← The Riley Gaines Show
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Your call has been forwarded to voicemail.
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Hi, this is Zoe Deutsch and Nick Robinson. Our brand new movie, Voicemails for Isabel is all about those little moments that feel like the universe is looking out, feeling homesick. Then your sister calls, hearing that perfect song exactly when you need it. Please stay. Sometimes life rigs things in our favor, like learning about your new favorite rom com. Voicemails for Isabel, now playing only on Netflix. Covid radicalized an entire generation, particularly among athletes, because athletes realized what could be taken away from them. And the answer is everything.
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In an age where many celebrities are silent on their faith and their values and their beliefs, we are seeing athletes that are boldly proclaiming the name of Jesus on the biggest stages. They are pointing millions towards something eternal. Today, we're diving into this revival in athletics. Why specifically, it's exploding in college and pro sports, what it means for the culture, and how these athletes are being some of the most effective voices for Christianity. We're joined by Steve Eubanks, author of God How Athletes Are Saving Christianity, to break it all down. Well, Steve, thank you for joining the Riley Gaines Show. You know, honestly, this topic, this, this intermingling of faith in sports, I think kind of subsequently reaching into the political cultural realm. Can you give us a little background on yourself and how you've arrived at your perspective on this faith revival that's happening through sports?
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Yeah, Riley. I have been in sports journalism most of my adult life, going all the way back to the, to the 90s. And as a result of that, I have seen all of the good and the bad that goes with both professional and amateur athletics. But in recent years, I've seen something different, and that is the overwhelming. People giving their faith testimonies at every turn. They're doing it in pregame press conferences, they're doing it in post game interviews. And look, we've always had a little of that. I mean, going all the way back to Roger Stahl back at the Dallas Cowboys. He would take that moment to give what television producers used to kind of cynically call the Jesus bite immediately after a game where he would, where he would thank his Lord and Savior. But those were few and far between and they were always very quick in and outs. Now, because of social media and because everything is televised, athletes are realizing that they have a much bigger platform to go out and speak about these things. And really, in the last six years, it has been truly a revival that has been led by athletes. And, you know, I was, I was watching all this and thinking to myself, Surely I'm not the only one seeing this. And as I began to look into it and research and talk to other people, I realized, no, it is something that is not just, not just big, it's universal. And people are noticing that no matter how much the media attempts to, to squash it, it's, it's out there.
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You know, you mentioned six years ago, and I think back to six years ago, of course, that 2020 era, which again, kind of looking at it from the cultural lens, was peak wokeness, if you will, if that's a good way to dub it. And actually in your book, you kind of point to these COVID lockdowns as a radicalizing force for many athletes. Can you expand on that a little bit? And maybe how the pandemic shifted priorities toward faith and toward boldness?
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I don't think it can be overstated. Covid radicalized an entire generation, particularly among athletes, because athletes realized what could be taken away from them. And the answer is everything, everything could be taken away from them. Everything they had worked for their entire lives, their sports, everything they had done could be taken away from them in an instant. They can be in total lockdown. And it didn't take long for them to realize a lot of this was not real. And the one thing I think Covid did was it really brought out the fact that this generation, I call them the COVID generation, they can smell a phony a mile away now because they've seen it, they've lived it. And what they really want is something genuine, true and real. And that's why so many of them returned to faith and why so many of them felt it was felt compelled to go out and share their faith journeys.
