The Seemers and the Schemers: The Wainstein Report and UNC’s Repeat Performance

Things are not always as they seem. The Wainstein report is out and the officials at UNC once again performed their oft- repeated dramatic rendition of their tale of woe. Poor UNC has been a victim of some “bad individuals” sullying the “proud history” of the oldest public university in the country. Hands are wringing, souls are being searched for, and heads must roll so that UNC can once again proudly boast of its academic excellence and resume its place on its historic moral high ground. I happened to be back in Chapel Hill for some events for my new … Read the full post

Touchdowns for Jesus Events in Chapel Hill, NC

Monday 10/20

Touchdowns for Jesus and Other Signs of Apocalypse: Lifting the Veil on Big-Time Sports
Book Signing and Reading
7:00pm

Flyleaf Books
752 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd
Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Tuesday 10/21

“The Most Pressing Issues in Sports: A Night of Exploration and Conversation” with Marcia Mount Shoop, Author of Touchdowns for Jesus and Other Signs of Apocalypse

7:30pm
Open to the Public

Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church
314 Great Ridge Parkway
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Informational flyer: TFJ Chapel in the Pines Event Flyer

Thursday 10/23

Interview with D.G. Martin on 97.9 WCHL “Who’s Talking”

Gold and Black Show Interview about Touchdowns for Jesus

I had a great conversation with Alan Karpick and Stacy Clardie on the Gold and Black Show on WLFI on Friday, September 26. We covered many of the most pressing issues for football today–from domestic violence to academic eligibility and a lot of things in between. Click here for the show.

What the NFL can teach us: Intimate Partner Violence in America

Thanks to The Thoughtful Christian for the invitation to write a blog for their site about domestic violence. Here is an excerpt and a link to the full post.

Imagine putting a woman in every single seat of the four home stadiums of the teams my husband, John, coached for during his NFL tenure. We would only have a fraction of the women we need to equal the number of women physically assaulted, raped, and/or stalked by an intimate partner every year in the United States.

In fact we would have to fill those four stadiums up with a woman in every seat at least thirty-eight times to have the number we needed. (click for full post)

Waiting for Goodell

I haven’t heard anything from Roger Goodell about my open letter to him concerning the NFL and domestic violence. I know he’s been busy. Since I wrote my letter just a few days ago, more trouble has come his way with Adrian Peterson being charged with causing injury to a child 14 or younger in Texas. The NFL has repeated its pattern of rethinking its original decision and then deciding to remove the player from NFL play in some form or fashion. The Vikings announced that they are reversing their decision to “let the legal process play out” (which they … Read the full post

An Open Letter to Roger Goodell from a former NFL wife and an abuse survivor

Dear Mr. Goodell: My name is Marcia Mount Shoop. I am a theologian, author, Presbyterian minister, mother, and coach’s wife. I am also a rape and abuse survivor. I spent the first twelve years of my marriage as an NFL wife while my husband coached for four different teams. We are thankful for our time in the NFL even as there are lots of things I do not miss. One of those things that I don’t miss is something I still deal with: sexism. The difference is one of magnitude; in the NFL it’s all wrapped up in a glittery … Read the full post

Listen to my visit to the BRC and Friends Show

I had a great conversation with Bruce Reyes Chow on the BRC and Friends Show. You can watch here. We covered a lot of territory from Touchdowns for Jesus to American Ninja Warrior–and lots of stuff in between like the football, gender, domestic violence, and Christianity in big-time sports.

TFJ Playbook, Page 5: Know Thy Enemy

“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” –Sun Tzu, The Art of War It is surely sage wisdom that to be victorious we must know ourselves and we must know our enemy. Afterall, how can we do battle successfully if we don’t know our own strengths and weaknesses? And how can … Read the full post

Interview on NPR WBAA on Touchdowns for Jesus

This interview on Touchdowns for Jesus with West Lafayette’s NPR station is an in depth conversation about the religious aspects of sports. Parts of it were aired during Morning Addition and All Things Considered August 14 on WBAA.