Tracy Fessenden (from left to right), Randall Balmer and Terry Shoemaker engage in a discussion about sports and religion at Arizona State University on Oct. 1, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Jacob Leveton)
TEMPE — Terry Shoemaker’s trip to a Baltimore cemetery inspired his research on sport and religion for years to come.
Shoemaker, a research scholar and religious studies professor at Arizona State, recently published his book “Religions and Sports: The Basics,” which covers the connections between religious and sporting activities.
“To study these two things, either comparatively or as if they’re overlapping, gives us a sense of what humans do and why they do it,” Shoemaker said in an interview with Cronkite News.
When Shoemaker visited Baltimore on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, he stopped by the Westminster Presbyterian Church. The former church-turned-graveyard is the resting place of one of the most famous American poets, Edgar Allan Poe.
Less than a mile from the burial site, the Baltimore Ravens hosted a game against the New York Jets, in weather conditions that were so cold and blustery, the players’ ability to function in the elements dominated pregame conversations.
As football fans began to tailgate in the brisk wind, Shoemaker and his colleague endured the unpleasant forecast to visit the historical gravesite. While standing outside, they saw a man who was wearing a Ravens jersey over his large puffer jacket run up to the grave of the late lyricist and place a penny at his headstone. A few minutes later, they saw another pair of fans running up to do the same.
In 1996, a public vote led the Baltimore team to adopt its feathered name in honor of Poe’s notorious poem “The Raven.” The professor soon learned that Ravens fans would flock to place pennies at Poe’s grave as part of a pregame ritual.
“Potentially, the more violent and more dangerous the sport is, people tend to be more religious,” said Shoemaker, citing football as an example.
Shoemaker recently recounted his story during a conversation with fellow researcher and Episcopal priest Randall Balmer, moderated by ASU religious studies professor Tracy Fessenden, in an event to celebrate Shoemaker’s latest book release.
Together, the scholars discussed the correlations between sport and religion.
“The real passion in American life these days is directed more toward the sporting arena than it is to the religious realm,” Balmer said.
A Pew Research study from March found that eight in 10 Americans believe religion is losing influence in public life. To cope with the stress and uncertainty within the political sphere, Fessenden explained that Americans may look to sports as an escape.
“We might look to sports to make our politics or our religions less toxic,” Fessenden said.
While this year’s NFL Week 1 had a 12% increase in viewership compared to last season, according to Nielsen, Balmer cited baseball as a prime example of ritualistic games but added that each sport has its own faith-based characteristics.
“The attraction of sports is that it offers an alternate universe where everything is orderly,” Balmer added.
He noted that sacred spaces or places of worship can parallel sports’ respective Hall of Fames, where fans go to pay homage to athletic icons. Revered religious texts can be compared to rule books that are the pillars of leagues like the NBA and NFL.
“Players from the WNBA are trying to articulate a kind of moral vision for us as a society,” Balmer explained. “We once looked to religious leaders for that speaking.”
More similarities include the David and Goliath-like stories that unfold on the field. These monumental underdog moments are accounts often retold by loyal fans and sports broadcasters.
“We tend to be fascinated by the kind of mysterious or unexplainable or enchanted,” Shoemaker said.
On that cold Sunday in November 2013, during Shoemaker’s weekend in Charm City, Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco threw a 66-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jacoby Jones.
The Ravens went on to beat the Jets 19-3.
“There’s a reason they call it a Hail Mary, right?” Shoemaker said.
