Emerging NFL superstar -- Cooper Kupp -- puts his faith on his hat, not that reporters notice

If you have been following the remarkable 2022 National Football League playoffs, then you have probably heard quite a bit about Cooper Kupp, the all-world wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams.

I know. I know. Not many GetReligion readers are into sports, as Bobby Ross Jr., and I have bemoaned for quite a few years. But this Super Bowl thing is a pretty big deal in American culture and, once again, there’s a religion ghost linked to the life of one of the key players in The Big Game. Not that readers and viewers would know anything about that, based on the elite sports-media coverage.

You see, “crown” is the big word attached to Kupp right now. This year, he became only the fourth player in NFL history to win the “triple crown” as a wide receiver, leading the league in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns (click here for a Los Angeles Times profile that stresses this fact, “When it mattered most, Cooper Kupp again carried the Rams”).

Wait, there’s more. As this CBS Sports feature noted, Kupp also became the first NFL player EVER to have more than 2,000 receiving yards in the regular season and postseason combined.

The “crown” thing keeps showing up in those stories and many others like them, along with countless references to how selfless Kupp is and how much he and his wife Anna contribute to their community.

At some point, reporters need to read the message — mixing sports and faith — that is written on that signature hat that Kupp keeps wearing in press appearances. See this reference, care of Sports Spectrum — a Christian news website.

As he spoke, he sported a hat from his own apparel line. On one side of the hat it says, “Do it to get a crown that will last forever.” The phrase comes from the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 9:25, which says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

As always, it isn’t news, in and of itself, that Kupp is an outspoken Christian.

Obvious question: Maybe Christian faith played a role in the Scott Drew and Baylor hoops story?

Frankly, I am not the most enthusiastic of Baylor University alums (I once passed up a request to apply for a faculty slot by telling the president that I had already died once in Waco wasn’t anxious for a reprise).

Still, you didn’t think that the Baylor basketball team was going to win the national championship (after being a favorite in the COVID-canceled 2020 dance) without a word of comment here? I mean, I have heard from other Baylor grads who worked their way through lots of the mainstream news coverage of the March Madness finale while thinking “ghost,” “ghost,” “another religion ghost.”

Yes, this was the Texas Baptists vs. Jesuits matchup that hoops fans wanted. And then you had the simple reality that Baylor (for better and for worse) is the world’s most prominent Baptist academic institution.

But how could the press ignore or short-change the fact that the story of coach Scott Drew and his underdog Bears was packed with valid religion facts and themes? Would all fans care that Final Four MVP Jared Butler teaches a Sunday School class for little kids? Probably not. But millions of people would.

But they key to everything was this big question: Why was Drew at Baylor in the first place? Why did he pack up and head to Waco 18 years ago, when the program was dead, dead, dead or worse. Here’s the top of a long CBS Sports feature: “Scott Drew never let others change his story, path or program, and that's how he led Baylor to its first title.”

Leaping into the arms of his staff. College basketball's happiest coach on his happiest night. When it was over, Drew brought everyone into a huge circle on the court. They kneeled and said a prayer.
The greatest program reinvention in men's college basketball history was complete.
Drew took the Baylor job in 2003 when the program was near disintegration. The job Drew's done at Baylor in the 18 years since -- impressive is an understatement. There was no set of instructions when he got there, because there wasn't even a drawer to put them in. This was not a rebuild; what Baylor could be, in 2003, was a figment of Drew's imagination.

Drew is described in all kinds of upbeat, but strange, ways. This is one happy, upbeat, positive-thinking weirdo. Does it matter that, when he describes his bond with Baylor, he talks in terms of Christian faith, family and a sense that God called him to this job? Is that part of this national news story, just because Drew says so and there is tons of evidence that he means it?