Confessions of a Sports Addict (And Spouse)

Brad:
Welcome to Go Mad with Doug and Brad, and this is the Podcast where we talk about how to be ambassadors for Christ where you live. Jesse, good to see you over there.

Jesse:
How's it going, Brad?

Brad:
It is going great. We're off to a great start this new year. Doug, how have you been?

Um hey, Doug Oh no. Doug, Doug, hey, we're we're recording. We started. Yeah, we're we're doing this.

I'm I'm sorry. I was watching the end of the football game. Wow.

So sorry. I Man, football's everywhere nowadays. I could see why it's on basically twenty-four-seven.

So it is. We got the Super Bowl coming up. Were you watching that one state team playing the other national college team?

Just like the Super Bowl where

Doug:
That one team's playing the other team.

Jesse:
Doug, you looked emotionally invested in that game.

Doug:
I'm just gonna rule that out. I was, I was, and now I'm emotionally invested in this podcast.

Brad:
You know what? That's actually we're gonna be talking That's how quickly I can turn that corner. It's funny you should mention that, Jesse, because really we are talking a little bit about being too emotionally invested in sports today.

What we're gonna talk about today is that we We are not saying, let's get this clear off the top of the show. We love sports. We watch sports.

Some of us more than others.

Jesse:
Yeah, I love sports too.

Brad:
You've heard about it. Which one, Jesse?

Jesse:
Well, all of them, all of them equal.

Brad:
Like my children, just all of them the same. So we have got uh, but we're gonna talk about how we look at that, how you know when it's maybe become a little much in your life and It's an unhealthy balance for you and also how you can be Christ's ambassadors and balance sports in your life and everything. So we're just going to be having a little conversation. We're heading up to a pretty big game. We got the playoffs, the Super Bowl coming up, all that.

Doug:
You know, we're we're today we're focusing on when sports can become a little too important to you. So maybe that's not you, maybe it's someone you know, someone you love, maybe you're seeing it happen in your kids or your grandkids, it's something for everybody today. I mean, a lot of what we'll talk about you can apply to when anything is creeping up on you and becoming a little maybe maybe a bit of a surprise that it's become that important to you. You do remember Uh, I may have shared this before, but I mean you guys remember what I I really I hate to bring stuff up like this up because it's so I don't wanna sound like I'm, you know, pat myself on the back. But if we're talking if we're talking sports I gotta remind you what my high school football coach told me.

Brad:
What did he tell you?

Doug:
Well, you know, he said I I could make the NFL. If he said Doug, I remember I'll never forget he said Doug, you could make the NFL if you were only stronger, taller, faster, smarter, bigger, tougher. Oh, and coordinated.

Brad:
That was quite the encouragement.

Doug:
I like that. I'm still working. I'm 53. I'm 53. I have not given up.

Brad:
So basically what your coach told you was you can make the NFL. Much, much worse.

Doug:
That's right. This is probably a good time actually to mention look, Brad, this has all been that we're doing this topic's all been a ruse. Today. Really? This is about Jesse and I confronting you about your pickleball addiction.

Brad:
This isn't pickleball intervention of PBI.

Doug:
I've actually I know nothing about this. Do they play with actual pickles? Are they Gherkin? Are they the sweet ones? And am I in fact pronouncing Gherkin correctly?

Brad:
You know, I don't I all I could tell you is that I got um this little magazine Look, it's from our uh insurance provider basically, and they send out stuff as far as hey, how to take care of yourself. They seem to come more frequently the older I get, but it is it's the main article was actually about pickleball. And the massive amount of injuries that come from the knee injuries and and just elbow injuries and everything. It's It is pickle injuries. So it is it's crazy, but we are talking today uh about especially leading up to The sports consumption side of things, I will I I you know, Doug, you tried on and I've tried on recently our high school football gym.

Doug:
Oh my goodness. Mine's behind. If you're watching on video, mine's Just behind me in this corner. I was able to get one arm in.

