After the Golden State Warriors won the NBA title back in June. Star point guard Steph Curry was instructed to not mention Jesus in his post game press conference. When Curry was asked why was the reason he thought he played so well in the series he responded, “I felt the Holy Spirit moving inside of me.” No mention of Jesus.
With a new breed of star athlete like Steph Curry, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson, who are so outspoken about their faith and on television everywhere you turn, they have a responsibility. A couple, actually. One, is to be a good athlete, obviously. The other is to be good role models, which to them means being outspoken about their faith. I think it’s refreshing to have a group of young, talented and most importantly humble young men for kids to look up to. In post-game press conferences, when asked why they played so well they always mention God first and then everyone else that they can think of before mentioning themselves.
Kids that watch these games see that and imitate what they see the star player do. When I was growing up we had people like Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson, who cared more about how many catches they had than how many wins their teams. Kid’s today are still that way, no question. There are still players who celebrate much more than they should after scoring a touchdown and their postgame pressers are always about me, not we.
Maybe with athletes like Wilson, Curry and even Tim Tebow it will encourage athletes to be more humble and open about their faith. Athletes have a platform to be more outspoken about their faith in God and they are using it. Some people call them “suck ups to the media.” I think they are pioneers.