It has come and gone for yet another year. That annual holiday, which I have enjoyed since I was 11 years old, that gathering of geeks, that stock market for stats-mad sports fans, that paradise for prognosticators known as the NFL Draft recently concluded.
The draft has exploded in popularity in recent years. It has inspired numerous publications, guides, television previews, arguments, divorces and the annual awkward spectacle of watching some highly touted player have to wait…and wait…and wait for his name to be called. Not to mention the equally disconcerting spectacle of crowds of forty-something men in painted faces and team jerseys chanting the name of the latest 20-year-old savior whom they will most likely turn on some time down the road…especially if they’re from New York.
While certainly the draft is an acquired taste, and interest in it can be taken to an extreme, its appeal is not difficult to understand. In fact, that appeal can be understood in explicitly Catholic terms and through it, its devotees can learn a valuable lesson in the ways of God.
Part of the draft’s appeal is that, similar to Opening Day in baseball, it is a time of hope. Appropriately, both events occur in the spring, the season of hope. For with the NFL’s system that ensures parity, the fortunes of any team can change dramatically from year to year. A successful draft can turn an also-ran into a contender, sometimes overnight. So the theological virtue of hope is one “Catholic” aspect of being a draft nerd. But the event is not without its pitfalls.
I’m from the Boston area and now live in western Massachusetts. For those non-sports fans out there, suffice to say, New England has enjoyed a pretty good run in the last few years on the professional sports scene. In fact, I wouldn’t blame others around the country if they were sick of the whole “Red Sox Nation” shtick. I know I am. Between their long-awaited world championship and the three titles won by the Patriots in football, I have often thought how much more wonderful all this would have been had it occurred when I was a boy and my life revolved around the fortunes of the local clubs. Alas, it was not to be, although we did have the Celtics.
As fun as it has been, however, it has made all the more clear the very real dangers of idolatry in today’s society. Nature abhors a vacuum, and as we push God to the sidelines of our lives, something has to fill that void. Admittedly, there are far worse ways a man could be spending his time than watching games and poring over draft previews, but the point is made.
In New England, this idolatry even extends to general managers like Theo Epstein and coaches like Bill Belichick. At least Red Auerbach won bunches of championships before attaining the status of living legend.
Belichick’s success as the coach of the Patriots has inspired the coining of the phrase “In Bill We Trust.” There are many negative things to be noted about such a phrase, but I learned, in the wake of the draft, that it can have a positive application as well.
Every year for the last 15 or so, with a few exceptions, I have studied up on the top players in college football and made up my very own wish list for my team, the Pats. And, usually, every year, but especially under Belichick, they go and ignore my advice. In fact, a few years ago, the Minnesota Vikings had the draft that I had selected for the Patriots. Maybe they intercepted the mail. Just kidding. I don’t actually mail my selections to the home office.
So, as per usual, this year I returned home (I have to travel to watch it because we don’t have cable) with a disappointed look on my face. My wife asked, “How was the draft?” and I replied, “They didn’t take my advice…again.”
It was then that I realized that while deifying coaches and general managers is absurd, a certain parallel can be drawn. Belichick and the rest of the Patriots staff know a bit more about their team than I do. They know how backups are progressing. Perhaps they don’t feel they need help at inside linebacker or cornerback as desperately as I think they do. In fact, just maybe, they know what they need far more than I do, just as God knows what I need far more than I do.
My discouragement that the Patriots did not do what I wanted is not unlike the discouragement and confusion one can experience in accepting the will of God. He rarely does things the way I would prefer they be done. Often, it even seems that, horror of horrors, my whims are not even taken into account. However, with the benefit of hindsight, looking back on my life I can see His hand in everything. Without going into detail, He knows what He is about. We must trust Him.
So, while a phrase like “In Bill We Trust,” is somewhat absurd and, if taken seriously, a little piece of idolatry, it points to the much higher truth that there is Someone in Whom we trust. And His name ain’t Bill.
John Moorehouse is the publisher/editor of Catholic Men’s Quarterly, a 48-page print magazine for men. To read sample content and subscribe, visit www.houseonthemoor.com.
