Love Thy Rival: What Sports' Greatest Rivals Teach Us About Loving Our Enemies

by Chad Gibbs

In his first book, the best-selling God & Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC, humorist Chad Gibbs explored his own struggles to balance faith in God with passion for pigskin. Now Gibbs is back asking how Christian fans can love their enemies, when we can't even love rival fans.

From the cross-country culture war of Lakers vs Celtics, to the cross-state hate-fest of Alabama vs Auburn, Gibbs spent one year attending the most intense rivalry games in sports (Yankees vs Red Sox, Duke vs Carolina, and many more), observing the darker side of fan culture, and pondering the problems rivalry games present to the Christian fan.

The result... Love Thy Rival, an enlightening, laugh-a-minute look at what sports? greatest rivalries teach us about one of Jesus' most difficult commands: Love your enemies.

Genres: Sports, Football

238 pages, Paperback

First published August 14, 2012

Reviews

[Melsteam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Putting your ad close to having a seat at the legendary rivalries!

Details the chosen rivalry games he attended with precision, entertaining details and humor. At times I failed to see the connection between faith seems rooting for your team but it all soon came back into focus, towards the end. All in all a great book for those wanting a balanced book on spots of our sporting lives as well as spirituality, Christianity and giving back to others.

[Aja West · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for my 10 year old son and he has read it probably 20 times. It was a great blend of sports and faith.

[Clay Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chad Gibbs is the type of author who could write about anything and make it interesting. But combine his quest for meaning with his love of sports and you get a winning combination. In Love Thy Rival Chad trots the globe in search for the greatest rivalries in sport, where they came from, and what they do to us. He explores the nature of true hate versus the hate of fandom to see what we can learn about loving our enemies, even if they root for the other team. Great read. Couldn't stop reading.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. Yes, it was about the different rivalries, but having read the previous "God and Football" I felt this was somewhat a disappointment and the rivalries here didn't really include more, just the most "well known" ones (well I thought a number were missed). In reading this book I was wondering whether this book was on the different rivalries or really looking into the issue of loving rivals. I felt the first book was clearer in what the author set out to accomplish. This one was a mere extension. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read.

[Phil Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a add sports fan

You will enjoy reading this book if you like sports - especially if you are interested in rivalries. It might, however, convict you if you take those rivalries a little too seriously.

[Cindy B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having trouble getting in this one mostly because it's male bonding in male sports. I'll get there...
TTS-enabled eBook ©2012