Brad:
Now, I I want to mention this that as we talk about sports are not bad. They're They can be an escape, they can be kind of a a good connection in different ways. We'll get to that.

But we want to s start off by talking about ways to see if sports are unhealthy for you. Where they have an unhealthy role in your life. You know, yeah.

Doug:
And uh we're gonna We're gonna actually get some specifics there and and if it has become a little too important to you, what things you can do about it. Sports are definitely huge. Oh yeah.

In our culture. I was at uh I was at church the other day. And folks had their arms lifted, their voices raised, looks of total worship on their faces.

Oh wait, that was the football game. No, but I love sports. My wife loves sports.

What's that, Jesse? Oh no wait, she doesn't. Um she said I've stayed out of this dust. She said, you know what I love about sports, honey, when you turn it off No, no. She she she uh one time I asked her, I said, Do you uh enjoy sports at all?

And she said, I enjoy them because you do. And I thought that was very sweet of her. But man, we're yeah, we're passionate about Brad and I about our Yankees or Giants or Knicks.

We love how it's a connection point with uh with our dad. I like it's a connection point with Brad and I. I our dad actually, uh Ron spoke it at um at chapels, at at it at uh Yankees chapels and Giants and and actually would bring us along sometimes and it was just uh i i so we've got this deep connection with sports. Some of my most joyful moments have come after a great sports victory in my life.

Brad:
So so actually I have to tell you that that the joy over a sports victory. Yes. Jesse, I want you to picture. It's it's Doug and Brad, um Anna and Sarah were out on the uh Hope you reservation where we uh worked with young people for a number of years.

Doug:
Yep.

Brad:
And the Yankees were in the World Series. Now, this was was a good uh year for the Yankees in the World Series. And Sarah still remembers vividly how uh when the Yankees won uh which seems like a long, long time ago.

But when the Yankees won, the dog pile that Doug and I did just with each other in the living room. He we just Just look one and is it a dog pile if there's two people? It's a no and then it's a dog pile.

It's a dug pile. So it we do get we have been known to be passionate about our teams and uh I'll tell you one perspective, one way that you can get a good perspective on the role of sports in your life. My wife grew up as a missionary kid in Liberia, Africa.

And she uh her family not so sports oriented um in case I'm listening. I just want to be uh you know But it is I they're they don't they weren't big sports watchers and everything. Now they can fix cars.

They can do things I have no clue how to do. They can do useful things. Yeah, they can do useful things.

Staring at a at a ball. But they um so for her to come into this world where I am passionate about sports and and I like watching these games. It's been really good to help me find balance actually in how I approach them just because it's like, okay, maybe there was a little much.

Maybe I had a little too much of this and not enough of that. Anyway.

Doug:
I I have had I gotta admit this, I've actually had times in my life. Again, we're talking so the thing about about this is you don't have to be the the the title of this is about Um b if you can if you're a sports addict, but you don't have to be an addict for it to be too important to you. I've had times in my life where they were too important to me where Um when it just crept up on me and and it's affecting my family.

I'm spending too much time, too much energy, too much emotion. Uh but yeah, you don't have to be an addict for sports to be too important to you. Whether it's watching them or playing them golf.

Um if you want to know if it's too important to you. This is one of those things where you can't just trust yourself. Remember that scripture, the heart is above all deceitful.

We know how to lie to ourselves and rationalize. If you want to know, are sports too important to you, ask your spouse. Ask to be honest.

Yeah, I do. I have to. Um, and uh, or ask your kids You might go, well, it sports seems so innocuous, you know.

We wouldn't think about it examining um whether it's too important to us or whether it's an addiction. But uh man, when you start to actually look at the amount of time, energy, money that we give to sports might might seem silly, but when you when you look into that, you go, maybe this has become a little too important. I mean, you got 24 hour network coverage, right?

