Full disclosure: I’m a big football fan—grade school, high school, college, and the National Football League (NFL)—and I’d like to see the Buffalo Bills win a Super Bowl, although, truth be told, I’d prefer the same first for my hometown Detroit Lions. I was pulling for Scott Norwood and Buffalo when his kick went wide right at the end of Super Bowl XXV, and I cheered when Don Beebe, two years later, didn’t let a 52-17 deficit prevent him from stopping another score in one of the most memorable moments in Super Bowl history.
I played football as a kid and for decades have used “Faith, Family, and Football” as a personal motto. Catholicism and American football have a long and rich history, as the character-testing practices and games can help boys and men bond under a common purpose in our Lord Jesus Christ. Many U.S. Catholic high schools have great football traditions, and I personally benefited from playing in the Detroit Catholic League, including at St. Mary of Redford Grade School in Detroit and Fr. Gabriel Richard High School in Ann Arbor. I especially liked how we would participate in Sunday morning Mass as a team at St. Mary’s, and then head to the locker room and play our games at nearby fields.
In addition, the University of Notre Dame has a great gridiron tradition, and the NFL Hall of Fame includes many faithful Catholics, including coaches like Vince Lombardi, George Halas, Don Shula, and Chuck Noll, and players like Roger Staubach, a longtime personal favorite of mine who, when he won the MVP in Super Bowl VI for the victorious Dallas Cowboys, declined a Dodge Charger because the station wagon he asked for instead better suited the needs of his growing family.
Unsportsmanlike Conduct: A Blasphemous Parody of Baptism
Many NFL teams have a priest chaplain, who offers the sacrifice of the Mass for Catholic players on Sundays. Given this storied history, I’m disappointed not only that the Bills Mafia are promoting a parody of the sacrament of baptism to incorporate fans “into their fold,” but also that the NFL has made a promotional spot of the parody, which it’s been broadcasting to millions in recent weeks.
The Bills Mafia have a ritual in which they hurtle their bodies onto tables. Prudent fans use custom breakable tables, and they also make sure to land on a padded surface. In addition, they help infants break cardboard versions during their initiation into the Mafia. That’s harmless fun, in and of itself, for parents to do with their babies.
What’s not fun, though, is incorporating it into a blasphemous parody of infant baptism.
Catholics can laugh at themselves. Think, for example, of some of the best bits of “Fr. Guido Sarducci” of Saturday Night Live fame. In marked contrast, this NFL parody crosses the line, including by mocking the baptism ritual, the associated invocation of the Holy Trinity, and the offices of both the ministerial priesthood and the papacy. As the NFL commercial provides,
We are gathered here today to witness the baptism of the newest member of the Bills Mafia. In the name of [Bills head coach Sean] McDermott, the holy Allen [Bill star quarterback Josh], and in [Bills coaching legend] Marv Levy’s name. Amen!
Multiple infants are seen during the fifteen-second promo, and as the “amen” is uttered, we see the caption, “Some football fans are born ready.” And then, as a father places his child on the cardboard table, the NFL commercial concludes with the message, “You better believe it.”
The Mafia is led by its own “pope,” who dresses like a bishop in liturgical vestments and mocks priestly blessings, including making the sign of the cross while bringing older folk into his football flock.
It’s all a backhanded compliment to the Church’s ongoing relevance, because if we didn’t matter, we wouldn’t be on their minds. Still, one should be wary of mocking God (see Gal. 6:7-9).
Baptism: Worthy of Belief—and Respect
The real sacrament of baptism provides new life to infants and others, including through removing original sin, making them temples of the Holy Spirit, and incorporating them into the Catholic Church. Baptism is the gateway to the Christian life and something Jesus normatively requires for his disciples (Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 2:37-39) to attain heaven (1 Pet. 3:20-21). Jesus also makes clear that his kingdom is for children (Matt. 18:1-4, 19:13-15). And so whereas male infants became a member of God’s Old Covenant people through circumcision on their eighth day (Gen. 17:9-14), baptism or “circumcision of the heart” became its New Covenant analogue for little ones (Col. 2:8-15).
Some might say this article is counterproductive because it draws attention to the very thing it decries. I hope not. Rather, I’m appealing to members of the Bills Mafia, particularly faithful Catholic ones, that they end this charade of sacrilege. Instead, why not have real local priests (or deacons) offer real blessings at gatherings of the Bills Mafia, including special ones for infants? And you don’t need to be Catholic to receive a blessing from a Catholic priest or deacon, so everyone is truly welcome.
I also hope and pray that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sidelines this promo permanently. Perhaps hearing from deacons, priests, and bishops could help persuade him. Although Goodell didn’t start this ritual, the NFL under his leadership has certainly given it a global audience.
Ironically, the NFL has made special efforts to kowtow to certain groups that promote Marxism and other anti-nuclear family messages under the aegis of combatting racism, something Malcolm X would’ve countered and which many black leaders today have opposed. The NFL also partners with groups with like GLAAD, who’ve applauded the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” for bringing “flamboyant hilarity to serious causes”— including mock liturgies in which a condom has been “reverenced” as their “holy savior” and “nuns” whose names even many secular publications wouldn’t hazard to print.
So why the double standard for the Catholic Church? Surely Goodell could have consulted his NYC neighbor Cardinal Timothy Dolan or canon lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray, who would have told him that the NFL is aiding and abetting disrespect for Christ and his Church. Where was the vetting process on this commercial? No one raised a red flag?
Here we’re reminded that the Church’s incontrovertible enemies are the devil and his demonic minions, not mere human beings (Eph. 6:12). Given the cultural slide of the last several decades, including because of the damage of the clerical sexual abuse scandal, the percentage of practicing Catholics in America has plummeted since my own baptism in March 1962, as has the religiosity of Americans in general. As a result, I suspect some of these Bills Mafia members include non-practicing Catholics seeking solidarity amid the trappings of a faith they once held dear. May they soon seek edifying alternatives in cheering for their home team.