Josh Benner

Tag: sports

  • A career of adversity: Drew Brees breaks NFL all time passing record

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    Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    It’s incredible to think about what Drew Brees has accomplished on the football field. Last night, against the Washington Redskins, Brees became the NFL’s all time leader in career passing yards.

    Sports radio show host Colin Cowherd brought up some of the adversity he’s overcome in his opening monologue on today’s program.

    Injuries 

    In high school, he blew out his knee his junior year.

    As a senior, he only had two scholarship offers: Purdue and Kentucky, two schools known more for basketball than football.

    At Purdue, Brees put up incredible passing numbers. He’s still the all time passing leader in the Big Ten (and second all time in touchdown passes).

    Too small 

    Before coming into the NFL, Brees was considered undersized. He stood just 6 feet tall and came into the league at a time where a lot of prototypical quarterbacks were 6’3″ or bigger. But Brees was a trailblazer for future quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Baker Mayfield.

    Better options 

    Brees was taken as the first pick of the second round of the 2001 NFL draft. He had a successful stint in San Diego before the Chargers drafted Phillip Rivers. Seeing the writing on the wall, Brees left San Diego after the 2004 season.

    Brees had his coach suspended for an entire season after the Bounty-gate scandal.

    Through all of that adversity, Brees kept plugging along.

    There are only nine 5,000 yard passing seasons in NFL history. Brees has five of them.

    You can accomplish anything in life if you’re willing to work for it.

    -Drew Brees

    Last night, when Brees broke the record, his wife and four children were on the field to celebrate with him. He told them “You can accomplish anything in life if you’re willing to work for it. Alright?”

    He knows it because he’s done it.

    There are a lot of excuses we can make: didn’t have the right parents, didn’t have the right connections, didn’t catch the right breaks.

    We have to respond to adversity by working hard, growing as people, learning from mistakes, and being opportunistic. It’s easier to make excuses than to take responsibility. It’s easier to settle than to strive to do great things.

    I think that’s why we should appreciate what Brees has accomplished. Because it’s a reminder to us all that you can accomplish anything in life if you’re willing to work for it.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 
    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Nike ad says Colin Kaepernick is “sacrificing everything.” We should all agree that that’s absurd

    DmMVEk3WsAACHq1.jpg-large.jpeg“Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. Just do it.”

    Sacrificing everything?

    This is the slogan on a new Nike ad featuring former Colin Kaerpnick, former NFL quarterback who was the first in the NFL to kneel during the National Anthem as a protest. The ad is on a new marketing campaign from Nike as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of their famed “Just do it” slogan.

    There are varying opinions on football players kneeling. In general, most Americans do not support this and see it as offensive and disrespectful. 63 percent of people responded unfavorably in a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University.

    But I feel like we should all agree that he most certainly did not “sacrifice everything.” People go off to wars and die. But Colin Kaepernick is in an ad for a shoe company that says he “sacrificed everything?” People in other parts of the world stand up to barbaric dictators and pay with their lives (and sometimes the lives of their own families). But Colin Kaepernick not playing football anymore is him sacrificing everything.

    That’s absurd.

    Kaepernick has far more fame and notoriety for his protest than he ever would have had for being an ok NFL quarterback. He made millions playing football.

    He’s going to make millions with Nike. According to the New York Times: “Nike will produce new Kaepernick apparel, including a shoe and a T-shirt, and if the merchandise sells well, the value of the deal will rival those of other top N.F.L. players, according to people close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because Nike had not formally announced it. Nike will also donate money to Kaepernick’s “Know Your Rights” campaign.”

    I think it hurts the cause. Sports writer Jason Whitlock, who’s been critical of Kapernick’s protests commented: “Told y’all from Day One this has always been about the money. All of it. Revolutionaries aren’t sponsored by major corporations. It’s been a hustle from the giddy-up.”

