Top Sports Spectrum Quotes of 2011

1. “Sure, golf is important to me. I’m doing my job and supporting my family and following my career, but I still understand no matter how many wins I pile up it’s not going to get me to heaven. God doesn’t grade on a curve, you’re either in or out. You’re not going to get to the pearly gates and say I was really, really nice, but I didn’t believe. It’s not going to get you in. There are some guys out here who are nice and people think they are nice. The gift of forgiveness is free, but it must be accepted.”
-PGA golfer Davis Love III

2. “The injury showed me to lean not on own understanding but on Him,” Coghlan says, paraphrasing the familiar verse from Proverbs. “We are called to just trust. God is so big; we’re so small. God has plans for you to prosper, not to perish. It’s a rest that we may not understand at that moment, but God brings us through it. Everything that is happening to us, it’s for His glory and for His good, and in the end He gets all the glory. It’s not easy, but that’s what we’re called as Christians to do.”
-Florida Marlins 2009 National League Rookie of the Year Chris Coghlan

3. “(Larry Moody) said something on that phone call that is to this day something that I will never forget. He just said to keep it all in perspective. He said look at Jesus. He was a perfect man and did everything right. He healed people and did wonders. What did they do to Him? They crucified Him. So whatever happens to you will be nothing in comparison. So keep it in perspective. It is only a golf match among friends. And it is not as important as the whole world might say it is.”
-Former PGA and current Senior Tour player Bernhard Langer

4. “Baseball is a game of failure. At the plate, the best hitters fail seven out of every 10 times. So we deal with a lot of failure. But I take great comfort in the fact that God is in control of every part of my life – good, bad and everything in between. My favorite Bible verse is from Job 38:4. It says ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth. Tell me if you have understanding.’ And that just tells me that I definitely don’t have all the answers. But God does and I know that I can always count on that.”
-St. Louis Cardinals star Matt Holliday, who helped lead the Cardinals to the World Series title

5. “At that point you go through some ups and downs. You wonder, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ But when you have difficult times, you know it’s about what God wants — it’s not about what we want.”
-Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler, who ESPN called the fourth biggest NFL Draft bust of all time

6. “Your legacy as an athlete means a lot, but God has got to have a huge impact on your life. I think about the way He can use me and what a platform we have as athletes. God doesn’t give you this talent just to win titles.”
-Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten

7. “(Faith) should be the contagious part of our sport. We shouldn’t be different from other sports. Everybody should be like us. That’s why prayer is important. If you’re going to hope for a change, you’d better start to pray for a change. If you’re just hoping, you’re not going anywhere.”
-NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Bobby Labonte

8. “I truly believe we are who God made us to be, and as a Christian, we have a responsibility to live a Christian life and share our faith. You can’t separate who you are as a Christian from what you do as your occupation. You’re one in the same.”
-Eight-time Pro Bowl center and 16-year NFL veteran Kevin Mawae, now president of the NFL Players Association, on why he is so open about his faith

9. “My job is to love Jesus and skate fast…My goal every day, is to use my skating as a form of worship…God uses everyone’s circumstances to draw you nearer to Him. That’s our whole goal in life, to understand His love.”
-Rebekah Bradford, U.S. Olympic speedskater and U.S. champion, who fell 20-30 feet from the finish at the U.S. Olympic trials, but was given a reskate per U.S. Speedskating rules. Thirty minutes later she skated her fastest time ever in the 1,000 meters to make the team

10. “If someone were to ask me what I would want people to know about my walk with Christ, it is that God has seen it first. Each one of our hairs are numbered. When I hurt, God hurts. He is always there. The beauty is that God walks us through those struggles and tells us that His grace is sufficient. In our weakness, we find His strength.”
-Pittsburgh Steelers announcer Tunch Ilkin, a former Muslim born in Istanbul, Turkey.