Fran Tarkenton Asks ‘Does God Care Who Wins Football Games?’

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (15) kneels and prays before the start of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in December. (AP)

The NFL playoffs resume Saturday when the San Francisco 49ers host the New Orleans Saints and the Denver Broncos travel to Massachusetts to challenge the New England Patriots. Sunday, the Houston Texans meet the Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers take on the New York Giants.

Former NFL great and Monday night football commentator Fran Tarkenton says Bronco quarterback and Christian devote Tim Tebow’s displays of faith are not unique: On Tebow’s team there is safety Brian Dawkins, who is also an openly devout Christian.

And Tarkenton himself, the son of a Pentecostal Holiness minister, says he prayed before each of the three Super Bowl games he played in as a quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.

He writes in the Wall Street Journal:

As a player, though, I never understood why God would care who won a game between my team and another. It seemed like there were many far more important things going on in the world. There were religious guys on both teams. If God gets credit for the win, does he also take blame for defeat?

Wall Street Journal: Does God Care Who Wins Football Games?

Guest:

Fran Tarkenton, an NFL quarterback from 1961-1978

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

Stan

Enough of the crap on the trials and tribulations of Pastor Timmy Tebow.
Can’t you find something of importance to report on but this “football preacher”.
Is this the continuing sell by the mainstream media of keeping the masses doped on the 3 “S’s” of SEX, SCREEN and SPORT?
How about focusing on some real news rather than this garbage.

The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system. …Thomas Paine(1737-1809)…
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.”–Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor (1769-1821).

“On the sixth day, God created man. On the seventh day, man returned the favor.”– unknown
Sunny

Tim Tebow is over rated as is football, otherwise known as “video cigar smoke”.

Keep the people’s attention diverted with these smoke and mirror tactics.
Stop the window dressing.
Jasoturner

If by “god” you mean Tom Brady, then yes, he does care. He would like Mr. Tebow to lose.
Jledco

Full Disclosure: Big Tebow fan and I am also an atheist. I find it fascinating how the media continues to spin this to Tim’s discredit. He has NEVER said God has intervened in the outcome of a football game. He does thank God openly for the talents he has, and that it his choice, based upon his beliefs. He had not increased his evangelism, it has always been there. It is only that his role as an NFL QB has brought more publicity, especially because of the how things have played out this year. He is not the best QB in league, not even close, but he’s not the worst, and there is something in his “ne’er say die” character that we should all be applauding, instead of hurling personal insults at a young man who is causing no harm to anyone (except pundits and bookies).
The Broncos and Tebow are a Cinderella story. That is something that fascinates the public. Don’t read too much more into this. There are plenty of things that scare me about religious fanaticism. Tim Tebow is not one of them.
Raymond Hoffer

I just had to write about your interview with Fran Tarkenton. For you to give Tarkenton air time is totally ridiculous! Why do I say this? Here’s a quote from the October, 1999 issue of Sports Illustrated regarding Tarkenton: “Tarkenton’s business reputation suffered a big blow. He agreed to pay $154,187 in fines after the Securities and Exchange Commission accused him of helping direct a multimillion-dollar fraud. Tarkenton did not acknowledge wrongdoing, but the SEC alleges that his software firm, KnowledgeWare, claimed $8 million in phony revenues in 1993 and ’94.”* *(http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1017283/index.htm) I worked for International Data Corp. (IDC) of Framingham during 1993 and covered the Atlanta, GA marketplace for IDC. One day, out of the blue, I received a phone call from Tarkenton and he asked me why our software analyst was saying negative things about his company? The same year, I signed Fidelity’s “Software Select Fund” to provide IDC’s consulting services to help their analyst select software stocks that would outperform the market. The manager of the fund had as his portfolio’s largest single holding, Tarkenton’s company – KnowledgeWare. When it was revealed that Tarkenton’s software was a sham (what the industry called “vaporware”), the Fidelity fund manager was forced to resign and their fund ended up with the lowest rankings in the mutual fund industry software sector for that year. How many people lost their savings as a result of Tarkenton’s fraud I can not quantify, however, I can tell you this – Tarkenton should NOT be quoted in the written or verbal form because he is the biggest fraud of all the people who have ever donned a helmet to play football!!!
�
Why do you think he’s never interviewed on any “real” sports show? With regards for your stellar work in covering football, I remain a fan, -Ray Brookline, MA
Susannah

God doesn’t care which team wins or loses. Each player on each team, whether is be in the Super Bowl or little league, is enacting just a part of his life and just a part of God’s plan for each of us. We can’t know at each moment what God’s plan is or how the outcome of a football game will shape each of us at that moment or long-term. Humans cannot always comprehend why things happen one way or another but God does. So no, He doesn’t care who wins or loses but rather how we move on after that moment, how we learn and grow and make decisions. “Good” things happen because of our perceptions of a “bad” outcome. Winning a football game is wonderful in the moment but it’s just a moment in God’s much larger plan.
Alfred

Yes it is. Whatever the Lord or this entity is has to work in mysterious ways.
Sagebrush

Translation of Tebow’s public prayer and piety:

GOD LOVES Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me.
Bob Garcia

Great comment by Tarkenton. Another aspect that is completely ignored is that God gave us all free will. Does Tebow not believe he is responsible to any degree for any of his team’s wins or that he (and his team) have become some sort of zombie or robot for God’s purpose? Like Tarkenton said, “…why God would care who won a game..?” By persistently attributing all his team’s good fortune to his faith in his Christian God, he unfairly discounts the human factor, our individual will to overcome great odds (a much more appealing story in my opinion).

It would be better to simply state that he derives great inspiration to play his best from his faith…period. With no attribution to any God for a successful game win. Because the moment he loses a game and God does not come through for him or his team, does that mean his God abandoned him in his time of need? Will he try to explain the game loss as a personal weakness of his own faith? Or will he continue to use God as a crutch and say it was His divine will somehow? Either answer is a betrayal to either himself or his team’s own personal efforts to determine their own fate. After all, are we not all made in His image, an aspect of God ourselves? Doesn’t he believe in himself?
ToniG

I’ve never heard Tebow claim God wants the Bronco’s to win. He is humble and congratulatory to the other team when he loses, grateful and giving his teammates credit when he wins. He seems like a pleasant guy that prays. Is that bad?

Geoff Pritchard

Sorry – but when he put ‘John 3:16′ on his eye black back as QB of the Florida Gators in the National Championship game, he went too far. We’d still be cleaning up the wreckage if the eye black had said “Allah Akbar (sp)” and he knew that. Now the NCAA passed the Tebow rule AFTER that event (they knew he was too popular of a marketing tool to fool with). IMO – a sports event is no place for open demonstration of one’s faith. . Why can’t he pray w/o dropping to his knees in a public display – I bet god would hear him without the show. Just a different endzone dance – another example of showmanship.

Katta

As the old Russian saying went:

While your boat is sinking, pray all you want, but keep rowing towards the shoreline.
Ewayne

I think they lost because God caught Tebow masturbating before the game. Or maybe he was just dancing… hard to tell.