Dimitrius Underwood played football for Michigan State (when he felt up to it, but well then), almost played for the Vikings (until he walked out of pre-season practice), and might (if he can make up his mind) play for the Miami Dolphins.

Monday, August 23, 1999

Dimitrius Underwood played football for Michigan State (when he felt up to it, but well then), almost played for the Vikings (until he walked out of pre-season practice), and might (if he can make up his mind) play for the Miami Dolphins. Dimitrius Underwood impresses me as a presumably sincere but obviously confused young man-evidently confused about the demands of "professiona" football and clearly confused about the nature of professional ministry.

Underwood came to the attention of Minnesotans and other Viking fans when he showed up late in Mankato for practice and then simply disappeared. They found him in a hotel in his home town of Philadelphia where he said he was struggling whether to play football or enter the ministry. He returned to Mankato inflated by unearned media attention. Coach Dennis Green was impressed neither with the likelihood of his preparing for the ministry between seasons nor his reliability during season. The Vikings recovered the $1.3 million signing bonus and then released him from their $5.3 million contract.

As often happens with players good enough to win "scholarships" to play for major universities (or basketball for Clem Haskins), this young man seems to have been spoiled by the status and fame. However validly impressed the Vikings were with Underwood’s actual playing, they should have read Michigan sports commentators more carefully. If they had, they could have predicted the same unreliability, self-centered indifference to responsibility, and lack of loyalty he displayed in college ball. Perhaps they did but felt they could reform this problem child. It will be interesting to see if the Dolphins learn from the Vikings any better than the Vikings did from the Trojans.

The smartest thing Underwood did was to talk with former Green Bay Packer Reggie White, who has become something of a lay preacher with a strong and positive impact. White apparently sought to convince the uncertain kid that he could play pro football and minister at the same time. Surely, White’s own example would be adequate for that. Heart-to-heart talks with Vikings Randall Cunningham and Cris Carter could have helped him to understand. In light of the way not a small number of other players have behaved, I think about all he would need to do is to play ball to his obvious ability and keep his nose clean morally. If he would live wholesomely and could deliver a positive, instructive message it would be all the better. I would be proud to cheer such a player.

I suspect Underwood, back there in East Lansing, was hit by an unfamiliar and misunderstood religious feeling and understandably became convinced religion must play a much greater role in his personal life. He may have made the serious mistake of many others in failing to recognize the difference between a cultural or even religious feeling and spiritual and moral experience. He may have presumed upon his emotional excitement that such a worthy motive necessary means he would need to become a minister of religion.

Underwood needs to understand that no one can effectively minister spiritual faith without having experienced it. Not only must one practice what he preaches, but an individual must practice personal faith before trying to convince others. The Apostle Paul, with whom this would-be preacher may or may not be familiar, laid it down that "it is required of stewards [those entrusted with responsibility] that they be found faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:2). Faithfulness to God is most surely accomplished and convincingly demonstrated by faithfulness to social commitments. Faithfulness, however, is not the first quality that pops into mind when we hear "Dimitrius Underwood."

I hope this young man can work through his confusion to a workable understanding of both pro football and credible ministry and become the kind of man both the coach had hoped for and God intended.