Listen Live
Praise Charlotte App Graphics
Praise 100.9 Featured Video
CLOSE

By DJuana “Dfitz” Fitzpatrick

Though it serves as pure entertainment, watching the Shaunie O’Neal’s scripted reality show “Basketball Wives” saddens me.

According to Shaunie, the show was designed to show the ins and outs of being a basketball wife and the issues they face. The show, however took on a life of its own with episode-after-episode of drama, arguing, fussing, and fighting. Crazy thing is there is only one woman in the cast who is actually a “basketball player’s wife.” The rest were either once married or engaged or just the mother of a basketball player’s child.

I am one of the guilty parties that find myself eager to see what will happen each week. Will Tammie smack someone else in the face? Who will Evelyn and Jenn choose to pick on this week? Whose business will Susie run and tell? And will Royce and Meka always be outcasts?

Usually when you watch shows like that you try to associate yourself with one of the cast. I can recall watching “Living Single” and always saying “I am Max.” I identified with her at the time. I liked her quick wit and her outspokenness. Yet she carried herself with respect (all of them did) and she never let anyone cross her friends. When I turn on “Basketball Wives” I fail to make that same connection. The truth is if you can relate to anyone on that show, then perhaps it is time you take a step back and re-evaluate your life.

Proverbs 31 speaks of a virtuous woman. Starting at verse 10, the chapter breaks down each aspect of a virtuous woman’s life from her character to her excellence as a person. I have personally tried to live my life to the standards of that chapter. I surround myself with women who live the same way.

The women on “Basketball Wives” put their happiness in money and materialistic things. Their glamourous homes, flashy cars and expensive clothes make them highly sophisticated but they’re not. Furthermore the show raises some red flags that young girls and young women watch this show at a time where they are growing and shaping their views on life. I’m sure, if they are anything like me at that age when I watched “Living Single,” they are trying to identify with someone on the show. Which Basketball Wife am I? None of them!

The last people our young women should look to to as role models is the women on this show. The last place a young man or a boy should look for how a woman to act is on this show. Never strive to be one of these women. Open your bible and turn to Proverbs. Go to chapter 31 and start at verse 10. This is the bible’s example of a real woman, a real mother, and a real wife.

I will probably continue to watch the show, but like always, it will be my entertainment. It will always remind me of what I do not want to become.

DJuana “Dfitz” Fitzpatrick is founder of Jesus C.O.U.sins (Christians Overcoming Ugly Sins). For the past five years, Fitzpatrick has devoted her life to being a positive reflection of a Christ in the entertainment industry. Read more of her work and see her videos on her website.

Read more by Fitzpatrick:

God Rescued Me From Jack Daniels

Don’t give up on God.