God’s gift to football

In the beginning, there was the word. And the word was … well, louder than Mark Brunell expected.

“Y’all need to go to Bible study,” came the voice, rumbling across the locker room. “Y’all need to go and listen to the Gospel.”

Slipping into a dry shirt, Brunell didn’t know what to think. As a born-again Christian, he was familiar with chapter and verse; as a clipboard-toter for the Green Bay Packers, he figured the clubhouse was for playbooks, not the Good Book.

Again came the booming baritone, subtle as a burning bush.

“Y’all not listening to me,” bellowed defensive end Reggie White. “Because I’m talking about something that you don’t like. Why y’all going to the parties? Why y’all doing these things when you won’t even open your Bible?”

Almost a decade later, Brunell recalls White’s impromptu sermon with a grin. He laughs at the thought of his former teammate, a Hall of Fame pass rusher and ordained minister, channeling Billy Graham by way of Barry White. He laughs at his younger self, no stranger to heartfelt evangelism, but amazed by White’s brio.

Mostly, though, Brunell laughs at the implausible scene: a quarterback-cruncher preaching peace, like a 300-pound Jesus amid the football grit.

“I was in shock,” Brunell says. “But that was Reggie. He was very outspoken. Very bold. He was a great example.”

Of course, Washington’s newest quarterback wouldn’t dream of calling a similar audible, any more than he’d lug two heaven-sent stone tablets into Redskins Park, then castigate Clinton Portis for worshipping the golden calf (hey, $13 million in upfront guarantees can buy a lot of Mammon). Still, deep religious convictions inform every aspect of Brunell’s life. Football included.

When Brunell lost his job to Jacksonville rookie Byron Leftwich last season, he saw it as part of a larger divine plan. When he signed a seven-year, $43 million deal with Washington, he tithed a hefty portion to his church. When magnetic resonance imaging indicated that he might miss the 1997 season with a knee injury, Brunell asked God to heal him — and subsequently posted a career-high 91.2 passing rating.

“I believe God answered my prayer,” Brunell says. “I’m not a football player who happens to be a Christian. I’m a Christian who happens to be a football player. I could be a doctor, a teacher. But this is what God has called me to do.”

• • •

Pray for a knee. God heals it. Pray for a win. God grants it. Score a touchdown, point to the sky and give thanks to your main man — J.C. It all seems a bit sanctimonious, as if the maker is a spiritual ATM and Notre Dame’s victories come courtesy of Touchdown Jesus. But don’t get the wrong idea. The way Brunell tells it, the life of a sports believer isn’t all water into wine.

Faith? That’s the easy part.

“A lot of people are looking just for that moment [of being born again], thinking if they get it, then they go to heaven,” Brunell says. “It’s what comes after that’s tough. A verse in the Bible says you’ve got to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

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