Dispatch
PLAYING AND PRAYING
Thousands flock to hear Tressel, Buckeyes speak about God and the gridiron
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Kevin Kidder
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
OSU football coach Jim Tressel, Katie Harden and her husband, wide receiver Derek Harden, listen to defensive tackle David Patterson speak in St. John Arena.
It had all the aura of a Buckeye football rally: a packed St. John Arena, a band belting out Hang on Sloopy, game highlights playing on huge projection screens.
Then members of the team, including Coach Jim Tressel, started quoting Bible verses.
Thunderous applause rained down on them.
Some members of the Ohio State football team took to the stage last night to share their spiritual side at "The Main Event," a rally designed to tell fans how Christianity affects their lives and their football.
In addition to Tressel, it featured seniors David Patterson, Joel Penton, Roy Hall and Stan White Jr. Other players joined them on stage throughout the 90-minute event.
Thousands of fans filled St. John Arena to the rafters, as player after player told stories amid humorous video clips and tapes of past glories on the gridiron.
After watching a clip of himself shaving his bald head and slurping up cereal, Hall talked about his mother, and how she had been in an abusive relationship while he was growing up. He was "not able to understand how she could keep going on," Hall said.
"Once you understand that God is behind everything, it gives you strength," he said. "I just want to say one more thing: I love you, Mom, and go Bucks!"
Patterson, a self-described "mama?s boy," related how he constantly calls his mother when anything goes awry. His mother questions whether he asked God for help first.
"We are small, very small compared to God," Patterson said.
Though Tressel was wearing his traditional scarlet sweater vest, he said he wanted to step away from his role of coach and speak "as a child of God."
He went on to quote Proverbs and Psalms in emphasizing reverence for and relationships with God. "Relationships make our lives so complete," he told the crowd.
He then related a story from a high-school sports summer camp in 1969, where retired New York Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson asked him, "If the game of life ended tonight, would you be a winner? "
"I wasn?t sure I could answer yes," Tressel said. The question helped him become more spiritual.
Inside, devoted fans wearing Buckeye necklaces milled about with fans who came to last night?s rally on church buses from across Ohio.
About a dozen members of the Northside Baptist Church in Lebanon made the hour or so trip. It was worth it, said 16-yearold friends John Cooper and Jeremy Jackson. Both are Buckeye fans, and they said they wanted to know how religion influenced the game.
The story that Hall told of his mother being abused struck a chord with both teens.
"It?s kinda weird, when you think about where he is now," Jackson said.
Rodney Morgan, of the West Side, said he came last night more to hear how religion influenced the men.
"It?s interesting, the Christians on the team. You don?t get to hear about that," said Morgan, 40, as he walked out of the arena.
"I?m trying to get right by God myself," he said.