Does God really care about the outcome of sporting events?

By Michael Patrick O’Brien–

Fall is a wonderful time of the year, especially if you are a sports fan. Football teams are playing, soccer season is starting, basketball and hockey are in the wings, and baseball is moving towards the World Series. Accordingly, October seems like an appropriate month to write about a question that, from time to time, has bounced around in my head: does God really care about the outcome of sporting events? 

With some chagrin, I must admit that I used to think so. I once believed that due to such factors as obvious virtue, creed, clan, or purity of heart, the teams I was on, or followed, enjoyed some kind of divine grace or favor. We had simply to invoke the patronage of “Our Lady of Victory” to have on our side a force more magnificent and effective than the speed of our linebackers or the height of our basketball players.

Apparently, I was not the only one with this rather interesting belief. Many of my college colleagues at Notre Dame seemed to feel that way too. Thus, imagine my surprise when, at my first ND/USC football game in October of 1979, I saw a Southern Cal fan wearing a button, colored cardinal and gold, invoking the name of John Paul II, the newly-elected pontiff from Krakow. The button proclaimed: “the Pope says Polish off the Irish.” USC won that game 42-23, which was a compelling counterargument to my claim of divine favor.

Similarly, when BYU beat Notre Dame 51-50 in the Sweet Sixteen of the 1981 NCAA basketball tournament, on a last second coast-to-coast layup shot by Danny Ainge, a certain joke became quite popular. It went something like this: A priest interrupted a meeting of the Pope and his cardinals in Rome, saying he had good news and bad news. The Pope said, “What is the good news?” The priest said, “God is on the phone.” The Pope replied, “Well my goodness, what could be the bad news?” The priest answered, “He’s calling from Provo.”

As I grew up (still a work in progress), I began to understand that my side is not the only side possessing virtue, creed, or purity of heart, and that athletic contests, while entertaining, probably are not the best places to measure or compare those sorts of things anyway. Watching my own kids, or friends’ kids, play or compete, also proved to be an effective classroom on this subject because the games are up close and personal. It was impossible, in that setting, not to notice that the opposing competitors also just were kids, competing as best as they could the same as my own children. I remember one contest in particular when our high school football team claimed a close win in a playoff game, due to the other side’s missed extra point after a touchdown. I was elated, and then broken-hearted just a few moments later when I saw the opposing kicker, a sixteen-year-old kid, weeping inconsolably in the arms of his teammates.

So, I have come to believe that the answer to the question posed by this post is no, God does not care about the outcome of sporting contests. I think God does care that sporting contests exist, places where we can learn, use, and refine gifts such as athleticism, passion, fun, team spirit, camaraderie, and hard work. The thrill of winning is a gift from God, but so is the pain of losing and the virtues (humility, resiliency, perspective) to be acquired from the same.

When it comes to sports or competitions, God loves everyone. I need to do so too, even my brothers and sisters who are USC and BYU fans. So listen up Trojans and Cougars…when we play, I hope Notre Dame beats you like a drum. If that happens, I promise not to be so presumptuous as to think that we won because of God’s favor. I hope you can do the same for me when, based on the final score, it appears that someone resembling Our Lady of Victory is standing on your sidelines.

*Mike O’Brien is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is writing a book about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah.