I have resisted commenting on the Dave Bliss situation at Baylor University for several days. I wanted to say something before but I just couldn't figure out how to say it. I'm not sure that I know what to say now but I feel like something needs to be said. There seems to be an epidemic among college coaches that cause them to lose their minds and cheat in every way imaginable and do stupid things like spend the night with a prostitute and then leave your credit card with her or spend all night partying with coeds from the school that just beat your team and then get your picture on the front page of the paper.
David Bliss has taken that stupidity to a whole other level. As a coach at a school that is at least in name Christian (I don't know anything about the school so I can't comment on whether it is still guided by that claim or not) he tried to cover his own butt by defaming the name of a murdered player. He tried to drag everyone else into the scheme, including players and assistant coaches and then he had the audacity to say "It's not like we created his situation. We're the victims." I don't even want to start on that comment, it just makes me sick.
The whole situation makes me sick. The fact that a coach would do something so stupid is disturbing. The fact that this would happen at at "Christian" school hurts even more. I just don't know what to say.
Well, I've got to go to a meeting now. Maybe I will comment a little more later. I've still got some other thoughts about this whole mess. I'd be glad to hear what anyone else is thinking.
Posted by bhuffine at August 21, 2003 09:57 AM | TrackBackTo be entirely honest I don't see why this is so surprising. Coaches and players have been living excessive lives of debauchery for as long as I can remember. Maybe this is why I'm so anti high school/college/professional sports. I remember it was the high school football team who was always dying from DUIs or the cause of some girl becoming pregnant. When I arrived at Covenant I spent my first night with a bunch of the basketball team over at a couple girls' apartment and needless to say contract did not apply. As I recall several were found out but nothing was ever done because it would have hurt Covenant's season. One of them once told me that he could do what he wanted for this very reason. You know for sure that if it was Catacombs caught in a night of debaurchery there would've been quite the figurative hanging.
The fact of the matter is that a lot is done in the name of Christianity when it has been established as a part of the culture. That's why I really dislike the idea of the "Bible Belt". Institutionalize Christianity and you make it easy for wolves to wear sheeps clothing. Under pressure, when your lives are at stake, I doubt we would have that many people here in the "Bible Belt" actually going to the end claiming the name of Christ.
I don't know what the solution is. Not to sound terribly odd or anything, but I tend to think of this in the mindset of warfare. If I wanted to wage a long term war against some established opponent. What better way to hurt them than to infiltrate their establishment and conduct acts to defame them? Sort of like suicide bombers but with a social impact instead. You sacrifice individuals to achieve the act of defamation. On this hypothesis, would it not make sense then if you were an agent of the darkness to act in the name of Christ. After all you are the utter incarnation of evil, you can't get much lower, so profaning God's name isn't going to seem a big deal to you. Get into a position where you can act, say a pastor, bishop, dean of a Christian school or even just a member of a church. Then start sowing seeds of discontent, stir up the members of the community against each other with rumours. Then for your final grand finale let it be known that you've actually been committing some horrible heinous sin while in that position of power and let the accolades of hate against Christianity roll in.
Just a theory really...
Posted by: at August 24, 2003 02:59 PM