Love Thy Rival

Book excerpt: What Sports' Greatest Rivalries Teach Us About Loving Our Enemies... 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.