    I agree with Whitlock. Gandhi wasn’t saying, “Be the change you wish to see in the world. Obey your thirst.”

    I think Kaepernick cashing in on his protest (first of all, that totally undermines the idea of sacrifice) hurts his message. He’s trying to address real issues and he’s going to attach his name to an apparel line? Obviously that’s his right too. But it also makes him look like a corporate shill.

    It doesn’t seem to be a very successful means of rallying support to a cause or advancing a public discussion on the issues. A lot of Americans find the display disrespectful and offensive. And that’s fine. You can do something that offends people. But then what’s the end game for actually being an agent of change? If you turn off people whom you’re trying to reach and they don’t want to listen to the message, how do you achieve anything?

    These are complicated matters and there are a number of thoughtful opinions. The issue for me has never been kneeling for the national anthem. My biggest issue is that he’s getting treated like he’s some sort of martyr. Kaepernick has certainly received lots of criticism for his protest but many also celebrate him as a hero, he’s been given a huge platform, and he’s going to profit greatly off of this. This isn’t what it looks like to sacrifice everything.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • The danger of rabid political correctness – Auto racing driver loses sponsor for comment his father made in the 1980s

    Conor_Daly_-_2015_Indy_500_-_Stierch-1.jpg
    Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    There have been incidents in the past when comments a person made years ago resurface and come back to haunt them.

    I certainly don’t want to justify or excuse hateful comments.

    But people are also capable of changing. And I think that’s one thing our society is struggling to accept with the social media mobs who attack people.

    This week, a story stuck out to me as being a rock bottom of absurdity. Indy Car driver Conor Daly lost a sponsorship with Eli Lilly over a racial slur. Not one that he said. He father said it.

    In the 1980s.

    Before Daly was even born.

    And now his son is paying the price for that 30 years later.

    That. is. insane. (more…)

  • What Jim Thome can teach us about strengths and weaknesses

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    Jim Thome. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons @Erik Drost

    Like any Cleveland Indians fan growing up in the 90s, Jim Thome is one of my all time favorite baseball players.

    Always had a good reputation as being friendly, a slugger, wore high socks like he was playing in the 30s. What wasn’t there to love?

    This past weekend, Thome was enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. It’s well deserved. Thome’s 612 career home runs ranks him eighth all time.

    Baseball fans talk about guys who are five tool players, which refers to someone who can hit for power, hit for average, run well, throw well, and who has a good glove.

    Obviously Thome excelled at hitting for power. And while his career batting average was a respectable (though not exactly phenomenal .276), he actually is 51st all time in on base percentage because Thome also walked a lot.

    But he wasn’t known for being a great fielder or runner (19 career stolen bases, compared to being caught stealing 20 times).

    Simply put, Jim Thome was not a five tool player. And yet he’s in the Hall of Fame, because parts of his game were great.

    We all have room to grow, areas where we can improve. And we should always strive to get better in those areas. But there are also some skills where we’ll probably never excel, and that’s ok, because we can still do a lot with the talent and ability we have.

    Sometimes we can get bogged down for modest improvements in areas that aren’t our strengths when we could be working to cultivate our strengths to become even better. Let us never be so good at something that we think we can’t still do it better.

    What’s something you’re good at where you could get even better?

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Art Modell dies: still unsure about why exactly he moved the Browns…

    I don’t have a favorite NFL team. I haven’t since I was ten years old. In 1995, I was still in the early stages of forming my love of football. Growing up in Columbus, I loved the Buckeyes while the Cleveland Browns had become my favorite NFL team. It was in that same year where Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced that he was moving the team to Baltimore.

    Since that time, I’ve never rooted for an NFL team. Pittsburgh was still to be hated and Cincinnati was still to be pitied. When the Browns returned in 1999, I struggled with apathy. I wanted to be a fan of the team. I watched games, but I never really cared. Eventually I stopped trying to pretend to be a fan. For me, the magic was gone. (more…)