What If The Shot Doesn’t Go In
That Villanova won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is just half the story. The other is how. With just under five minutes to play in the championship game, Villanova got out to a ten point lead. But North Carolina fought back to cut it to a single point. Then Villanova’s Phil Booth made two ice-in-his-veins free throws to give Villanova a three point lead with thirteen seconds left. With four on the clock, the Tar Heels Marcus Paige tied the game with an improbable, off-balance, you-gotta-be-kidding-me, three-pointer. Overtime looked inevitable. But with a second to go, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins took a pass from Ryan Archidiacono and made a game-winning three-pointer. Villanova 77. UNC 74.
This story is well known. I presented this alternative one to Father Rob: Kris Jenkins misses the game-winning shot. The game goes into overtime. And Nova losses in OT. The players now have to confront not just a crushing loss, but the haunting that they coughed up a ten point lead late in the game. If the game had ended this way, what would Father Rob have said to the team in the locker room? What words could possibly be adequate in the face of such colossal disappointment? Just as Kris Jenkins made that shot a thousand times in his head when he was a kid, surely a basketball team’s Chaplain also imagines himself in such a challenging position.
The 50 year old team Chaplain didn’t have to think about his answer – and then I saw why. “[O]ur faith,” he told me, “says that they are going to be okay whether that shot goes in or not. Our faith says that whether we win or lose that game we are going to be okay. And so you know our faith is more than say Hail Mary and hope the shot goes in. That would be easy. But let’s not discount everything that has happened here; let’s not discount all the relationships; let’s not discount all the growth; let’s not discount the brotherhood that we have built here and if we define that by a win or a loss or by a shot going in or rimming out, then we have missed the boat. And as a Chaplin I get to try, even in the moment, a painful moment or a moment of great joy, to just remind us all of that. The good thing about this group is they were aware of that. Win, lose or draw there is something so much bigger going on here than just whether the shot goes in or goes out.”
While Father Rob didn’t have to make a hard speech that night, he has in the past. A year earlier the Wildcats lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In a much different locker room he told the same group of guys -- who he called arguably just as talented -- that their faith says not to let the loss define them. Lawyers lose cases, politicians lose elections and those in business have failed deals, he explained. Nobody goes through life undefeated and it’s the great ones who have resiliency.
Sitting across from Father Rob, at a table in his spacious office, with some sports mementos here and there – but fewer than I expected -- it is easy to forget that he is a priest. Yes he’s wearing a collar and he cites scripture to me a couple of times, but his message doesn’t feel religiousy. I mention this to him. He understands my point, telling me that what he’s describing are simply “universal values.” Sure Villanova is a Catholic University, but he points out that not everyone on the basketball team is Catholic and he’s not trying to convert anyone. While the team is diverse – by faith, race and economic background – they have one spirit, Father Rob explains. And if they can channel or harness that spirit, it can propel them to greatness.
It turns out that I’m not alone in my observation that Father Rob’s words transcend religion. Sports writer Mike Kern of the Philadelphia Daily News, in a cover story about Father Rob before the Final Four, observed that “when you are with him you don’t really think of him as a priest. It’s just his way.”
In 2013, Philadelphia magazine gave Father Rob the nod for “Best Spiritual Guidance” in its annual “Best of Philly” issue. The magazine described him like this: “The striking Augustinian priest serves as an associate athletic director at Villanova. But it’s his riveting, relatable sermons that are the real touchdown.” Relatable. Exactly.
Lawyer And Priest: Not Really So Different
It is easy to imagine Father Rob addressing the team in the locker room, after a crushing loss, and telling them not to let the loss define them. It is also easy to imagine the players treating the words as priest-speak – if they are even listening at all. Sure there will be another game. Sure losses are a part of life. Sure it’s all about getting back up. They know all that. But, at that moment, the only thing that matters is the scoreboard outside.
For sure a speech like that is no easy sell. But neither is trying to convince a jury that your client, despite lots of evidence against him, is not guilty. So maybe lawyer and basketball team Chaplain isn’t such an odd combination after all. In fact, maybe trial experience should be a prerequisite for every school’s basketball team Chaplain.
