Paul Kengor: The NFL disses Christmas

Count Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and a devout Christian, among the NFL players not happy about the league scheduling games this year on Christmas Day — a Wednesday no less. The Chiefs will play in Pittsburgh against the Steelers.

For the Chiefs, there’s an added affront. Because the NFL likes to showcase the Super Bowl champs, the team will be playing three games in 11 days. The new 17-game season is already brutal on players’ bodies. “It’s not a good feeling,” Mahomes told reporters Dec. 11 — ironically, before he got injured the following weekend. “You never want to play this amount of games in this short of time. It’s not great for your body.”

That’s for sure. But the NFL is motivated by money. Pure, unadulterated greed. Players’ bodies be damned and holy days be damned.

As for the holy day, the NFL playing on Christmas (two games scheduled that day) is a terrible sign of disrespect to Christian players and fans.

One might be inclined to cut the NFL some slack if Christmas occurred on a Sunday, which is the Lord’s Day but, well, also the NFL’s day. The league long ago seized Sundays as its day. In that sense, it swam with the cultural tide, which long ago quit honoring Sunday as the Lord’s Day. That sacred tradition, one of the Ten Commandments, went the way of blue laws.

This year, however, is quite different. Christmas falls on a Wednesday. And as every NFL fan knows, Wednesday is the one weekday when there’s never a game. The NFL plays on Sundays, Monday nights and Thursday nights, and hosts Saturday games as college football ends. But Wednesday?

Never. Until this year, Christmas 2024.

This year, the NFL breaks new ground, and in a quite offensive way.

For Christians, it’s the holiest day of the year. Even for non-Christians, it’s a national holiday. The only people working tend to be first responders and health care personnel.

Christians are rightly offended. A pastor who emailed me noted that the NFL honors and celebrates Pride Month the entire month of June. It launched a “Football is Gay” promotional campaign. Particularly remarkable, that celebration occurs in a month when the NFL has no games and not even training camp. It’s a dormant NFL month. But the NFL honors Pride Month, vigorously.

The NFL is not, however, honoring Christmas.

I’m sure the NFL believes that fans will tune in regardless. I, for one, will not. Over the years, I’ve gone to great lengths to find ways to watch the Steelers no matter where I am. This year, count me out.

Will my little boycott work? Not unless millions join me. But I have a suggestion that could make a difference — for players like Patrick Mahomes. I also commend it to the Steelers devoutly Christian quarterback, Russell Wilson, and faithful coach, Mike Tomlin: Just say no. Refuse to play.

There is precedent to this. The legendary Dodgers pitcher, Sandy Koufax, refused to pitch Game One of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. That wasn’t a regular season game, but the World Series opener and Koufax was the team’s ace!

Perhaps the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson could do the same. Let the NFL know that this sign of disrespect is way out of bounds.