WACKY WEDNESDAY WISDOM: Something to Treasure

     If you hang around inside a Sociology textbook long enough, which is what I've been doing ever since I retired from college coaching and started teaching, you learn important things like how boys are dressed in blue and girls are dressed in pink when they are infants. Apparently this has a dramatic effect on the rest of their lives. I guess what with all the gender reveal stuff going on these days, people who buys gifts for baby showers know which color to buy well in advance. My wife and I didn't know the gender of our oldest son until three days before he was born, so most everything we bought and received was neutral yellow. Just saying.
     All that being said, there wasn't a whole lot of pink in my house growing up, bein's how the only two children were my brother and me. And later, God decided that my wife and I would be the parents of boys as well, three in all. Again, little to no pink.
     So when I saw a stadium full of fans on television wearing pink at a football game a few weeks ago, my first thought was that the lady fans had showed up in force on that Saturday. But alas, that was not the case. Turns out it was something even more incredible. The fans at the University of Georgia wore pink that day to honor the passing of a coach's wife who had recently died from complications related to breast cancer.
     Wow. For an entire legion of fans to be united in their respect for the passing of a football coach's wife is admirable and worthy of mention. To forego the school colors for one afternoon in order to increase awareness and draw attention to the cause of Breast Cancer research is commendable. Remember that this happened at the University of Georgia, where their Bulldogs and their red and black school colors are an institution in and of themselves.
     But there's more to the story. The Georgia fans that day were indeed sporting pink to honor a coach's wife . . . the opposing coach's wife. Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson had recently held his wife Wendy in his arms as she had spoken her last words and taken her final breaths on this Earth. The fans from Georgia were aware of it. And they cared.
     Several male students wore pink wigs and painted their chests and backs pink. They lined up and spelled out the words Remember Wendy. Thousands of others wore pink and hoisted signs and banners supporting Coach Anderson. This is one of the coolest things I have witnessed in the sporting world recently.
     Having coached at the college level for the past thirty years, I feel qualified to say that many people take sports way too seriously at times. Rivalries can get ugly not just between players but also among fans. The "win at all cost" mentality can cause excellent role model coaches who teach their players the values of character and faith to be dismissed, fired, and sent packing without so much as a thank you. "We needed to go a different direction. Our fans deserve more than we're getting. We deserve to be successful," an athletic director will often say at the press conference.
     I realize coaches need to be dismissed at times. And at the professional and college level, being able to win on a scoreboard is indeed important. But it seems at times that the whole thing is a little out of whack when all some people care about is numbers on a scoreboard. Some fans will even say they don't care about the character or values of a coach as long as he wins. Really?
     Many years ago a friend of mine who was our leader in a Promise Keepers group was having a conversation with me about the football coach at his favorite ACC school. The program was struggling a little at the time and he was commenting about the need to run the coach out of town. I had met the coach on one occasion and found him to be a tremendous individual and fine Christian role model and so I mentioned that fact. My friend responded by saying the coach's character was irrelevant- he needed to win football games. I realize he needed to win more football games. But was his character and positive influence totally irrelevant? Apparently so.
     There's nothing inherently wrong with sports. I made a living coaching a sport. I love sports. Always will. But 1 Timothy 6:19 reminds us that we should lay up treasures as a firm foundation for the future. Are we laying up treasures for future generations by prioritizing the building of sports dynasties at the expense of humanity and decency toward each other? Just saying.
     I can't speak to the overall goodness and behavior of Georgia Bulldogs fans. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of them misbehaving and engaging in obnoxious fan behavior. Luke 12:34 says that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I don't know the condition of their hearts, but for one night at least, I could tell their hearts were in the right place. And it was something to treasure.