Soccer Player Loses His Cool

Luke Rodgers plays soccer for the New York Red Bulls.  With the MLS playoffs going strong, emotions tend to do the same.  Last night Rodgers received a yellow card early in the game.  A couple of minutes later when the ball came back to him near the sideline, he blasted the ball out of bounds.  As you can see from the picture above, the ball was mere inches from taking out a woman working with the advertisement signs.

When we take a look at the situation, we see just how ridiculous Rodgers acting.  First of all, the ball was a fraction of a second from rolling out of bounds, if it wasn’t already out.  He probably could have just let the ball roll out.  Second, if he felt like he needed to get the ball out of bounds, all he had to do was tap it.  There was absolutely no need to kick the ball way out of bounds.  Thirdly, this was not a little chip shot.  This was a full force blast.  The only logical explanation is that Rodgers lost his cool and reacted out of anger.  The problem is, professional soccer players can kick a ball well over 100 mph.  Rodgers could have seriously injured this innocent lady.  All things considered, he is lucky the ball missed her.  Rodgers frustration and anger got the best of him.

Scripture often speaks against anger (Colossians 3:8; Ecclesiastes 7:9; Psalm 37:8; etc).  I don’t think we need much convincing that we do very foolish things when we let our anger get out of control (Proverbs 14:17; 15:18; 29:22).  Most times we aren’t thinking clearly and can make a situation much worse.  Let Luke Rodgers serve as a reminder for us to control ourselves and not sin when we get angry.  With this little stunt Rodgers was inches away from a major lawsuit and possibly the end of his career.  Things may make us angry, but we must learn to control ourselves in our anger.

Let’s end this article with a divine reminder from the Lord:  “Be Angry, and yet, do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity…. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:26-27, 31-32).