University of Georgia defensive end David Pollack will line up today against University of Alabama left tackle Wesley Britt. They will bash each other during the game, but off the field they share the same public spotlight: first for their athletic excellence, and next for their similar religious beliefs that prompted both juniors to decline one of the country's top football honors.
Playboy magazine named Pollack and Britt last spring to its All-American team, arguably the most prestigious preseason honor offered to a college football player. It started 47 years ago, and a spot on the team often leads to similar awards. The magazine hosts 26 all-stars at a May weekend at a Phoenix resort. No centerfolds or bunnies are present, but the preseason team's (clothed) picture appears in the August issue of the magazine.
"Our college football section is something guys are interested in, and our last reader survey showed that the team is one of the best read articles of the year," said Playboy sports and photo editor Gary Cole. "Best read, not most looked at."
For players, it's this big a deal: "I've wanted to be a Playboy All-American since I was small," Auburn linebacker Karlos Dansby said recently. "It's a great honor. A lot of guys aren't going to get the opportunity. It was great to chill out with players from around the nation, get to know them and have a great time."
Pollack and Britt traded the glitz for the unexpected discovery of how much moral influence they, as prominent college football players, possess.
Both Pollack, from Snellville, and Britt, from Cullman, Alabama, hold fast to Christian beliefs and share those frequently in the offseason with youth groups. Independent of one another -- Pollack and Britt have never met off the field, though they may after today's game -- they turned down Playboy. Appearing in the magazine wouldn't square with the spiritual advice they were giving kids.
Neither intended to publicize his decision.
"We kept it quiet for three weeks until someone found out," Pollack recalled. He didn't even tell his parents. Britt expected his "no" to go no further than the magazine.
Once word got out, Pollack and Britt discovered that fans, fellow Christians and strangers suddenly held them up as role models. A smaller but vocal number of critics called them judgmental religious freaks.
"Talk radio was raking him over the coals," said Kelli Pollack of the day her son's decision became public. "One of them said he's given an impression of a religious freak running around campus preaching ... I called David and said, `You wouldn't believe what they are saying.' And he said, 'Mom, shut it off. I don't listen to them.'"
One person who took note was psychiatrist Linnea Smith, the wife of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, who has campaigned against the magazine team for more than 15 years. She feels Playboy uses the players to legitimize its demeaning portrayal of women and glamorization of drugs.
"This is a tremendously courageous position to take," she said of Pollack and Britt. "It's not just personal but professional. These players are such heroes, and that's a tremendous legitimizing factor for the magazine. [Turning it down] is penalizing themselves because they're not getting that athletic recognition."
Neither Britt, 22, nor Pollack, 21, expected the hundreds of letters they got from as far away as Paris. Most correspondents were impressed that these players acted on their convictions.
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