The Blame Game

I’m a big Dallas Cowboy fan. I have been since Eddie LaBaron was quarterback and as a Jr. High football player I could get end zone tickets for 50 cents each at the Cotton Bowl. At halftime we’d move on over to the 30 yard line since Dallas didn’t always draw big crowds in 1960. I was a fan before they became “America’s Team” in 1978. I’m still a fan after the defense blew another one last night against the “Giants”.

Most fans like the game but they know little about the strategy or can look at a game in its entirety to see why a team wins or loses. Unfortunately even “football savvy” analyst who are ex-ballplayers don’t help with their bias commentaries.

Dallas lost the last two weeks with a chance to win or tie on the last play of the game. One, the coach “iced” his own kicker before a crucial field goal. The last one the opposing coach called a timeout that allowed the defense to adjust some things and block a kick. Many “fans” say that lost the game for the Cowboys. But in actuality they were only the last thing that cost the game. A game is 60 minutes long with approximately 30 different activities happening at the same time on the field at the same time; a dropped touchdown pass, overthrowing a receiver, a penalty that negates a long gain or big loss, a missed block that kept a first down from happening. These are all events that can “cost” a team the game, however they are really not noticed much unless they are one of the last events on the field.  

However, the biggest game in the contest is the “Blame Game”. Everyone wants to find someone to blame for the loss; the kicker, the quarterback, the defense, the offensive line, the coach. Coaches who never set foot on the field are fired because the players can’t get it together. Players are criticized by the media, officials are raked over the coals and owners are told what to do by people looking for someone to blame. After all, we have to blame someone when things go wrong, don’t we?!

Unfortunately, Christians and churches are like that. When attendance is down we look for someone to blame. When contributions are low we look for someone to blame for their lack of giving. When things don’t go right we look for someone to blame.

In most cases the thing that we base our blame on is usually the most current event happening. In reality the problems may have been brewing for a long time. They are issues that have built up over time. The last event is the one that just took it over the edge.

So who do we blame when things go wrong? Who do we point fingers at to point out their faults? Who do we put up on the pedestal of shame?

Maybe the answer is not in who we blame but in how we approach things. Jesus once stooped down and wrote in the sand next to a woman who had been brought to him for being an adulteress. He spoke the words, “let he who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.” In another place James asks the question about why should be concerned about the speck in our brothers eye when we have an entire plank in our own.

Everybody has a job to do and sometimes we make mistakes. Some of these mistakes will cost us dearly, while others will be of little consequence. So first if we are involved we should look at ourselves and see what may have done by “me” to contribute to the problem. If we have problems then let’s fix them. Second if we can’t do anything about it fill people with encouragement instead of blame and humiliation.

Most of all let’s just quit looking for a scapegoat and get on with the task at hand not waiting until the final play of the game to try and pull out from all our mistakes. That might just be too late.