Football conviction

I used to be obsessed with the NFL. My wife would probably tell you that I still am, but she just doesn't appreciate the fine-grained distinctions of obsession. Anyway, about nine years ago, I was laying on the couch reading Augustine's Confessions, and stumbled across his discussion of his obsession with gladiatorial spectacles and struggles to overcome it. Wow, that was me. Augustine was reading my mail 1300 years before I was born. So how could I fix it? I'm no saint, so I was skeptical about my ability to just pray my way out of a serious obsession. I had to have something hands-on to do. Here's what I came up with.

I made a rationing/bargaining system for my football watching. In order to watch a game, I had to have spent at least as much time studying scripture as I would spend watching football. It was an inconsistent system, some weeks I'd make it, some I wouldn't. Then I discovered audio Bible in mp3 format. Max McLean became my friend. I spend about 6 hours a week reading scripture, but with the audio Bible I spend more than double that in the Word each week. Parts of the Bible that were obscure to me have become familiar just through repetiton. And football has fallen into its proper perspective in my life.

Of course, it helps that I'm a redskins fan, so it's not like there's much for me to be interested in, anyway.