Why is God so Busy on the Gridiron? Perhaps because he forgot to send Jesus Back on Oct. 22nd?
Another October 22 has come and gone, and still no Jesus (more on that, and Daniel Walker Howe's What Hath God Wrought, in the next post). I'm guessing he's going to be busy DVD-Ring Game I of the World Series on my behalf (sigh -- I'm in class tonight, so no game for me). It's a good thing this year, since it's game on for the Rockies in the World Series -- click here for the Washington Post's take on baseball, superstition, and the spirituality of the Rockies.
And Slate asks "Why is God so Busy on the Gridiron," and comments,
It wasn't so long ago that sports fields were the devil's playground. Babe Ruth could commit five of the seven deadly sins before noon and hit three home runs by dinner. In Damn Yankees, it was Satan, not God, who offered the Washington Senators a pennant in exchange for a player's soul. (Lesson: Offense wins games. Demons win championships.) But today there are Angels in the Outfield, and God seems to be following pro sports more intently than any Vegas bookie.
The article concludes: Emotional, highly personal, nondenominational Protestantism has supplanted Catholicism as America's dominant sports religion. Perhaps that helps to explain the fate of the Fighting Irish this year.
If it works . . . But Big Papi and Man-Ram, who don't strike me as overtly religious, may have something to say about all this yet. [Thanks to John Wilson for correcting my spelling of "Papi"].
And Slate asks "Why is God so Busy on the Gridiron," and comments,
It wasn't so long ago that sports fields were the devil's playground. Babe Ruth could commit five of the seven deadly sins before noon and hit three home runs by dinner. In Damn Yankees, it was Satan, not God, who offered the Washington Senators a pennant in exchange for a player's soul. (Lesson: Offense wins games. Demons win championships.) But today there are Angels in the Outfield, and God seems to be following pro sports more intently than any Vegas bookie.
The article concludes: Emotional, highly personal, nondenominational Protestantism has supplanted Catholicism as America's dominant sports religion. Perhaps that helps to explain the fate of the Fighting Irish this year.
If it works . . . But Big Papi and Man-Ram, who don't strike me as overtly religious, may have something to say about all this yet. [Thanks to John Wilson for correcting my spelling of "Papi"].
Comments
I'm pretty sure Touchdown Jesus is still there, however, and will resume an active role in the course of gridiron events next year.