Book Review: God & Football by Chad Gibbs

A.J. Jacobs wanted to understand Biblical literalists better so he spent a year attempting to obey every commandment in the Bible. Rachel Held Evans wants to get to the bottom of what “Biblical womanhood” means so she’s spending a year trying to obey every commandment leveled at women in the Bible. Chad Gibbs suspects that his obsession with college football has approached idolatrous proportions… so he decided to attend a lot of football games.

It sounds counter-intuitive, right? Like how you are supposed to steer into the direction your cars is swerving when you are spinning out of control. But Chad convinced his wife and publisher that the best way to understand his football fanaticism would be to take a step back and to look at the Christian football fanatics on other teams. Kind of like how Alcoholics Anonymous sends drunks on a tour of unfamiliar bars to show them how silly they look on a bender.

The logic doesn’t have to work. Chad sold the concept to his wife and publisher and got the book deal. That’s the main thing. That and the whole junket was tax deductible.

Here’s the bottom line: This is the funniest sports book I’ve read since ESPN’s Mike Greenburg gave us My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot. Yes, Chad explores important ideas about faith and misplaced worship. But the one-liners he drops are relentless and perfectly timed.  Protestantism isn’t known for producing humorists but devotes its attention to heavy things like “The Protestant Work Ethic” and the Salem Witch Trials. But somehow the movement gave us Chad who could have made those things funny if he had a journalist’s pass and a large foam finger.

I was so engrossed in God & Football that I actually forgot to watch the games on opening weekend. It’s that good.

FCC Disclosure: Zondervan supplied me with a copy of God & Football for review purposes. Thanks for caring.