This blog entry from the Huffington Post is an interesting overview of a recent study done with NFL football players. It seems with the fame and success, these athletes make gods out of themselves and feel as if they can do no wrong. The significance these players extract from their identity in sports often leads to emptiness and depression. I’ve written about this will the death of Kenny McKinley as well as with Josh Hamilton. Below are some excerpts from the Huffington Post article:
“I don’t need no god … Hell, I am one.” — NFL player in research study.
Carter became interested in the issues faced by pro football players when two friends who played in the NFL shared their experiences observing widespread deviant behavior.
With his friends opening doors, Carter was able to interview 104 current and former players, with a mean age of 30, from 2001 to 2006. He reported his findings in his new book and at the October meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Carter’s extensive fieldwork opens a window into a culture where many athletes who can perform at the highest level begin to believe they can do no wrong off the field.
The players share stories of rampant domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse and sexual deviance. “I don’t know how many guys I know that beat women, their wives or their girlfriends, or, for that matter, both … It seems to be a common thing,” one player said.
The players spoke over and over about how their lives were meaningless off the field, and how being rich and famous didn’t fulfill their souls.
“I thought with more championships and more honors, more money, more fame, more women, I would be able to find happiness … but I still felt empty,” one player said. “Depression, man, it runs rampant through the NFL,’ another player said.
What the athletes need is a social support system they can trust. Social support in terms of strong family relationships and a good education can be key buffers protecting athletes from deviant behavior, the research found.
Yet many colleges had little concern with graduation rates for star athletes, or even if they were barely literate. And often, even the athletes’ friends and family members treated them as sources of money and prestige to be coddled and exploited.
For some athletes, God and religion became a critical resource.
In his research, Carter found a relationship between religious practice and higher levels of happiness and lower levels of law breaking.
Almost half of the players articulated in interviews and informal conversations the importance of religion as a social support. Of those 51 players, 42 reported being happy with life.
Overall, 72 percent of the players who reported that they were happy with life also reported that religion was an important support mechanism in their life.
There is one kicker: The benefits of religion come with practice. Athletes who publicly proclaim their religious beliefs but do not practice their faith have worse outcomes.