Despite how odd the combination of lawyer and priest seems, Father Rob does a very convincing job of arguing the other side. While he is often asked about the “radical shift” from one to the other, it’s not so radical at all he tells me. “I do very much the same things in the priesthood that I did as a lawyer. You deal with people in personal moments, you deal with them in some of the high moments of their life, you deal with some of the lowest moments of their life. You hear their secrets. They trust you. They depend on your fidelity, on your advocacy, on your perspective. To be honest with you, it was a great training ground for what I do now as a priest.” Law school, he tells me, is where he learned to think critically and understand that there are three sides to every story. “I have drawn upon my legal training, my colleagues and my experience in practice throughout my whole life as a priest.”
The Road To Law School
Father Rob received his undergraduate degree from Villanova. He was there when the school’s eighth-seeded basketball team won its historic national championship in 1985. He earned his J.D. from Widener Law School in 1990 and embarked on a criminal defense practice. He also served as assistant counsel to the Solicitor for the Delaware County (Pa.) Solid Waste Authority and the Delaware County Register of Wills. Father Rob entered the Order of Saint Augustine in 1997 and in 2003 received a Masters in Theology from the Washington Theological Union. In addition to Villanova hoops and football, Father Rob has served as Chaplain at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia and the University of Maryland.
Father Rob gives credit to his grandfather for pointing him in the direction of law school. However, his father’s father never knew it. His grandfather attended Penn Law and practiced criminal defense in Philadelphia. However, he passed away at age 50 and Father Rob never knew him. When it came time in high school and college for Father Rob to think about his future, he began to reflect on the man. Believing that you don’t know where you are going, unless you know where you have been, the future lawyer visited Penn to see what he could learn about his grandfather and also sought out lawyers who practiced with him. With an older sister also practicing law, Father Rob saw law school in his DNA.
But, of course, something happened to change his path. It wasn’t a “burning bush” moment, he told Kern in The Daily News. There wasn’t an epiphany. And much as I tried, I couldn’t get Father Rob to point to something particular, about practicing law, that caused him to go from addressing a jury of twelve to a jury of one. It was just an evolution that brought him to the point where it was time to make a transition. He jokes that people say he became a priest to make up for his sins as a lawyer.
Game Day
Throughout my discussion with Father Rob he stressed the importance that routine has played in the team’s success. His job, he told me, is to incorporate spirituality into that routine.
Before the pre-game meal, four hours ahead of tip-off, with fish and chicken wafting nearby, Father Rob offers the team “spiritual food.” He explained that he may use a passage from scripture to address something happening at that moment – a team injury, a tough loss or the players’ challenge in juggling all that is demanded of them.
In the locker room, before Coach Wright gets into the game plan, the team locks arms and Father Rob offers a prayer – not to win, but just do their best.
During the game his job is to offer encouragement. Father Rob lets me know that he’s not diagraming plays during time-outs.
Post-game, back in the locker room, no matter the outcome, and before Coach Wright speaks about the game, it is another prayer circle, giving thanks for the opportunity to compete, learn from mistakes and grow closer.
Does God Really Care Who Wins Sporting Events?
I gotta know. Does God care who wins sporting events? Does praying for your favorite team make a difference or is it a waste of time?
I pose this deep philosophical question to Father Rob. He is quick to remind me that prayer is never wasted. But on the fundamental question he says no – God doesn’t favor one team over another. “I don’t think that we are moving God to influence the outcome of the win or the loss. But I think there are a lot of ways to look at what prayer is. I think prayer is a way of communicating with a higher power. Prayer is a way of deriving strength. Prayer is a way of finding wisdom in difficult situations. So you know when so-and-so is lining up to kick the field goal, and we’re all saying our prayers, I don’t know that God wants one team to win or one team to lose. I think God wants everyone to do their best and I think God wants everyone to respond with grace in the midst of circumstances that are often beyond our control.”
My sense is that praying for your team to win is not time well spent. Look at the Cubs. No doubt their fans have prayed a lot. Nothing to show for it. It almost worked. Then God sent Steve Bartman to a playoff game.
Cutting Down The Net
It’s pretty cool that Father Rob helped to cut down the net after Villanova won the national championship. I mention this. Father Rob grabs his phone and finds a picture of himself standing on the ladder. I ask him if I can see his piece of the net. I can’t, he tells me. He cut it up into four pieces and gave them to his nieces and nephews. My God! What a sacrifice! But Father Rob saw it the opposite way: “That was a great gift to me and now I can pass it on to them.” |