You got the internet, which has everything about, if you have any interest in sports, you can find everything about everything. Um now, of course, fantasy sports, which Brad and I have played, gambling. And next thing you know, a healthy love of sports can maybe become something that's not very healthy, can even be damaging.

So the question is. Where does passion end and addiction even begin? Because if addiction is, I did my little Google search here.

Um, and I wanted to see how the how the um whatever the US scientific place of addiction things Um, and they said addiction is a chronic action. All right, so something you constantly do, a chronic action characterized by behavior that is compulsive. or difficult to control despite harmful consequences.

And so you might you might b people might be suffering financial loss, relationship problems because it's because it's too much. Um, anger and depression if you've ever had a big game that your team has lost and it just affects you the next day or the next week, but you keep on giving the time and the same and energy, even though You go you look at it and you go, is this might be hurting me.

Brad:
Yeah. Yeah, and I think that uh so I would say that's a good place to start, Doug, as far as how to tell if Sports have an unhealthy place in your life. First of all, ask your family.

Ask your spouse. So I think that's a good place to start. I would uh add to that.

to uh look around the room. Next time you're wa I I was uh watching um an ESPN show recently that they were talking about upcoming sport events, uh just football. And they're like, this is the first time.

in history that we will have five nights between college and foot and and NFL of playoff football. And you start doing the math on that with each game, say it's three hours. I mean you could spend almost an entire day, an entire waking day, 15 hours watching games and some will.

And so when you're doing this I would encourage you, in addition to asking your spouse, asking your kids, to look around the room. And if you have negative looks as you're reacting to the game, if you have reactions of like, Ooh, if someone has moved a half step away from you while you're watching, if you're they these are ways that you're seeing the impact on others, the visual impact. So ask the Lord to hey put a check in me to actually observe what's happening around me because we get so engrossed in a game, in the lives of the players on the field, that we forget to look around and see how it's impacting others.

If it's having a negative impact, you're doing sports wrong. And I had an example of this recently. Yankees, I don't know if you heard Doug, they were in the World Series this year.

Doug:
No one dropped the ball, did they, and that lost the World Series. No one dropped the ball.

Brad:
Literally and figuratively. So there we are. We're watching the World Series.

I'm watching it with my boys and it was we'll talk a little bit about the Slayers a bonding moment. We're watching 'em because my boys, sadly, uh who are now sixteen and fourteen had never seen the Yankees in the World Series Uh my son Caleb has was one last time, so I didn't really remember. Um But we are so we're watching the game and all of a sudden my youngest Joshua I hear him say, why can't they just fire Boone?

And I'm like

Doug:
The Yankees manager.

Brad:
Yeah. I'm like, I'm pretty sure that's not an original thought that Josh would just and I'm like, all of a sudden I'm thinking Where did he get that? Well, I found myself and I'm having to backtrack at that moment.

I'm having to say, you know what, the World Series, it's We're gonna wake up tomorrow. Life's gonna go on. It's fine either way and everything.

And I'm just like I started to realize I was putting too much into it. I was still and I've gotten so much better over the years. I really have.

I don't watchful games barely at all anymore because it takes so much time. But it was a microcosm there I that I bring up to say that the people are watching how you watch. People are noticing how you consume sports.

So your spouse is noticing, your kids are noticing, those guys you're having over for the uh Fantasy football league draft and the uh guys you're having over to watch the game. And this is true of men and women. We get too invested in sports.

It's more true of guys. The stats show that. But People are watching, and this is where Ephesians 4.

29, we talk about this verse several times on the show, but do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs. This is the part that really got me this time around when looking at this, that it may benefit those who listen. Wow.

And I checked in the Greek. It applies to sports. Uh it's there somewhere.

Uh it is it's really yeah, yeah. It applies to there's no exemption in the Greek there for Benefit those who listen unless you're watching your team lose a game they should win. But it is we're supposed to speak words that benefit those who listen, and our attitude is to reflect that of Christ.

