Old Style Football

I was flipping channels the other day and ran across the 1973 Superbowl game between the Washington Redskins and the Miami Dolphins. I just had to stop and watch some of it. I knew who would won, maybe I was watching to see if the outcome would be different this time. Just kidding of course. But I have a kind of fondness for the older games of about this time. I would have been 12 at the time and remember catching some of the games at my grandmothers house. She liked her football games. I remember her saying, I just can't stand that man. She was talking about John Madden who was coaching the Raiders. We just kinda laughed under our breath. And she liked her wrestling to. I remember her saying, "I wouldn't let him do that to me." Like she was gonna pull a Granny from the Clampettes on them. But anyway, as I watched the game I noticed some differences between today's games and the games of old. One was the amount of information put on the screen. I kept finding myself looking for the score, the time, the down and the yards to go. Plus whatever else information they put up there. I really missed my information. It was kinda like when my dad took me to a Texas Rangers game in 1978. Someone hit a home run and I was looking for the replay, but there was none. The game was in color. The game seemed to be a little slower. Maybe it was me, but it seems the players today are faster. But the biggest thing that I noticed was there was no noticeable to the cameras taunting and overt celebrations. After the quarterback got sacked, the player just got up and went back to the huddle. What where were all the high fives and celebrating. Where was the in your face finger pointing at the quarterback that said I got you. There was no drawing attention to self. Every tackle was the same way. After making a great play to get a touchdown the receiver just jogged back to the sidelines. A few congratulations were offered, but no dance in the end zone? You know what I am talking about. It was almost like a job. But it also looked like they had respect for each other. To say the least, it was weird. And I am ashamed to say this it was kinda boring? Is that saying something about me? Maybe about what I had gotten accustomed to? I remember the stir that Billy White Shoes Johnson started dancing in the end zone after a touchdown while he played for Houston. It caused a stir, now today that would be tame stuff. But we have slowly gotten accustomed to it and look forward to the next celebration to see if the last one can be topped. We get into it when the other teams quarterback gets tackled and our man is standing over him taunting him. That seems to be ok. Where I bet if someone had done that in the 60's they might have gotten banned from the league for life. How did we get to this point. The more we see the less we are affected. Our young people today are bombarded with images on TV that would have shut down the station in my early years. To them it is normal. How many murders do they see on tv during a year? How many inappropriate relationship scenes do they see? How about the music videos? The commercials? I am so tired of Bob, some of you will know who I am talking about. I still turn my head when certain commercials come on. I remember my Granddad flipping channels when certain things came on. Bless you Granddaddy for being an example. But the more you see these things the quicker you get used to it and think it is normal. I am reminded of an old sermon example. If you place a frog in normal temp water and then gradually turn the heat up, he won't notice and think it is normal and won't jump out. He will stay in until it is to late for him to realize he is in hot water and it is going to kill him and then it does. Are we in that hot water? How long will it be before it kills us spiritually? Assess your situation, compare things to the Bible not against the world. Let me give you a hint that I have found to be true most of the time. If the world says it is ok and especially if it is celebrating it and pushing it, it is probably not of God. Run from it. Well we are far from the days of old but we can do the things that honor and please God.