By Marc Brown
This week was an emotional roller coaster ride. Between the release of three hostages in Israel, to the inauguration of a president, and the devastating fires ravaging California, I was very thankful to spend a few hours on Sunday diverting my thoughts on these heavy subjects for my beloved Buffalo Bills.
My personal relationship with the Buffalo Bills runs very deep. As a young child in the mid-1980s, I recall attending a few games a year with my dad when the Bills were the worst team in the National Football League. With the signing of Jim Kelly in 1986, and my mom standing in line on a very hot summer day to purchase season tickets, my dad and I began attending almost every game from that point forward until he passed away in 2008. A few years later, I began taking our children, one of whom has become an avid member of Bills Mafia and now attends the games with me.
At this point, you may be wondering how this story integrates with the “Jewish Thought of the Week” column? The answer to this question lies with something I have always wondered while watching a close Bills game. Is it appropriate to pray for your team to win a game? To some people, this is a very important and serious question. To others, it may just be trivial and potentially seen negatively.
For those people who regularly watch football, there is a significant integration of prayer into the game across multiple religions. Players and coaches often pray before and after games. In addition, many players immediately thank G-d when interviewed about their success on the field. However, how does prayer extend to the fans of the game?
According to the “Jewbellish” blog on prayer associated with the start of the baseball season, we thank G-d for having “set within each human being a love of play, as well as a sense of fair play, and a desire for games that would satisfy both the body and the mind.” Like every other sporting event at the start of the season, there was a recognition when all teams are “still in it”, and a consideration towards the rules where the prayer states “[i]t is a game subject to rules and statistics, and we give thanks for the Official Baseball Rules as well as their league variations, and also for the many statistics that add to the strategies of managers and the enjoyment of fans.”
Also, like every other sporting event, there are requests for success including “[e]ven as one cannot achieve a five-run home run, let our foes be unable to defeat us”, and “[e]ven as no one can achieve a quadruple play, let them be filled with dread at the sight of our bats.” For the ultimate success, the prayer goes “[a]nd when this season nears completion, when the dwindling hours of day reflect the dwindling number of teams in post-season play, let our team remain victorious to the last inning, so that we may glorify Your Name with the World Series trophy.”
So, if you happen to be watching the AFC Championship game on Sunday and it is a close game towards the end of the fourth quarter, feel free to hope for the Bills ultimate success with the following: “Blessed are You, Eternal our God, who enlivens our hearts with games.” If it works, we can revisit during the Super Bowl!
Shabbat Shalom and Let’s Go Buffalo!!!!
Marc W. Brown is a partner with GoldbergSegalla and co-chairs the law firm’s national Business and Commercial Group. Marc also serves on the University at Buffalo Law School Dean Advisory Council and the Binghamton University Harpur College National Law Advisory Council Steering Committee. He is also actively involved In Jewish Buffalo serving as vice president of the Board of Governors for the Buffalo Jewish Federation, and as the treasurer for the Va’ad HaKashrut of Buffalo.