And so if you're missing that mark, take a look at sports. Are they too unhealthy?

Doug:
That's good. Yeah, my my my son, like i this was a little while ago, but he yelled at the TV during a game. And he's like, what a loser.

He was talking about a particular guy. And I'm like, Oh my goodness. Uh oh.

Yeah. I think I know we're here. So now all of us.

Hannah said that, right? I'm just kidding. That is not.

She would not. So that She'd have to care about it. No, but but uh you know, it and it did hit me in that moment that that that whole don't let unwholesome talk come out of your mouth Uh he got that from me and so now all of a sudden my son, someone he doesn't know, is it that is made in the image of God.

He's calling a loser. Um what you Brad, this is such an uh uh huge point. We always talk about our ambassadorship that we're ambassadors and and that's what this podcast is about.

How do we If if we are representing Jesus to everybody, starting with our families and then our friends, you gotta assume whatever is important to you. um is going to be important to your family. We're always imprinting, right?

What what do we value? What do we give our affection to? Um, and you communicate that, you communicate what's important to you, what you give value to by how you spend your time.

Forget about what you say. I mean that's that's a little part of it, but how you spend your time, where you spend your energy, where you spend your money, always imprinting your life priorities. to your family.

So we're not talking about sports or bad. We're talking about anything that becomes too important to you. And this one can really creep up on you.

And you know, I hate to say it, but I mean if an idol is anything that we give More importance to than God, especially consistently. We all do that from time to time. We wish we didn't, but we're human.

Um, but you do that consistently enough, it be really becomes an idol to you. Sports does um so many things that we communicate about church. About our time with the Lord, about our kids, about time with our spouse.

There are things you never intended to communicate.

Brad:
Yeah.

Doug:
that you are. So so let's keep going. I'm ways to tell if if if sports have become too maybe a little too important in your life. What else do you think?

Brad:
Sports jumps into the driver's seat in your life, it's idolatry. When sports even if it's momentary idolatry, it is when because I I love at uh our church where they have the us bus as our pastor calls it and he Just as what are the different things that are that could be in the driver's seat? And these aren't bad things.

He makes very clear emotions and traditions and all these things. We could add sports in there. It's not bad for it to be in the bus with you, uh, it's bad if it's in the driver's seat of the bus because everything should be subject to your relationship with the Lord and the word of God.

And so 1 John 5, 21 says, keep yourselves from idols. And the Bible lists a number of categories that can lead to idolatry. And sports can definitely fall into some of those areas.

I was looking up some of the Greek words. about passion, about our our emotions that come along with idolatry and everything. And it starts with answering the question if sports ever comes before God.

Does sports ever come before God? Does it sports ever come before your family? Because sports should not be in the seat before your family as well.

And I wrote this down. Do sports bring out the opposite of the fruit of the spirit in you? And I wrote that down.

I'm like, do I need to say that? Because I. I'm guilty of that sometimes. And I'm like, they definitely have in me sometimes where I'm like, that was not gentleness.

That was not peace. That was not patience. We know the list.

It certainly wasn't joy. And I would say, Doug. When those I think of when those losses, the your team doing poorly lead to a bad day the next day.

uh conflict on social media where you're like spewing back and forth with someone about your their team and your team and everything. It just it it's evidence of That sports which can be good in our lives has become too much in our lives.

Doug:
Yeah, if your mood uh is pretty dependent on the success or the failure. of your teams or your players, especially if it's extended, man. We all have friends.

Maybe it's been us where, I mean, the stress level, even depression. You know, you just depress the thing about depression is it when you feel it, it affects everything. Like it affects your relationships, it infiltrates everywhere.

And then when your team loses a big game It can it can really make you feel depressed. Um, so yeah, um, great point, Brad. I think if you plan your week around what sports do you want to watch.

That might be another sign way uh to tell if sports maybe become a little too important in your life.

