From a purely sports fan perspective, it was great fun to see the non-automatic-qualifying Texas Christian Horned Frogs edge past Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. On a blog I read this morning, some Christians were complaining that the announcers failed to ever say the word Christian throughout the entire broadcast, consistently referring to them as TCU and the Frogs, instead. I'm not so sure this was a slight. Even Texas Christian's own athletic department pretty consistently uses the abbreviation TCU. If the announcers actually were consciously avoiding the "C" word, that's a bit ironic, in that the sponsoring denomination, the Disciples of Christ, often bill themselves as "progressive" Christians, identifying with many non-Biblical causes in the process. But like any private college, there are many faithful believers there, in spite of the sponsorship.
This background drama makes it all the sweeter that the winning quarterback, Andy Dalton, provided an amazing interview at the game's end. Christian sports fans often wince in pain at gratuitous "religious" phrases thrown into these postgame interviews, but here was an articulate young man quoting I Peter 5:6, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.." with word-perfect ease and cogent application. It spoke volumes for what a consistent, thinking Christian looks like. It was a great New Year blessing for me, and by the looks of the blogs, to many others, as well. Thank you, Andy!
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