This weekend, the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad come to an end. If you’re like me, you’ve been glued to the television throughout these two weeks. And if you are like me, in addition to dazzling athletic spectacles, you’ve witnessed a broad spectrum of human character and experience on display.
I have often in these weekly reflections talked about the value of athletics as a metaphor for the Christian faith. See, for example, this article on “March Madness”, where I talked about Holy Week as a communal “practice” (not unlike an athletics practice) where we are formed and trained in the sorts of “skills” (i.e. vision, virtue, etc.) necessary to participate with God in building God’s kingdom. Then there was this article from a little over a year ago, where I referenced the many times Scripture itself makes athletic metaphors (Cf. Hebrews 12:1, Philippians
So, I guess I’m now this parish’s (self-appointed?) sports commentator.
Of course, not everyone shares this vision of athletics. I made a slight allusion to this fact in this post, when I referred to the sort of cheap criticisms that are sometimes made of sports (as being too “masc” or too “testosterone fueled” or too “aggressive,” etc.). A more sophisticated set of questions about athletics was recently raised by philosopher Sabrina Little, in an article entitled “Performance Enhancing Vices: Does it Take a Bad Person Be a Good Athlete?”
It’s worth noting a few things about Professor Little. First, she is an outstanding athlete herself–much better than me–and has been selected to represent the U.S. on five national teams. Second, she is not anti-athletics, nor even against the broader point I’ve been making–namely, that athletics can be (and often are) virtue producing, in a way that is analogous to our faith. In fact, Little (who is a Christian, and a fellow Baylor alumnus) has made this argument herself in The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners. In this book, Professor Little offers a rich picture of how athletics informs a good life. If you want a smarter person reflecting at greater length on what I’ve tried to articulate, you should read her book.
That said, her piece on “Performance Enhancing Vices” struck a chord with people, especially in its claim that certain vices–like pride, or competitiveness, or stubbornness, or selfishness–can actually make you a better athlete. For those of you who have been watching the Olympics, you know that athletic footwear and apparel company Nike also leaned hard into this line of thinking in its major ad campaign during these games (narrated by Academy Award winning actor, Willem Dafoe): Am I A Bad Person?
The claim that it actually helps many athletes to be vicious resonated with so many people because, when we watch events like the Olympics, we inevitably encounter people who seem to be doing well in spite of–and maybe even, because of–their vices. Men’s tennis gold medalist in these games, Novac Jokavic is a prominent example, in that he is both the best and the least liked tennis player in the world. Men’s gold medalist in the 5000m (and world champion in the 1500m), Jakob Ingebrigtsen, is also known as the least liked person on the track. In particular, he is famously cocky, and recently said publicly (after his win in the 1500m at the World Championships) that he could have beaten runner-up Josh Kerr “blindfolded.” Perhaps the best example of the Olympics pushing a competitor to vice took place about twenty years ago, when Tonya Harding famously helped plan and execute an assault on fellow American Nancy Kerrigan, who was her major rival at both the U.S. National Championships and the Olympics.
So what are we to make of all this? I’d say three things, by way of response. First, anyone who’s watched these games closely knows that for every Jokavic and Ingrebrigtsen we saw, we also saw dozens of examples of camaraderie, empathy, humility, and sportsmanship–the virtues of sports at its best. This amazing image of Americans Simon Biles and Jordan Chiles honoring Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade after Andrade bested both in the women’s floor exercise says it better than I ever could.
Indeed, isn’t this why we love the Olympics? The way it brings the world together in the spirit of fellowship and shared humanity like (literally) nothing else does?
Second, I’d raise the question of whether it’s really the sports themselves that are producing the vices in athletes like Jokavic and Ingrebrigtsen (and Harding), or if it’s not rather that the cultures supporting their sports are twisting and distorting how sports are being played. Let me put that more plainly. Vices like pride, competitiveness, stubbornness, and selfishness (etc.) are not exclusive to sports. In fact, we live in an economy (i.e. capitalism) where competition, selfishness (etc.) are not considered vices at all, but goods. We should not be surprised, then, when something that has as much commercial value as athletics bears the marks of the culture that supports it. But neither should the blame be put on athletics itself.
In fact, isn’t this another reason we love the Olympics? Precisely because so many of these athletes are amateurs, we see athletics in a purer form. I was grateful that the Nike ad campaign was not the only one during these games, and that two other commercials (by Dick’s Sporting Goods and Comcast Sports Network) beautifully and inspiringly captured what is best about athletics in its purer form. The Comcast ad (entitled “Winning Isn’t Everything”) wonderfully captures how sports can form a community–or, a “counter-culture”–in which these virtues are not only performed, but passed on. I highly recommend you check it out.
But this point, finally, brings me to a third and final thing worth saying–and here, I am squarely aligned with Professor Little. A key principle of “virtue ethics” is that one does not simply develop a virtue by practice alone, but by practicing it “rightly.” Think about that old adage from sports: “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” In other words, just because I go to the gym and lift weights, that doesn’t mean I will get stronger. I may not be lifting enough weight (and so exerting enough effort) to get stronger. I may be lifting the weight with incorrect form, which means I’m not only not getting the full effect of the exercise, but also risking injury. I may also be emphasizing certain exercises out of balance (i.e. doing too much of one muscle group, and not enough of another), and so again risking injury.
And I could of course extend the point to swimming strokes, or jump shots, or gymnastics routines, but I’m sure you get the heart of it: If you don’t engage in the practice the right way, you won’t get it’s effect. You may even cause harm….
Why is this important? Well, with respect to athletics specifically, it’s worth saying that anyone who is participating in them just to make themselves feel important or to make other people feel small is engaging in them in a way that is directly counter to the spirit of athletics (again, see the Comcast ad). So, whether or not the vices (i.e. competitiveness, stubbornness, selfishness, etc.) of some athletes make them better at some performance aspects of the sport–by the way, I have serious questions about whether these vices can normally improve performance, even if it sometimes does–but in any event, the vice is being elicited and produced, not by the sport itself, but by its misuse.
That’s an important character issue on it’s own. But remember, I’ve said sports is a metaphor for our faith–and that’s where the deeper point I want to make is. Just as going through the motions at the gym won’t get you in better shape, the same could be said about “going through the motions” at church. Just because we regularly attend worship or participate in certain rituals, it doesn’t automatically mean that we will become the sort of individuals or communities we are called to be. Our hearts need to be fully engaged, and we need to be applying the appropriate amount of energy into it. Or, just like doing exercises with the wrong “form” or “out of balance” can be ineffective (or harmful) at the gym, the same could be said about an “out of balance” faith practice. I’m thinking here, for example, about the opening lines of 1 Corinthians 13: “If I speak with tongues of angels, but do not have love… (etc.).” One person might read their Bible regularly, but not spend much time in prayer. Another person might pray daily, but not spend much time in acts of charity and service. Yet another person might be generous with their talent and treasure, but spend almost no time studying their faith. Still another may study all the time, but never share what they have come to know with others. A final person may share all the time, but do so in a way that “does not have love” (1 Cor. 13:1). A holistic faith practice requires all of these things, and we will find our selves and our communities ineffective (and maybe even, harmful) if we do not practice them in balance.
Of course, all that requires work–hard work (just like, athletics). So let me leave you with one piece of good news. Just like all the Olympians at the games compete with teams (at least, their national teams), so do you. We are that team for each other. You can think of Church of the Incarnation like your own “Team USA,” and all of us like your training partners and fellow practitioners, here to encourage, support, instruct, coach, and work alongside you.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty fun to me. So, let’s get out there, and see if we can’t help each other play our best!
Nate+