Brad:
And now you're not saying uh I want to clarify, you're not saying Don't plan on watching a game. That's exactly what I'm saying. Just you only watch sports if you happen to turn on the game.

If it happens to be on, you get five minutes. But I think the reality is If we're planning it where we're not flexible for something else, what does your s does your wife have or husband have a need? Is it in the driver's seat?

Right. And then I would say the one I would add that May not apply to everyone listening, but again, this Doug is you either are doing this yourself, you know someone who does, or maybe your children are start to starting to do this. Are you betting on sport?

And I looked this up, taught that sports betting, sixty-eight million Americans. Bet on the Super Bowl this past year at the for the total of twenty-three point one billion

Doug:
I hadn't seen that. So you're s if it's sixty-eight million Americans, that's like one in five. Yeah.

So like like I said, or it's you. That doesn't include little kids. Oh my goodness.

Brad:
And they do The uh when I was reading this article, it's about how there's a lot of teens that are because of online gambling and shocker, not all sites that say 21 and over. Really do a thorough check. I know, I know.

It's really it's shocking. But but so and it talked about the impact on young people. They are more susceptible.

to mental health issues because of money lost on betting than even adults would be. Checkout guides to show the the Super Bowl. Would not have prop bets, which these are like the underlying bets for things that don't matter at all.

But they would not offer these if people weren't betting on them. So people are using some of that $23. 1 billion to bet on how long Reba McIntyre will go singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl this year.

The color of the Gatorade in the winning teams cooler, which evidently last year the uh popular choice was purple. I have no idea what one. Uh which brand will have the first commercial and of course, as it happened last year, if the Chiefs make the Super Bowl again The Taylor Swift prop bets will be there as far as how last year how many times will she be shown on camera and things like that.

So What how we use we're we're not gonna go deep into this. This could be a whole nother podcast. How you use your money matters to the Lord.

And if you are betting that much on sports, even as a nation, It shows that our priorities are messed up when it comes to what how we're using our money and counting on sports to all of a sudden provide revenue for us somehow. Uh so anyway, that would that was one that was big for me was if you're betting on sports and spending even more time Because you're betting on sports watching them and getting upset about them, you gotta take a look at that.

Doug:
They should have a prop bet on whether I'll fall asleep before the end of the first quarter in the in the Super World. How much how much food I'm eating? Yeah, great point.

Another way to tell maybe is look at how you're spending your time. Uh if you're spending more quality time And quality energy on your teams, then your time with the Lord, um, your wife, your kids. Do they uh when we watch these games, they get our undivided attention.

You know, I mean, I will if there's a commercial You will run at uh top speed. I can't miss a moment of this. It gets all of you.

Man, are are Your kids uh is your spouse, Doug, getting your undivided attention the way the game does?

Brad:
I did not like one of the questions. Either you or Jesse brought it up when we were talking about this, was uh kind of along the lines of, and it's not even, you know, talking about the equal time or whatever, but are do you are you as passionate about, we should say, not time-wise, but are you passionate about playing sports with your kids as you are about consuming sports and watching them? And and that hit me because it's like It's not no, you don't have to go throw a baseball for three hours with your child because you're my at my age, my arm's gonna fall off.

But am I as passionate about, hey, let's go do this together. Let's go have fun together doing this. So I I appreciated that.

Doug:
I uh an a a quick point just to add to the the gambling point. Um you can even if you're not gambling on sports, you can be financially irresponsible. with sports. Um, you know, somehow we've got enough money to buy the sports package or the tickets, but when when the offering plate comes around, well, I don't know, things are pretty tight. Um I didn't think we were gonna talk about uncomfortable things today.

Brad:
That's so Brad, what do you say, man? Easy for us to say because We don't invest in packages because our team never wins the Giants as far as the NFL.

Doug:
So we know don't how about we talk about steps to maybe putting sports in a better perspective because There can be a lot of positive things about watching sports, obviously about playing them. I would try this. Here's a step.

