Besides basketball, there are other sports in which athletes
refer to God. As an example, a soccer version of a Jeremy Lin is that of
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, also commonly known as Kaka. A devout Evangelical
Christian, Kaka is considered one of the greatest Brazilian soccer players to
play the beautiful game. What makes him a topic for discussion in this course
you ask? The same reason why Jeremy Lin is being discussed; his public display
of faith to God as well as his role as a ‘Saviour’ for his team. In his speech
after winning the Player of the Year Award in 2007, Kaka quoted
the Bible. After the 2002 World Cup, Kaka removed his
jersey to reveal the words “I Belong To Jesus” inscribed on his t-shirt.
Moreover, after a near-death experience, Kaka
attributed his recovery to God saying, “It was a moment of spiritual growth
with God…I always read the Bible to pass the time…then I began to have
experiences with God myself" (CHAMPIONS Magazine). Given that he has claimed to have had experiences
with God and is of the most humble players in the world, Kaka embodies
Kozlovic’s characteristics of ‘simplicity’ and ‘divinely sourced’ as a
Christ-figure.
But do we need to
“keep religion out” of sport or football? (in the case of the New York
Times blog below) is a question that is debatable. Is there a place for
religion in sport? Should players keep their religious comments/beliefs to
themselves? Why is it that athletes tend to mention God when they win but not when they lose? It’s interesting to note that both Jeremy Lin and Kaka are
Evangelical Christians and are, to some extent, considered ‘Saviours’ for their
respective teams.
http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/tim-tebow-and-keeping-religion-out-of-football/
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