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Joe Mahon admits he spent too much time watching football in his younger years. He found time for Mass on the Lord's day, but New York Giants games - and others - mostly consumed his Saturdays, Sundays and Monday nights.

When he married and welcomed a son into the world, his weekend priorities shifted.

"My wife says I'm a little bit quirky, and she doesn't like to go to football parties with me," said Mr. Mahon, a self-described "X's and O's person" who stresses about defense during games, no matter the team. "I focus on it as if I was in the coach's box."

A former high school football coach, Mr. Mahon now restricts his coaching to the CYO basketball team at his parish, Mater Christi in Albany, and his viewing to his son's baseball and basketball games.

He still catches Giants games when possible and gathers the family for the Super Bowl. He claims he has only missed one big game - at the age of eight.

Other local Catholics agree that sports are one of God's gifts. Games, they assert, help viewers and players escape from the stress of everyday life. Big events like baseball's World Series or football's Super Bowl bring fans together in communion.

Liturgical?
That's also one of the goals of a Catholic Mass. In fact, psychologists have long drawn parallels between sports fandom and organized religion, citing the wearing of team colors and the display of team icons, the repetitive stadium chants and the singing of anthems.

Some go a step further and say athletics supplant religion for many sports fans. But the sometimes public faith of football players and other athletes underscores the possible coexistence between sports and faith.

Just don't let it take over your life, locals warn.

"Most people understand that it's only a game," said Adam Rossi, a Mater Christi parishioner and a fan of the Buffalo Bills and the New York Mets.

Still, even he isn't immune to some superstition. Mr. Rossi (also a former staff writer for The Evangelist) watches football every Sunday after Mass in his Bills jersey; he admitted that his dog wears one, too.

In the spring, he sometimes prays before Mets games and feels his position in a room affects the outcome of a game.

"Sports can have that effect on people," he explained, playing defense.

Priests aren't immune, either: Rev. Robert Longobucco, pastor of St. Helen's parish in Nisakayuna, is a fan of "pretty much anything you can keep score of."

Father Longobucco travels to Citi Field seven or eight times a year to see the Mets play and has attended the same Super Bowl party for 25 years.

From on high
When the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots faced off in 2005, he predicted the winning score in his homily, joking: "This is not a prediction. This is a revelation."

Mass attendance rose the following week.

In his days as a college campus minister, Father Longo-bucco moved the 7 p.m. Mass to 4:30 on Super Bowl Sunday - not an uncommon alteration in the Diocese, if parish leaders want to be sure their pews won't be empty.

"The Super Bowl is not as important as any Mass," Father Longobucco cautioned. "But it's something that people make a priority.

"There's a sense of community that naturally springs up around a team," the priest continued. "That's great. We have very few things that bring us together anymore."

Of course, church is ideal for creating community, he noted: Sports teams have no martyrs, and fans don't give up their lives to follow a team.

The Super Bowl draws millions of viewers every year; fans often lobby to make the Monday after the game a national holiday because of poor productivity.

"They build it up as a quasi-religious event," Father Longo-bucco said.

The best defense
Indeed, marketing plays a role in the Super Bowl's success, attested Rev. James Walsh, diocesan vocations director. He attended the first Super Bowl, where the stands didn't even fill up.

Father Walsh spent last Sunday at the St. Isaac Jogues House of Discernment, located in the former St. Brigid's rectory in Watervliet, with about 10 seminarians, priests or people discerning a vocation.

The men prayed before the game started, but Father Walsh says he never prays for a game's outcome.

Super Bowl XLV was a "non-stress game" for Father Walsh; when the Giants played in 2008, it was a different story. "It's a positive stress," he said. "It's an excitement."

Positive stress can help relieve other stress, say sports fans.

"Sometimes, it's just good to fret about meaningless stuff," Mr. Rossi remarked, offering the example of baseball games restarting five days after Sept. 11: "You got the sense that America - New York especially - they needed that. It kind of helps with the healing process."

Father Longobucco agreed, though he often reminds himself and others to put games into perspective. Each big game is "meant to make a big deal out of a little thing. That's how I can go to sleep and still be a Mets fan."

He offered a final warning against excessive competition: "When it turns us against each other, it's a bad thing. When it makes us better strivers, it's a good thing. Even competition brings people together in a unique way."

(02/10/11) [[In-content Ad]]

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