Article content continued

“The approach I take is I’m not in sales, it’s not a pressure tactic,” he said. “I’m not trying to sell people on God. He does a good job selling himself. There are lots of requests and demands on these guys so I want to be someone who actually gives to them without requiring something from them.”

Huggins stands back from the “bad words” — the F-bombs; he’s not judging anyone.

“If you call yourself a Christian, you say you want to live a certain way and find yourself cursing up and down the field, hey, you and God have to figure that one out,” said Huggins. “I have a personal opinion on it, but I’m not about asserting my personal opinion. Nobody’s perfect, when you’re in intense, emotional situations, we all express what our environment reinforces.

“There are varying degrees of acceptability in Christiandom. The Bible talks about not using the Lord’s name in vain, it also talks about not letting unwholesome talk come from your mouth. That’s up for definition. I’m not about splitting hairs. The scriptures talk a lot about what comes from mouth comes from what’s in your heart.”

Outside of the extremely unlikely scenario that a swarm of locusts descends on BMO Field on Sunday, an act of God will not decide the game’s outcome. Let’s just say that any higher power is probably not siding with either the Redblacks or the Stampeders.

Said Huggins: “It’s funny, sometimes guys are like, ‘Hey we have to pray for a win.’ OK, you can pray for a win, but honestly I don’t think God cares about who wins or loses. I think he cares about how we play the game. I’m praying the guys are able to play to the best of their ability. I never want it to turn into ‘Which team prayed harder?’ It’s not theologically accurate and also, you miss the point. You might as well put together a bunch of lucky rabbit feet.”

Said Harris: “God doesn’t pick a side. We just go out and play and let’s see what happens.”

Said Rogers: “I don’t think God is up there saying, ‘You know what, I want these guys to win because they’re my favourites.’ To win, you have to be as diligent and as prepared as you can be. Usually, the most prepared team will win.”

Amen to that.

tbaines@postmedia.com

Twitter: @TimCBaines