Bible Thumping

I’ve stayed away from sports since the NFC championship debacle, so here goes. I’m not sure why I find this interesting. But I do.

Lord knows, Falwell, Liberty thinking big in football

"I refuse to die," the famous televangelist told SportsLine.com this week, "until we get this done."

No. Football. Falwell, 72, wants to preside over a Division I-A football program in his lifetime. A big-time D-I program, one that could take the field against Notre Dame some day on even terms.

The goal is for I-A to happen in the next decade. By then Falwell, who underwent heart surgery last year, will be 82.

America will have a fundamentalist Christian football superpower.

What Notre Dame is to Catholics and BYU is to Mormons, Liberty can be to evangelical Christians.

"The youth of the world speak two languages -- athletics and music," Falwell said. "They may not know who Billy Graham is, but they certainly know who Michael Jordan is, who Reggie Bush is."

Well, he’s got a point there.

According to 2005 statistics, there are 67 million Roman Catholics in the U.S. and 5.5 million Mormons. Falwell estimates there are 80 million evangelicals.

Well, I don’t know about those numbers. In any case, he knows the South, and the South knows football. I bet this works. It will be interesting, if nothing else. Maybe football will get him to loosen up some.
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