Response to Vanessa Lee’s "Athletes as God and God Helping Athletes"

Thank you Vanessa for a great read! Her blog post can be found here: http://homertheheretic.blogspot.com/2011/03/athletes-as-god-and-god-helping.html

 

 

I must say you nailed it with hitting the point of Athletes being seen as God like figures. In my post about sports I mentioned how Athletes truly believe that they were given a gift from Gift in their abilities to play.

I enjoyed examining the LeBron James ad for Nike. I have to agree with you in that it’s taken too far with the Christ symbolism. LeBron may be an amazing athlete in the NBA but to compare him in Christ in an effort to sell shoes is a little indecent. The slogan of “we are all witnesses” is cheesy and over dramatic. Star athletes let the fame and glory get to their head and sponsors like to amplify this by making them seem more powerful than they are. If you are a true believer and have faith in God then isn’t trying to imitate Christ, a slap in the face and a sign of mockery? I just find it ludicrous that an athlete can thank God for everything they have and in turn pretend like they are a Christ figure. If God did give you a gift to be such a strong athlete than selling yourself doesn’t showing gratitude.

I believe everyone has a gift and is talented in some form and that these are seen as God given gifts. However it’s how you use it that reflects on yourself. If star athletes were more humble I think I could appreciate and respect them more. What I do have to hand to them, is that they seem to cope well with the pressures from coaches, fans and everyone else around the world who believes they have a say in a particular team. Yes they have a gift. No they are not Christ figures.

Thanks for the great read Vanessa, I really enjoyed it!

Xo,

Y