{"id":1676,"date":"2008-02-04T12:01:43","date_gmt":"2008-02-04T12:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2008\/02\/nfl-brothers-and-usa-founding.html"},"modified":"2008-02-04T12:01:43","modified_gmt":"2008-02-04T12:01:43","slug":"nfl-brothers-and-usa-founding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/02\/nfl-brothers-and-usa-founding.html","title":{"rendered":"NFL Brothers and USA Founding Fathers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every network that broadcasts live TV sports offers several versions of pregame shows, which are usually pretty boring. They serve as great fare for those in sports bars, people having parties, and lonely types who have nothing else to do but watch ex-jocks talk about what might or might not happen in an upcoming game.But one of the more beautiful and powerful  segments I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen showed up during this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Super Bowl pregame show, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve since realized that Fox has been showing a similar version for several years.Players from the past, present and future were joined together from locations around the country in a video montage that gave our entire country\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand especially our young people\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsomething many have never received: a recitation of the Declaration of Independence.Watch it here:<object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/mv6mfSVlcqc&#038;rel=1\"><\/param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><\/param><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/mv6mfSVlcqc&#038;rel=1\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><!--more-->The spiritually based phrases that were foundational in forming our nation will not be included in the shaping of our nation unless we read, hear, and reflect on them from time to time. To hear and see some of the most famous and successful players and coaches of all time bringing these truths to light is among the more powerful public services a media source has provided recently, and I hope that countless people\u00e2\u20ac\u201despecially young people\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhave a chance to see and consider it online in the coming days. Unwittingly, many of us perhaps have been lulled into media or political interpretations of the supposed separation of church-state separation, but there is no denying the amount of reference to God that the Founding Fathers chose to cite: *               \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bans which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The laws of nature and nature\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s God\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, their duty to throw off such government\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6protection of divine providence\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009dTo see and hear the likes of Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy, Roger Staubach, Jim Brown, Don Shula, Steve Largent, Alan Page and others was really fun, but to hear their message was moved past entertainment to inspiration. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also been encouraged by some of the online conversation about it <a href=\"http:\/\/www.calacanis.com\/2008\/02\/03\/nfl-super-bowl-declaration-of-independence-commercial\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every network that broadcasts live TV sports offers several versions of pregame shows, which are usually pretty boring. They serve as great fare for those in sports bars, people having parties, and lonely types who have nothing else to do but watch ex-jocks talk about what might or might not happen in an upcoming game.But&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NFL Brothers and USA Founding Fathers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/02\/nfl-brothers-and-usa-founding.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NFL Brothers and USA Founding Fathers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every network that broadcasts live TV sports offers several versions of pregame shows, which are usually pretty boring. They serve as great fare for those in sports bars, people having parties, and lonely types who have nothing else to do but watch ex-jocks talk about what might or might not happen in an upcoming game.But&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/02\/nfl-brothers-and-usa-founding.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-02-04T12:01:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Douglas Howe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NFL Brothers and USA Founding Fathers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/02\/nfl-brothers-and-usa-founding.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NFL Brothers and USA Founding Fathers","og_description":"Every network that broadcasts live TV sports offers several versions of pregame shows, which are usually pretty boring. 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