Blythewood Football and the Vomiting Dog

Forget the Michael Vick controversy. Forget the scandal surrounding NBA referee, Tim Donaghy. We have a sports mess right in our own backyard. For the second time in just a few months, the defending state AAA football champions, the Blythewood Bengals, have been caught breaking the rules. The latest infraction, engaging in full contact drills before August 1st, has cost coach Reggie Shaw his job. The Bengals were spared by the SCHSL the fate of forfeiting their whole season. They will get to play, but they will not be able to compete in the postseason and attempt to defend their championship. Just last spring, the Bengals were caught practicing in full pads during spring drills, which is against the SCHSL rules.

How could they get caught doing the same exact thing only a few days after the SCHSL ruled they would be ineligible for their spring indiscretions? What were they thinking? They evidently were not.

Proverbs 26:11 says "A dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness." This post is not meant to add in any way to the hurt that this football program is undergoing. Instead we need to learn a lesson. There is something in us that is broken and that draws us back to the dumb things we do. I have seen this dynamic at work in my own life. Why do I keep doing that same thing? Why do I say those hurtful things to my wife? Why can I not break this cycle of destructive behaviors? We naturally have this tendency to repeat our foolishness. Only through Christ can we break free. In Romans 7, after Paul comments on this same pattern in his life he writes, "Who will rescue me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." We need to learn a lesson from Blythewood football and the vomiting dog.