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It's such a good point. You know, how it wasn't even real. A lot of the, the outrage or the consequences or the reprimands that we were told that we were going to face if we didn't get the vaccine, if we didn't follow the six foot mandates, if we didn't wear the mask in the weight room, or in our case, in the pool, which was just about the silliest thing ever. It sounds ridiculous, but seriously, Steve, I want you to picture 40 swimmers in the water where they literally tried to make us wear a mask, a face mask. I'm like waterboarding myself at practice. I'm like, this is the silliest thing ever. And I found myself pushing back on it then and I was really scared. I was scared of all the things they told me that were going to happen. I remember so Vividly being sat down. You know, I was, gosh, when Covid hit in March of 2020, you know, when it really paralyzed the U.S. at least that was sophomore year, kind of end of my sophomore year, we were heading into our NCAA championships. We come back our junior year, you know, everything shut down. We're sent home for summer. Eventually we come back. And I remember so vividly, you know, our sports trainer lady sitting the team down and she says, you know, you all have to get the vaccine. And it just didn't really sit right with me. You know, I already had Covid at this point. And so, you know, studying biology and chemistry and all the sciences, I was led to believe, at least I was taught that the most natural form of immunity was, you know, antibodies that we possess in our body by having already Covid. And so, you know, I'm not someone who's necessarily anti vax or anything like that, but I'm young, I'm healthy, why do I have to get it? And she said, riley, you're the team captain. If you don't get it, you're not going to be able to travel to University of Alabama. It's a big SEC meet, big rivalry. You don't get to go if you don't get the vaccine. And I was so torn in this moment. What do I do? You know, I care about my team. I care about contributing to, yes, of course, my personal goals, but my team goals more than anything. And so I kind of called her bluff on this and I said, okay, I guess that's going to have to be the case then. And guess what, Steve? I never got the vaccine. And of course I got to go to University of Alabama and compete. I realized at that point just how manufactured it really was. And so I think that's a really good point that you make there. And craving something real and authentic and something that I can't answer, you know, you can't put into chat GPT, or at least I guess you can, but. But nothing of substance will come in if you put in the question, you know, what is my purpose? Why am I here? These, these existential questions that I think naturally 20, 21, 22 year old boys and girls, men and women for that matter, are really contemplating this generation that
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was radicalized by Covid. I think it's exacerbated among athletes because if you think about it, when you reach the age of physical maturity, how long is it from that time until the time when your athletic career is over 10 years, maybe four years for most. And so as A result of that, when you have a year taken away from you, it's a large, large percentage. And it completely, completely radicalized these athletes. And that's when they realized, no, they can't do this. We have to stand up for what is true.
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You also talking about your book here, you mentioned this kind of pivotal moment with golfer, her name is Amy Olson, who's, who's just incredible, where a publication tried to censor her for her Christian and pro life views. How did that incident become really like a catalyst for noticing the, the broader trend of outspoken Christian athletes, especially pro life athletes?
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Yeah, yeah, Riley, that was, that was really kind of a pivotal turning point for me personally. And Amy and I, who are, who are dear friends, will be inexorably linked from this point forward because I was working at a publication where Amy was at the time seven months pregnant and had qualified for the US Open. And I thought, wow, that's a great story. So I reach out, I talk to her about it. And when I wrote the story up, because she had said at that point, look it, no one doubts now that I am carrying a human being. But exactly a year prior, when the Dobbs decision was overturned, the entire media, sports media especially, were outraged. And they all came to Amy because they knew she was one of the more outspoken Christians on tour and asked her about it. And so she found it incredibly ironic that the same group of people who were outraged at the overturning of the Dobbs decision were not very much in favor of her qualifying and carrying a child during the US Open. In fact, the Golf Channel even said they're going to be 157 players in the field rather than 156 because she was playing with two. And when I wrote that story up, I thought, wow, this is great. We're going to make national news with this. This is an athlete speaking out on a social issue. It's going to be a big deal. And the publication at that time reached out to me within 30 minutes and said the entire staff had been going nuts that we could not run something that was anti abortion and pro Christian within the pages of the publication. And I was like, what are you talking about? This is news. We are a news outlet. And the fact that you wouldn't go with the promote something like that shows an incredible anti Christian bias. Well, anyway, the publisher won. They said, we will only run this if you take the abortion and Christian stuff out. And I knew immediately that I had to resign, which I did on the spot. But at the time I thought, is it really this pervasive? Is the media bias against Christians this bad? Because I mean, I had seen it obviously as I mentioned before with the Jesus bite and kind of the, you know, the whole, the snarkiness in television when someone attempted to profess their faith. But I didn't realize it was this pervasive. Well, then I began to look around and realized, yeah, not only is it this pervasive, there are a lot of athletes just like Amy who are out there looking for an outlet and a venue to speak about faith. And as a result of that, once you see it, you can't unsee it. It's everywhere.
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You know, on one hand you have, whether it's sports leagues or media outlets, as you're saying, especially left leaning sp media outlets who say, you know, we shouldn't mix sports and politics when it comes to things like what Jackson Dart just did introducing the president or the story that you mentioned. But on the other hand, that they have Black Lives Matter in the end zone or end racism or any of the, I think very charged statements that we're seeing, especially purported by the NFL and the, the NHL and the NBA. So it doesn't really seem like they don't want to mix sports and deemed issues. It just seems they have an issue with it when it comes to being Christian or being conservative. Have. Is that something you've seen?
