This is an interesting piece by David Brooks regarding the tension between a religious orientation and the ethos of the modern professional athlete.  He quotes Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik towards the end of the article – and seems to view the tension of a religious professional athlete as the tension between the “Rav’s” two motifs of “Adam” in the famous “Lonely Man of Faith”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/opinion/brooks-the-jeremy-lin-problem.html?src=me&ref=general