If you think, you know what, if this is hitting you a little bit what we're talking about today, Actually, for a month, try this. Keep a log of how much time you are spending on sports. Now, you gotta not just count the games.

You gotta count watching Sports Center four times, the same one. You gotta count the articles that you're reading on the internet, uh the amount of time you're giving your fantasy teams and all that stuff. Mm.

Then and uh now I'm not saying that I've I've heard this before and and this is not what I'm saying. I'm not saying if okay, if you spend uh three hours watching the game, that means you have to go and spend three hours in the Bible. That's not what I mean.

But if you look at if you look at this log and you go, because I get this, I saw somewhere that the average American, average football fan, listen to this, can spend the equivalent of three days out of the month watching football when when there's college and NFL on Count the amount of time you're spending and then compare it to how does it stack up to your time with the Lord, again, your time with your wife. Your time with your family.

Brad:
Can I affirm Jesse for something here? Oh. Jesse, we're about to affirm you.

We have a uh We have a fantasy team, fantasy with just kind of uh some in our office, no money, no interest. Well, that's the thing. There's there's a couple guys that uh really by admission, don't have any clue of who these current players.

Well, and it's just fun because it's just for fun with guys in the office and everything. And uh Jesse's team name, Jesse. Come on, hit us with it.

What was your team name this year?

Jesse:
Auto draft victory. It's my it's my dream to just let the computer do all the work. And take home the gold or whatever it is.

Brad:
I looked at Jesse's team one week and there's like two guys on injured reserve.

Jesse:
And then I forget for weeks at a time that I have a team and then someone says Fantasy football and I go, Oh, I have a team.

Doug:
So auto draft is when you let the computer with you literally don't put any No. Yeah, you just let the computer make all the picks. That's pretty good.

Brad:
Anyway, uh so Jesse does not get distracted by spending a lot of time on this sporty things watching.

Doug:
What else can we do, Brad, to put to put maybe sports in better perspective?

Brad:
Jesse actually, because Jesse, you mentioned something I'd love for you to flesh this out for us a little bit about. the uh good and best story. Yeah. Uh talk to us.

Jesse:
Yeah, well, uh despite my standing now as completely ambivalent to sports of any kind. I actually grew up a pretty hardcore Yankees and Giants fan and it was a real good connection point with my dad and with other members of my family. Most of my memories of sports and and watching sports and going to sports games as a as a kid are really positive.

It was something that uh, you know, me and my dad or other members of my family could be excited about together. We could talk strategy. It was a positive connection point.

And I feel like uh there's a way to engage in sports and in consuming sports to where it's not only neutral, it can actually become a a positive way to connect with family, with kids, or even with people, uh friends, uh people on even on social media if it's done in a healthy, positive way, uh that maybe you wouldn't be able to connect with as readily otherwise.

Brad:
That's really good. I think that's uh very true because even uh on the baseball side of things, one of the things we like to do when we're in an area of the country that's got uh professional major league team We'll go to the stadium and we kind of just uh you know, we're knocking them off m maybe one every couple of years, but we're you're really good at this and we with your family because You bring your whole family. Yeah, we go to the game, we get cheap seats, we sit in the bleacher sometimes or in the outfield seats, and but we're just there And it's an experience because it's another kind of, hey, we visited this stadium.

We got to go to this city. We saw these teams. And it's uh we don't make a big deal of it.

It's just something we do. And it's a connect point because When it is centered around, I think, good memories, yeah, and good conversation, and it's in All play sort of thing where you're not just staring at a screen, but you're talking about things and everything. It can be a really good connect point.

So thank you, Jesse Thank you.

Doug:
We we live uh several hours from uh the Royals and and I have with each of our kids um I've gone just solo with just one of them. We've got three and gone to a game and made it just completely about them. You can get whatever you want to eat and as you know that's about four hundred dollar bill if they get four hot dogs and a and uh and ice cream.