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Oh, absolutely. And I think you hit, hit the nail on the head with, you know, the Black Lives Matter protests and things of that nature. Because what is more anti Christian than lumping someone in a group based on the color of their skin? I mean, we are all children of God, made in his image. That's the message of Christianity. We are commanded to love one another as Christ loved us. And that includes everybody. I think sports fans see that, they recognize it. Look, do you think if you tuned in to the, the NBA playoffs or to an MLB game or to anything that's going on right now that you're going to start counting heads based on the racial makeup of a various team that's on the court? Of course, course not. Fans couldn't care less. And that's the one thing that I think that the, the media in particular cannot stand. Not because it is, it's the racial aspect of it, it's the Christian aspect of it. They know that, that somebody looking at someone based on merit, based solely on merit is a very Christian belief. And where is that available now? It's only available in sports. It's the only place you can find it. And that's why the 2026 FIFA World cup meal at McDonald's is underway with one of nine legendary cups in the lineup. Christian Pulisic, David Beckham, Lamine Yamal, Ronald Dino, Thierry Henry, Son, Heung Min, Alphonso Davies, Santi Jimenez. And between the posts, It's Grimace get one of nine collectible cups with a FIFA World cup meal participating McDonald's for a limited time while supplies last. All rights reserved. 20:26 McDonald's at FIFA World Cup 20:26 it's attracting so many people.
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You know, we were talking prior to hitting record on this, but I, I was watching the Women's College World Series and, and it's one of those things like once you see it, you really can't unsee it. And I saw so many young women who are willing to in the pregame, postgame interviews, whether defeat or win for that matter, which I think is an incredible thing that I want to ask you about. Proclaim the name of the Lord and his goodness and his mercy and how that's where their confidence and their security as, as athletes and individuals really comes from. I've got a clip here of Emma Clark from Tennessee. This is after she hit a walk off home run. Let's watch it really quick. Just so much joy. I had so many thoughts, but just I immediately just looked up and just started to give God all the glory because I'm just so grateful to be in this position and just to be on this team with these people and just to be able to have opportunities to be in moments like this, even when they don't work out. It's just so. It's literally such a blessing and I just couldn't do it without the girls to my left and right. This feels very like first Peter 3:15 coded of. You know, in your heart, revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who, who ask you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. That is what I see from these girls and something I think especially in the sport of softball that we've seen someone like Jordi Ball who actually just announced that she's having a little baby. She's been like a hero and a role model to me. What's with softball kind of leading this, this public faith declaration that we've seen in 2026 especially I think we.
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This started about three years ago with the University of Oklahoma when they were in the.
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I love that team and I love that coach.
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Absolutely. And they were when they were in the World Series. And you went to the post game press conference after they clinched the title. There were probably six reporters there. And it became a revival, full blown. Every player that was on the dais was up there speaking not just about their faith, but speaking about the depth of the connection that that team had because of their love of Christ. And that's. The clips from that press conference gained millions of views, far more than it would have had it just been your standard post game press conference from a softball World series. And as a result of that, I think everybody felt as though they'd been given permission. Hey, I feel that way too. Now it's time to come out and speak out. And so there's been this snowball effect. All it takes is one, it takes one person to go out and say that it takes one team to stand up and speak boldly about their faith. And suddenly those that are around you feel emboldened to speak up as well.
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Is there concern that it's just anecdotal? I don't know if that's a good way to put it. But you know, again, they mentioned their prayer routines and they, they carry their, their Bible verses. There was one softball player I was watching, I think from maybe Texas Tech who was saying like she carries a little Bible verse that her mom wrote in her back pocket with her everywhere. Is there concern that this is anecdotal? How do we know this is more than just what they're saying in those press conferences?
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Well, I think, I think the data supported. I mean, I think when you, when you look at the total, the total number of clips that are out there, sports clips, people that are on social media putting things out, and the elevation of the faith message that's come out as a percentage of the total amount of content available, you're definitely seeing, seeing a huge growth on that front.
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Now.
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Is some of it performative? Probably, but so what? I mean, if the gospel message is being preached, there is a core there somewhere. And if you do have a few stragglers that are coming in, so much the better. They're going to hear the same message as everyone else and they're going to be led to the word as a result.
