Read a Horned Frogs Excerpt

“For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (v. 20).

TCU was so dominant against Tennessee Tech that head coach Gary Patterson apologized for his team’s last touchdown.

On Sept. 11, 2010, the 4th-ranked Horned Frogs were heavily favored over Tennessee Tech of the Football Championship Subdivision. They dominated from the start. On the team’s first possession, Andy Dalton hit sophomore wide receiver Josh Boyce with a 24-yard touchdown pass. When senior cornerback Jason Teague returned an interception 29 yards for a score, TCU led 21-0 in the first quarter.

By halftime, the score was 35-7. A 27-0 last half put the final of 62-7 on the scoreboard, the most points TCU had scored since whipping Stephen F. Austin 67-7 in the second week of the 2008 season. “We did have some mistakes,” Dalton declared. Patterson agreed. “I’m not unhappy,” he said, “but we have some [issues] we need to make sure we take care of.” Not many, though. The Frogs outgained Tech 452 yards to 150 in the easy win.

The last TCU touchdown came with 4:09 to play. Fifth-year senior fullback Ryan Hightower, playing in just the fourth game of his career, cut around the left side and suddenly found himself with nothing but 16 yards of open space.

Patterson began his postgame press conference by apologizing for that score. “We don’t do style points,” he declared. He pointed out that the Frogs didn’t throw a single pass in the fourth quarter. The play on which Hightower scored was designed to pick up a couple of yards, but he cut back and scored. Still, Patterson said, “I’m happy for him.”

Nobody was apologizing, though, for the dominant Frog performance, which gave clear indications of good things to come. We usually apologize when we wrong or injure another person whether it’s bumping into someone in the supermarket, causing an automobile accident, or being uncharacteristically harsh or cruel. Courtesy, forthrightness, our sense of justice, and our Christ-centered desire to repair the damage we’ve done to a relationship demand apologies from us sometime.

But too many Christians in the increasingly hostile environment that is contemporary America find themselves apologizing for their faith and the temerity they display in inviting someone to church or saying the name of Jesus in public. We shouldn’t. To apologize for our faith is to declare, in effect, that we are ashamed of Jesus.

Like Peter and John, we do not have to tell anyone we’re sorry for our faith or abashedly try to excuse our actions in the name of Christ. We are Christians, heart and soul. And don’t those who purposely flaunt their behavior in Christians’ faces tell us, “If you don’t like it, live with it”? We’re just doing the same. Only in our case, we’re talking about living eternally.

"I want to publicly apologize. I didn’t mean to score the last touchdown." -- Gary Patterson after the Tennessee Tech game

We should never apologize for Jesus.