TALKING FAITH | No place for profane names

As a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I was excited to see the team advance to AFC Championship Game Sunday night with a thrilling 18-16 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

When I’m in front of my phone, I like checking Twitter feeds of the team, reporters, players and big fans.

As you might have expected, there was a lot of excitement online by the team and fans after the game.

What was surprising was that star receiver Antonio Brown quickly was online posting a live video of the locker room scene, a no-no in the team and NFL policy.

While recording, Brown recorded a speech that head coach Mike Tomlin made to the team while off-camera.

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It was quite colorful.

“When you get to this point in the journey, men, not a lot needs to be said,” Tomlin was overheard saying off-camera. “Let’s say very little moving forward. Let’s just start our preparations. We spotted those a------- a day and a half. They played yesterday. Our game got moved to tonight. We’re going to touch down at 4 o’clock in the f------- morning. So be it. We’ll be ready for that ass. But you ain’t gotta tell them we coming. Because some of us might not like the damn (inaudible) and s---. It’s the chest pounding, right?  Keep a low profile and let’s get ready to ball out again in a few days and be right back at it. Hey, man, that’s our story.”

Sadly, Tomlin’s speech wasn’t super surprising.

Locker rooms – from professional, college and even high school – can get very emotional and quite profane. The Steelers and their opponents on Sunday, the New England Patriots, have had animosity.

But no matter how heated a rivalry gets, where are the moral limits on what we say to one another?

But although it’s not shocking to hear of profanity, it’s sad to see how routine it’s become.

And what is more striking is what Tomlin said.

Not only are we getting more profane, we have no sense of decorum.

Describing anyone as an “a-------“ shows a lack of common courtesy and decency.

As humans and a people that are created by God, we have value as human beings.

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God didn’t create “a-------,” he created people that He loves and cares for and he desires to have a personal relationship with us.

But we find many ways to excuse what we say – from sports rivalries to people who have wronged us in the past.

No matter what someone did to you or what we’ve done to others, we can find peace and healing through God.

That’s what really matters.

So on Sunday night, you’ll find me on my couch rooting for the Steelers (hopefully) to beat the Patriots.

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And no matter what happens, from the score of the game to what others do to me through the week, I can find hope by treating others like I would want to be treated.

We need to learn to how to truly love others, from what we say to what we do.

That’s how you win the game of life.

Chris Pugh is a web producer and a faith columnist for the Media Network of Central Ohio. You can connect with him at clpugh@gannett.com, Facebook at Chris Pugh - Journalist or on Twitter @CPugh_Gannett.