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And like we saw there, we're seeing this sort of praise and victory and defeat, like full on testimonies after really tough losses. I sometimes think. Actually, oftentimes, I think in a place of defeat is sometimes a better opportunity to declare the name and the goodness of the Lord.
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Well, absolutely it is. I mean, when are you lower than At a point where you have been right on the cusp of winning, only to have it taken from you. But for whatever reason, either someone was better or you didn't perform to your best, whatever, you fail to achieve your lifelong dream at some point. And at that point, I mean, look, some athletes can go to a very dark place when that happens. But you're seeing more and more of them speak up and say, no, my life isn't defined by how many home runs I hit or how many points I score or how fast I swam in the last meet. You're finding these people saying, no, my life is defined by my relationship with Christ. And I know good or bad, that's going to remain unchanged.
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Why do you think athletes in particular have become, you know, some of the most powerful voices when it comes to evangelizing culture, as opposed to influencers or entertainers or celebrities or people in Hollywood? What I guess gives athletes that sort of credibility or at least the willingness to. To put themselves in that position as opposed to, again, those in Hollywood who kind of seem to shy away generally from this topic?
- [19:28]
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Again, I think it boils down to merit. People are longing for merit. It's built into our DNA. I mean, when you go out and you work really hard and you perform at a high level, you want to be rewarded for that. And that. That not just in sports, but in your job and in every aspect of life. You study the hardest in school, you do all of the work. You want to make the a people understand that innately. Where do you find that now? You no longer find it in the workplace. You no longer find it really in. In any aspect of life other than sports. As I said, you hit. You hit 30 home runs a year, you're going to play, you score a touchdown, a game, you're going to be on the field. Sports is the last existing meritocracy. People just deep in their bones, recognize that and are drawn to it as a result. Those are the people that are driving culture. Look, ask, ask anybody under the age of 30, probably under the age of 40, to name five prominent religious figures. You know how many are going to be able to do it? 0.0 are going to be able to do it. They might be able to name one, but you ask them to name five athletes, they can do it in a second. Some people might be able to name 50. It's a really easy call to know who is driving the culture right now. And as a result of that, people are looking at. Looking at athletes and saying, hey, something's going on. Here, when you think about the things that you want out of a person, self respect, self discipline, delayed gratification, your willingness to focus on task, your willingness to get up when you're not down. These are all things you try to instill in your kids. Well, where do you find that? Now? People are not learning that in Sunday school because quite frankly, young people aren't going. But where they're seeing it is on the athletic fields. And now they're searching for the source of that. And when they look at the source of that, they're turning to faith. As a result,
- [21:34]
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- [23:14]
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Yeah, look, I think if there's anything that can derail this and really derailed sports in general, it is the proliferation of gambling. And we're already seeing it. I mean, if you look at the current indictments that have been handed down, I Think it's three MLB pitchers and a couple of NBA players that are currently under federal indictment. Not for throwing games, because you don't have to throw games anymore. All you have to do is throw a particular pitch at a particular time. Because the prop bets are so pervasive that you can get away with, you know, with doing anything like that. You know, you can go, go down in a UFC fight at a particular round. Now you can hop right back up and win the fight. But because of the prop bets, you have an opportunity to, to do something like that and corrupt the integrity of the games. Same is true with the NBA. You no longer have to throw a game. You just have to have the first half spread be slightly inside whatever the number was. And that's one of the problems in the old days, you know, when I was a young man, for example, if you wanted to place a bet on a game, you had to go to a bookie, which means you had to know who the bookie was, and he was some unsavory character in your town. You had to have his number, you had to go find him, and then you had the transaction had to be in cash and he had to have your number and he had to know where to find you. And there was this lag time between the time you placed the bet and the time the outcome of the game was decided. So there was friction involved in being able to gamble on sports. Now you can place a couple of bets every five seconds. It's a device and a television screen. And I think the effect of having what I consider to be the slot machine effect, being able to play so many bets so quickly, really has driven this to the point where it's unhealthy at every front. Now what can we do to solve it? I think that you're going to see the adding of friction back into this. You're not going to be able to place quite so many prop bets quite so frequently. I think you're going to see states recognizing that, you know, this is a dangerous trend that we're setting. But more than anything, I think you're going to see middle class moms who are saying, oh my gosh, my son is addicted to gambling. And now all of a sudden there's going to be a huge push to pull back on this.
