https://anchor.fm/zachery-evanssomethingspiritualsports/episodes/John-Rabe-Better-than-Broadcasting-ebepqv
Where it all started. Better than Broadcasting.
John Rabe was raised in his hometown Saint Louis, Missouri where he became a Cardinals fan. He went to Butler University where he studied radio broadcasting and also attended the University of Missouri. I was inspired at a young age by an insightful teacher. This is how John became better than broadcasting.
“I knew that I wanted to go into broadcasting since I was a kid. My teacher had us read aloud one time and she said, ‘you know you have a nice voice you should consider radio broadcasting or something like that.’ That never even occurred to me.”
John talked about his time in college, “I went to Butler University for radio broadcasting. Then I went to the University of Missouri. In my early 20’s this was about 1993 a friend hooked me up with an internship. I was working for free basically. I loved the work.”
What do you put your identity in? Better than Broadcasting.
Have you ever thought you could find your identity in something? Something you had to have or you would feel incomplete? If you’ve ever wanted a certain job, or relationship, or whatever it is that you think will satisfy you.
The only thing that can satisfy you is God himself through Jesus Christ. John Rabe believed that if he got a certain sports job he would be satisfied. The truth is while sports are fun and all, it is a very worldly environment and is a hard place for Christians to work in.
Interning then producing. Better than Broadcasting.
John went on about what he did, “I was answering phones and booking guests. I did basically whatever they needed me to do I was there morning till night. Eventually they hired me on as a board operator which is the person who would push the buttons and fire off the commercials and all that stuff. Then they hired me on as a producer.”
From there John went to Las Vegas to a sports radio network. After that he was hired by cbssports.com Florida.
Play by play no way
During his time as a broadcaster John Rabe didn’t do a lot of what is known as play by play broadcasting. This is basically when a broadcaster calls plays as they happen in the game. “The thing about play by play broadcasting is you have to be able to speak quickly. I did a little bit of baseball adequately. My college had us do a basketball game.
At that time Butler was about a .500 team. Back then there were about 500 people at most in the in the indoor arena so we could sit courtside without press passes and bring a tape recorder and record the game.”
Even though John was not much of a play by play guy, but he did however get to cover the St. Louis Cardinals with a baseball show. “I got to cover the Cardinals and do a post-game Cardinals baseball show. I got to go to the games, I got to watch the games, and then go down to the locker room and ask questions.”
The most exciting game of his career. Better than Broadcasting.
The most exciting game that John was part of was when Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, were chasing the homerun record. “Mark McGwire came down to Florida to play the Marlins along with the Cardinals and broke the national league homerun record in a double header while he was playing here.
He hit two homeruns two games in a row. I was at one of the games where he broke the national league homerun record that Hack Wilson held. I got to interview him after the game along with a bunch of other reporters, being in that game was probably the most exciting game when Mark McGwire broke the national league home run record.”
Missionary dating and conviction
John was not a Christian at this point in his career. He married his wife Wendy (who recently died of brain cancer). She was a young Christian at the time and he was not following God. They were married in February of 1992. John Rabe became a Christian in 1996. “I went through a struggle for a while. How can I live my life as a Christian being this talk show host on the air?”
John went onto say that the struggle of working in a very secular environment with sexual and bathroom humor definitely made it hard to stay. He even prayed to God saying, “I don’t feel like sports talk is really the path you have for me.”
When God closes a door He…
Not long after that John lost his job. CBSSports.com decided they were not going to be in the radio business any longer. When asked if he would recommend a Christian going into the business, he basically said that, “It’s really a very difficult profession no matter what your beliefs are.”
The hard thing for Christians to be in the radio business is that they have to sell many ungodly things to men between 25 and 50. What do they want to sell them? “They want to sell them booze, they want to sell them strip clubs. They want to sell them stuff that’s supposedly manly that appeals to men.”
Now although it’s very worldly and people need to put out ads that are not great as far as a Christian perspective… If the person is good enough, they will make the rare exception if he’s not willing to advertise the advertising the radio station is asking him/her to do.
Pros and Cons to radio
He used the example of Dan Le Batard who won’t sell any ads. He basically bet on himself and made it so all the money he earns is because he is so good at what he does.
There were negatives and positives that John learned from broadcasting. The negatives were all that people would do to people that were just trying to get ahead in the radio business. From back stabbing to doing whatever it took to get to the top people can be just downright nasty in the business.
The positives are that even though there is a lot of evil there is an aspect that is good. That aspect is the fact that in order to tell a message you need to make sure that both educated and uneducated need to be able to understand that message.
That can be applied to the gospel! As Christians we need to be able to convey the message of the gospel so that anyone can understand it! The fact of the matter is that we need to be able to clearly convey a message that we can project to people who are not saved. Sports broadcasting is compared to the gospel in that way.
Redemption story=God’s story
Not only has broadcasting taught John about portraying a message of the gospel, he believes that sports often times tell a story of redemption that also shares the message of Jesus Christ. Look at Rocky, or Invincible, or any of these feel good movies. It’s usually someone down and out that beats all odds and comes out victorious that is a reflection of the true message of the gospel of Christ!
“It’s because we are created in the image of God and there is an echo there because we love redemption. Here’s someone who’s down and out and against all odds they make it back. That’s the most compelling thing about sports!”
I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I did writing it. If you have any questions about the gospel in sports or the gospel in general, I’m more than happy to talk! My number is 954-601-6776 and my email is zevans1@fau.edu.
