. “We don’t need God on the sidelines.” Which was said by an NFL player last week), I am a bit worried about how far some Christians are taking this.
Yesterday on discussion boards I saw, “Tebow defeated the powers of darkness” and “Take that Athiests” (OK, I liked that one a bit.”  I also found myself commenting (to myself alone) that the last minute fumble by the Steelers QB was caused by a hit by an angel. (I had to smack myself in the head!!).
The comment which bothered (frightened me actualy) me the most was a comment that Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards of offense.  This person commented that that was God pointing to John 3:16 and using this as an evangelism tool.  WHOA!!!

It is a difficult journey for a very public Christian. A few weeks ago, NFL released a video with footage of his comeback win over the Chicago Bears that included audio from his helmet (QBs are miked during games). He prayed at one point toward the end of the game, “Win or lose, Lord, help me honor you.” If you’re going to pray during a football game, I’d say that’s the way to pray.

Pray for me a sinner. Here’s why.
After the 11 am service a parishioner said to me ‘You must have divided loyalties.’  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked. ‘Well,” explained, ‘you root for the Steelers, coming from Pittsburgh, and yet Tim Tebow is evangelical, as you kind of are, and a Christian in sports, which you were.”
I had no answer for her. Hadn’t thought about it. But the answer, and self-revelation came when (I think in the third quarter) I bolted upright in the sofa from my Sunday afternoon slouch and said with a self-surprising growl (and I hardly ever even speak out loudly during games, never mind shout) “TACKLE HIM! GET HIM!”
You can take the boy out of Pgh, but you can’t . . .well, you know how it goes. This, in part, explains the Terrible Towels across our nation.
Well, God bless Tim Tebow, especially for the genrally awful way he was treated by the media and even made an issue. 
[Analyzing the game FWIW: quite apart from the injuries, Lebeau decided to stuff the running game, which he did, but to do so with complete, rather than relative, domination. He played far too aggressively and even arrogantly in trying to completely shut them down, with the result that he didn’t force Tebow to make virtually any reads on zone defenses, for it was all man to man, one on one basically. So Tebow didn’t have to make, say, 4-5 passes on a drive, but instead threw set-thows, swinging for the fence, so to speak—one of which was virtually a Hail Mary, to the right corner of the end zone (and was caught at waist height! Yeesh)—that Tongy Dungy rightly said were “fades.”  LeBeau, early in the year with time running out, I think it was Baltimore, did the same thing. He didn’t tell the defense to “just keep the play in front of them” and the Steelers lost because of it. That, in addition to obvious mistakes, is what I saw. And yet, Steeler fan through and through, the coaches in Pgh and the players are my favorites.  So pray for me—and my job, too. I sent the staff home today following our personal leave policy that allows the Rector to designate time off for stress-related incidents, death, and loss.]

Interesting set of coincidences about that game.  Tebow frequently writes “John 3:16” on his eyeblack patches.  Yesterday, he completed 10 passes for 316 yards, which, of course, is an average of 31.6 yards a pass.  And a news story reported that the overtime part of that game drew a 31.6 share.

Coincidence:yes- meaning: none.  If thats the case, then Ben Rothlesberger had 22 completions out of 40 and Luke 22:40 says “And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  What does the numerology say about Ben?

“In sports that would translate to a prayer that everyone plays a great game and so displays the strength, agility, stamina, skills of human youth, and so glorifies God. “

This is headed completely IMHO in the right direction. I would say sports is at its best (and as it ought to be in a ‘theology of sports’) about delight in learning to master something—movement of one’s body, the puck, the ball, the racquet, the opponent’s body, etc.,—and in increasing in that mastery and the delight that comes with it. (Cf. “When I run, I feel the pleasure of God.” E Lidell)  On this basis, one’s opponent then becomes (ideally, anyhow) the ‘iron that sharpens iron’, that is, the necessary ingredient to growing in mastery or proficiency and (again, ideally) growing in delight. This means that one’s opponent ought to be understood as dear to the athlete as the canvass is to the artist, the stage to the actor. And I think this is an experience many know, though of course, the world being what it is, competition can become about many other things: domination, self-assertion, egoism.  I wouldn’t necessarily tie any of this into prayer, the initial subject of the post, except to say that I would like to see more recognition (not least by the media) of the thankfulness that does exist between opponents and greater testimoney given by the Tebow’s in sports of simply the joy and delight of playing which, if you look for it, is something that seems to come through Tebow, tho’ the media spins it otherwise for the value that comes from its created controversy.

What confused a lot of people was the following excerpt from the following wire story….

“During overtime on Sunday, when the Chargers lined up for a potential game-winning 53-yard field goal against the Broncos, Tebow admitted that he couldn’t watch it. Instead, he was praying.

A. “I can’t say I saw too much of it,” Tebow said. “I was praying.”
Q. Praying for a miss?
A. “I might have said that,” Tebow laughed. “Or maybe a block. Maybe all of it.”

[Disclaimer - I dunno what he actually was praying about, and it probably was a light hearted joke….but boy did he get grief on that as well]

I think a book on the theology of sport would be wonderful