- [25:41]
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- [27:08]
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Well, look, I mean, I think you couldn't name five. There are probably, as I say, close to 50. CJ Stroud. Let's just go down the list. Right off the bat in the NFL, you've got Kirk Cousins, C.J. stroud, Brock Purdy, Saquon Barkley, Trayvon Henderson. These are all people who put a microphone in front of them. I can promise you you're going to get a faith message. And it's happening every week and it's happening every time they have an opportunity. Same is true in the Aaron Judge in the, in a Major League Baseball, Jonathan Isaac in the NBA, you're just seeing it up and down the chain. I mean, there's so many golfers, you can't even count them. But take the number one player in the world, Scotty Scheffler. He again, at every press conference, he's going to speak openly and honestly about his faith and what it means to him. So the numbers are staggering in terms of what you're seeing. Look, two years ago, the super bowl was held in Las Vegas. And I've been to enough Super Bowls to know that things can go off the rails at the super bowl pretty quickly. I mean, there's debauchery on every street corner. If you want to find it, throw in the fact that it was in Las Vegas. And quite frankly, I thought, you know, God just might open up the desert and swallow the whole sea and cover it up. But we just. Instead we had the NFL Honors Banquet and you. It turned into a complete revival. I mean, you had Baker Fitzpatrick from safety from the Pittsburgh Steelers who got up and not only did he basically preach the gospel, he made an altar call at the NFL Honors Band in Las Vegas. And it was. He was not the only one. There were just one after another up there thanking the Lord for where they had, for what he had given them. So I think there's the overwhelming nature of the message and it coming from all corners, that's what's driving this.
- [29:02]
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Yeah, it's man that's saving souls and pointing people in the direction of eternal life in heaven with Jesus, which there is nothing more. I guess reassuring that you're doing the right thing. I think when you can shift your perspective and think about it that way, think about eternity, it makes the time that we spend here on this earth feel like. Because it is really just the blink of an eye in terms of time span. You think it's sustainable, the whole movement? You think it will continue on? What's your prediction for the future?
- [29:37]
B
I hope so. Look, I mean, I think that there are certain things that will come up where people will attempt to derail it. I mean, the devil never sleeps world. There's always going to be the one person that you point to to say, aha, this person was out speaking, speaking about Jesus and, you know, now he's run off, you know, to some debaucherous party somewhere that's going to happen. And you are still talking in most cases about young people. And young people make mistakes. So I don't have any doubt that a lot of this is going to be highlighted. But by the same token, I think if people will continue to pay attention to this overwhelming message that the revival is going to continue. What are the alternatives? I mean, you're seeing for the first time really in two generations, we no longer have a decline in people who say they are Christian. Now that has been on a steady downward trend since World War II. Finally, it's leveled off. Why is it leveled off? Young men, Gen Z and Gen Alpha young men are returning to church. They're. They're the ones that are handling the increase in Bible sales. For the first time in history, young men are outpacing young women in terms of church attendance. Why is that. Is there some pastor out there leading them? No, it's that they are the people watching sports and they're the ones seeing it and they're the ones searching. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome?
- [31:12]
A
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- [31:12]
B
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- [31:30]
A
18 I I think that's a really, really good and accurate, quite frankly, case to be made. Steve, thank you for everything that that you do. Where can people get your new book, God Ball?
- [31:43]
B
Well, you can buy it anywhere that sells books. It's published by center street and if you just want to go to centerstreet.com they'll take you to all the right spots.
- [31:51]
A
Well, I so appreciate you. Thank you for everything and for coming on the show.
- [31:57]
B
Thank you so much for having me.
- [31:59]
A
Thank you guys for watching the Riley Gaines Show. You can subscribe right here. We have new episodes every single Tuesday and Friday at 10:00am Eastern Time and we are covering everything from pop culture to politics to deep dives to motherhood, sports, all of that and more. We want to hear from you though. What is it that you want to hear? Comment down below. We can't wait to see you next time. Your next chapter in healthcare starts at Carrington College's School of Nursing in Portland. Join us for our open house on Tuesday, January 13th from 4 to 7pm you'll tour our campus, see live demos, meet instructors and learn about our Associate Degree in Nursing program that prepares you to become a registered nurse. Take the first step toward your nursing career. Save your spot now at Carrington. Edu Events. For information on program outcomes, visit carrington.
- [32:56]
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Edu Sci.