Um and but man, just there was something about it just being us, the drive there, the conversation, the time together. We have All these pictures and we're just laughing and smiling and my kids still talk about it. So yeah, it can be a great connection point.

Um ri it real quick. Um, another uh another great connection point can be um you can actually help build up your kids through the sports that you're engaging with. Um, there's a great uh site magazine, it's called Sports Spectrum, and uh and and sometimes I'll see a quote from it or a video on uh online.

And like Aaron Judge, a big player for the Yankees and his favorite scriptures and and different there's always these different athletes coming out and saying, you know, the most important thing in my life, no matter what's going on, is Jesus. I share those with my sons Because it it impacts them to see someone that they has made it really made a a big name for themselves, say, you know what, I may be at the top of my game, but this is not the most important thing to me Um teaching them how to lose gracefully and perseverance and and uh even using a sports quality. Um the other day I i i it was a football game and I I I saw a player who just after the end of the game he had lost and he went up he was the only guy that went up to the other guys on the team.

It was a really tough loss. He was congratulating them, smiling with them, and I told my son, I said, you know what, that reminds me of you. That reminds me of you because you never let anything get you too upset where you start treating people the wrong way.

So there's lots of great jumping off points, great connection points.

Brad:
Those are all uh really good points. I love uh the story of CJ Stroud with the Houston Texans. He's on cover of a recent sports spectrum, and they're athletes that are pointing to Jesus on a regular basis.

And CJ Stroud actually even talks about how it helped him with his language because he had a coach when he got close to the NFL who was like, Man, he can't be representing Jesus and using that kind of w those kind of words. And he was like I've got to clean up my language. And so he has.

So you've got and uh if you'd like to check out actually more even about Sports Spectrum, we have a former episode, older episode with Jason Romano from Sports Spectrum. Used to be with the ESPN, you could check out. Um, and I would just say in all these things, you can I love that Doug, you can teach them to lose well.

You can also teach them to win well, not in a taunting way or whatever else, but in a Hey, I can win the right way and I see I should have said things. This is uh my watch is buzzing. It's not supposed to.

Sorry, Jesse. Um I would just say in all of these things we can watch sports in a redemptive way, in a way that makes an impact, because Ephesians 5. 15.

says making the most of every opportunity. And I think that's the key. When you consume entertainment, when you consume sports.

specifically right now, are you doing it in a way to make the most of every opportunity to connect with your family? To connect, man, you're bringing those guys over for a Super Bowl party. Do they all know Jesus?

Oh my goodness, make the most of every opportunity and share a you can find on I Am Second and uh other sites like that. where you can find sport spectrum as um clips of guys talking about Jesus during halftime.

Doug:
Guys in the Super Bowl.

Brad:
Yeah, I'm gonna tell you this. The Halftime show, it's okay to skip it. And uh and and just say, hey guys, I've got some could I show you this real quick or during a commercial break and then tell them a little of your story, but somehow build a bridge. Use it as an opportunity. So make the most of every opportunity when it comes to consuming sports around your family, around your friends, on social media, whatever it is.

Doug:
Brad and I could uh sit here all day and talk sports. We love it. Um we gotta we gotta wrap this up, but uh the bottom line is I I really like where you landed there, Brad.

I i w with everything. in our lives with how we spend our time. You look at how you spend your time.

Therefore I must leave it behind Uh if if there's something wrong with it that offends God and even pray that way like King David did, um, even about i how you're How you're interacting with sports. Remember he said, Lord, examine my heart, see if there is any offensive way of me. Lead me in the way everlasting.

So maybe do that as it pertains to sports or anything else in your life that might be becoming a little too important to you. Look how you can redeem the time for the days are evil. Redeem sports.

Your sports time because the days are evil. Uh sports aren't evil, but but let's keep an eye on it.

Brad:
So we hope this has been an encouragement to you as we head into uh the the Busy sports season here ahead and uh until next time from Doug, Brad, and Jesse, go back!