I’m a big fan of Ted Kluck. He’s a great sports writer and a solid Christian brother. His new book on Robert Griffin III hits the shelves today. It’s titled Robert Griffin III: Athlete, Leader, Believer, and you can order it right now from Amazon.com.
Today, Ted was on The Gospel Coalition podcast to discuss the two big stories in sports this week: the major league baseball suspensions and Johnny Manziel. You can download the podcast here or listen below.
[audio:http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/files/2013/08/Going-Deeper-with-TGC-8-6-with-Ted-Kluck.mp3]
One Comment
Lynn Burgess
I read this Amazon review of Ted Kluck’s new book on RGIII and it expresses well my concerns about Robert. He clearly is a great guy, one that America needs, but I have never seen or read anything that points to his being genuinely born again… but I would be most glad to hear otherwise.
By BDempsey – This review is from: Robert Griffin III: Athlete, Leader, Believer (Hardcover)
As I try to do with all my reviews, let me begin this one by giving full disclosure. I love the Washington Redskins. When they drafted RG3 I rejoiced. I read the articles and listened to the debates about how a running quarterback would never win long term in the NFL. I didn’t care. For a fan base long starved of meaningful football, the kid out of Baylor brought hope that we hadn’t felt in a long time.
When I read Ted Kluck’s book, I came away with a sense of enjoyment as I got to relive the rookie’s first NFL season. But I also felt a bit of a let down. I didn’t feel the book contributed anything to my understanding of who Robert Griffin III was. I had read most of the articles cited, watched most of the games, and heard most of the debates about Griffin’s chances in the NFL. I picked up the book hoping to get an inside glimpse into the faith of this young athlete, but was disappointed.
There was a reference to the importance of faith in his life, and a short section on Griffin’s church choice while at college (as well as the fact that he grew up attending charismatic leaning churches), but very little about Griffin’s personal faith. Baylor is a Christian school only in the most generous sense of the term, and growing up in a home in which faith is important can mean just about anything, especially as Kluck records Griffin uttering an expletive during a game. Is Griffin a born-again Christian? That question, really the only one that counts in this life, goes unanswered in the book.
So, while it is a very interesting and fairly well written account of RG3’s first year in the NFL, the book fails to deliver in a key area for a work targeted towards a Christian audience by a Christian publisher.