{"id":115036,"date":"2013-12-22T13:07:01","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T18:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=115036"},"modified":"2013-12-22T13:14:51","modified_gmt":"2013-12-22T18:14:51","slug":"theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/12\/theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s that Baltimore Ravens faith ghost — again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe>\n<\/p>The Baltimore Ravens have been playing some really, really wild football games in recent weeks, a few with endings that several commentators have been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TK9X5b15irk\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">tempted to call \u201cmiraculous.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nSort of like that playoff game last year in frozen Mile-High Stadium in Denver (sorry, about that M.Z. Hemingway).<\/p>\nAnyway, head coach John Harbaugh was asked, in a recent press conference, to name the X factor behind his team. Here\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/blog\/baltimore-ravens\/post\/_\/id\/4730\/ravens-primed-for-another-surprising-run\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">how ESPN.com reported the response<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\u201cThe thing I love about our football team is that we are a team of faith,\u201d coach John Harbaugh said. \u201cWe believe. We trust. Because of that, we\u2019ll fight. We will run the race right down to the end. That\u2019s something that our football team does. I\u2019m very proud of them for that.\u201d <\/p>\nThere are times when special moments define special teams, just like the times when the Ravens converted the fourth-and-29 in San Diego and delivered the Mile High Miracle last season. These Ravens are building quite a portfolio of \u201cnever say never\u201d moments. <\/p>\nTwo weeks ago, the Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 22-20, by stopping a two-point conversion with 1:03 remaining. Last week, the Ravens outlasted the Minnesota Vikings, 29-26, by scoring three touchdowns in the final 2:05, including the winning 9-yard touchdown pass to Marlon Brown with 4 seconds left.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nOK, you probably didn\u2019t need all of those gridiron details, but I thought they were relevant.<\/p>\nHere in Charm City, the newspaper that lands in my front yard <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/sports\/ravens\/bs-sp-ravens-main-1218-20131217,0,621892.story\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">eventually printed that quotation<\/a>, like this:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\u201cWe\u2019re playing our best football right now and we\u2019re going to have to continue to improve with what we have in front of us down the stretch,\u201d Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. \u201cYou look at our football team and the thing I love about our football team is that we are a team of faith. We believe. We trust. Because of that, we\u2019ll fight. We will run the race right down to the end, that\u2019s something that our football team does. I\u2019m very proud of them for that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNow, that faith language is rather generic sports talk, methinks. What struck me was a football coach using that interesting language connecting this faith factor to finishing a \u201crace,\u201d as opposed to a football game.<\/p>\nThat sounded rather familiar, coming from the organizer (or endorser) of the weekly Ravens Bible studies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nMight that be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2%20Timothy%204:7-8&version=NIVUK\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">a paraphrase of the following<\/a>?<\/p>\n<blockquote>I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day \u2014 and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nOf course, that is 2 Timothy 4:7-8, one of the more famous Bible passages built on a sports image. It\u2019s a very popular quote among the advocates of what for a century or so has been called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=muscular+christianity+definition&oq=Muscular+Chr&aqs=chrome.4.69i57j0l5.8440j0j4&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">muscular Christianity<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\nNow, I do not bring this up to suggest that God has been showing up in the Ravens huddle in recent weeks (as opposed to all of those mediocre games in the first half of the season). What I am suggesting is that \u2014 for better and for worse \u2014 it is impossible to cover what is happening inside this particular sports organization without considering faith as one of the ties that bind. I have even hinted, in the past, that faith might be linked to some of the DIVISIONS<\/em> in the Ravens locker room as well as in some of the close friendships and mentoring relationships.<\/p>\nThe leaders of The Baltimore Sun<\/em> team, on the other hand, seem determined to downplay this faith factor. For example, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/another-haunted-story-about-faith-in-ravens-locker-room\/%20\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">this post<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/09\/the-sun-does-it-again-the-ghost-in-the-ngata-and-suggs-friendship\/%20\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">this one<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/08\/sun-sheds-very-little-light-on-new-linebackers-faith\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">this one<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/08\/cutting-the-rev-out-of-a-ravens-executives-life-and-work\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">especially this one<\/a> \u2014 from the 2013 season alone.<\/p>\nI am not saying that its time for Sun<\/em> editors to put a religion-beat specialist on the Ravens beat. I am saying that, in this case, it appears that some Sun<\/em> staffers appear to be determined to ignore the obvious.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Baltimore Ravens have been playing some really, really wild football games in recent weeks, a few with endings that several commentators have been tempted to call \u201cmiraculous.\u201d Sort of like that playoff game last year in frozen Mile-High Stadium in Denver (sorry, about that M.Z. Hemingway). Anyway, head coach John Harbaugh was asked, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,27,65,67,12,21],"tags":[732,822,2725,2749,576],"class_list":["post-115036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-evangelicals","category-mormons","category-pentecostalism","category-religion","category-sports","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-football","tag-john-harbaugh","tag-muscular-christianity","tag-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>There's that Baltimore Ravens faith ghost -- again<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Baltimore Ravens have been playing some really, really wild football games in recent weeks, a few with endings that several commentators have been\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/12\/theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"There's that Baltimore Ravens faith ghost -- again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Baltimore Ravens have been playing some really, really wild football games in recent weeks, a few with endings that several commentators have been\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/12\/theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetReligion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-22T18:07:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-22T18:14:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/12\/theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/12\/theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again\/\",\"name\":\"There's that Baltimore Ravens faith ghost -- again\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-22T18:07:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-22T18:14:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"The Baltimore Ravens have been playing some really, really wild football games in recent weeks, a few with endings that several commentators have been\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/12\/theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/12\/theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/12\/theres-that-baltimore-ravens-faith-ghost-again\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"There’s that Baltimore Ravens faith ghost — again\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\",\"name\":\"GetReligion\",\"description\":\""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - 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