January 15 UPDATE AT END OF POST
This post has been awaiting the results of the first round of the play-offs. It was to begin thus:
Now that the NFL regular season has ended, I feel I can no longer delay writing about one strange tangent regarding one player. (A player who will NOT be in the Super Bowl. Whew!) Then the unlikely happened and Denver beat Pittsburgh - and what's more, did so with a single impressive pass/run play to end the game. So I suppose I am wrong and there IS a God and He/She wants to show us all how to win football games.
For a couple of weeks last fall, a few impressionable sports commentators were about to get all dewy-eyed and angel-voiced to answer the question of Which Is God's Team by highlighting the seemingly Super-natural Ability of one quarterback who could win games because he had an apparent Super Connection. Tebowing became the term used for the showy act of praying on the field. (Shouldn't this get the same penalty as any other show-off move or dance?) Then announcers cooled off, as the team cooled, losing three in a row.
Finally! The Tebow spoof on Saturday Night Live at last encouraged me to think that maybe a few folks in TV land are aware of the utter foolishness of the athlete/god connection. You can be sure, lots of SNL fans were highly ticked-off because the big J.C. subject matter is not supposed to be used as comedy material. Bravo, Lorne Michaels! And now be prepared for the religious community to try to shut down the entire Internet because I'm going to be more critical here than Bill Maher was in a "Tweet" that has the holy nuts wanting to sue HBO and censor the comedian. No, I will be only a tiny squeak in the wilderness of the blogosphere, not catching the wrath aimed at the famous Maher. So the Internet is safe for the time being from the ever-ready-to-censor-free-speech critics in the right wing.
As the season draws to a close and the Broncos get knocked out somewhere during the play-offs (clearly, they don't belong at the final big game), some normalcy will return to the fan base of the NFL - if the word "normal" can be applied to any of that nutty world of professional sports and its fanatical followers. Of course, should the completely illogical thing happen and God's Team wins the Super Bowl, expect Tebow to be hoisted on the shoulders of angels and carried across the field, sweeping high above the goal posts and making a victory lap around the stadium above the crowd! Hell, he might be trumpeted as the Second Coming! After all, Tim took his God connection out onto the field to display for all the world, so it would be only fair to have his God return the favor - no? I mean, wouldn't it be sad to let everyone believe that a bunch of mere men could rally 'round a new young quarterback and pull off such a big upset, winning the Super Bowl? Just ask say, Eli Manning if such a thing would even be possible. Oh, wait, yeah, his team did do that didn't they? Well, no doubt Eli's God saw him praying in private and rewarded him openly. But then, according to that scriptural reference, it must have been a different God, one who prefers no public show of godliness. I'm so confused!
Back years ago, when I was a devoted sky-pilot myself, I was highly insulted by the idea that God would choose to reward a showy hot-shot and get involved in games in any way. It rather cheapened what I was so sure was my righteous connection to the great Supreme Being.
I have nothing against the Denver football team. In fact, when John Elway was there , throwing those long passes and taking the team all the way to Super Bowl stardom, I watched them a number of times. Today I simply tune them out specifically because I can't stomach all the foolishness of someone calling on his supreme being of choice to get help to win a game. My contention has long been that any god willing to fix a game for any person is not a being worthy of worship. Supreme Being and Super Bowl may seem like a natural combination, but I think it's a pretty unhealthy connection. For those who disagree, remember, Broadway Joe Namath won a Super Bowl too. I never noticed him once call on a power in the sky. In fact, religionists would have puked if he had done so because of his perceived bad boy image. But he wasn't in the NFL to worship. He simply played well and threw amazing passes. After all, isn't that what sports are supposed to be about - winning games by using your best performers who have a natural talent and who practice hard over long hours?
My sons and I are devoted Colts fans; after all, our name is Manning. Naturally we have loved watching the amazing quarterback skills of Peyton Manning (no relation, dog-gone-it) over the years. And I particularly enjoyed watching little brother Eli make those dazzling plays four years ago to win his Super Bowl ring. He might even manage that again this year; another Giants win would be fine with me. New England Patriots? Not so much. They are the main rivals of Indianapolis, so I just don't ever enjoy seeing them win. Until this next game! I want to see Tom Brady (who has plenty of votes in New England for Supreme Being of the Gridiron) - go up against that show-off God of the Broncos and blow Him/Her out of the stadium, along with praying Tim. If not Brady, then maybe Rodgers or Brees or Little Bro Manning - but somebody with at least as much talent as Tebow can show the world that football is a game, played by tough and sweaty humans, and that supreme beings need to mind their lofty perches and stay the hell out of football! And prayer, if one is prone to stoop to that arcane activity, should be left at home!
WOW! Sorry, Timmy. I know I mentioned being blown out of the stadium, but I would have settled for maybe a two or three touchdown loss. 45 to 10 was overkill! On the other hand, ...
The PATRIOTS? - God's Team??
When my wife and I returned home from a social event late last night, I just had to check the sports news to see how things turned out for the praying phenom. There happened to be highlights of the game underway when I first picked up the television feed, and I was flabbergasted at the score being shown. Some close-ups of faces were also shown. And did I notice a moment of clarity of some sort? Or just what might that moment have been for Mr. Tebow, when near the end of the game he was on the sidelines (where he had apparently spent a good bit of the game), and staring off into the mists of broken Super Bowl dreams? Could that look have been the silent question of, My God, my God; why hast thou forsaken me? It is too much for me to hope that maybe the big hype is a thing of the past and the young quarterback will settle down to continue to play ball, improving his skills in the game. He's obviously a talented athlete and should do big things for his team and for himself simply by playing good football, a physical - not a spiritual - game! I'm not giving odds of his dropping that foolish and offensive praying from his future playbook, but I can hope anyway.
It occurred to me only yesterday before the game - while again hearing so many of the comments about this fine young Christian example, upstanding (or half-kneeling, in this case) role model for youth, etc., etc. - that it may have been a tough week for some actual football fans in New England. Imagine the pressure felt by "good Christians" in the area who also love their Patriots! Their usual excitement over seeing the Brady-led team of their local region heading out to conquer another team, must have been dampened if not overcome by their obligatory desire to see good win over evil! Many stories were floated concerning some giant chasm between these two quarterback types. Little Timmy was wearing the Jesus tag, and with that, the badge of goodness itself, while Tom the Terrible was covered in the suddenly ugly cloak of man-of-the-world. Brady purportedly lives the good life, which is an interesting irony within our language usage, and naturally his known dalliance with (and finally, marriage to) a fashion model, his handsomeness itself, his lifestyle which smacks of money and fame, all virtually screamed sin and evil. This ignorant concept and the hype surrounding it caused millions of dollars more than the usual amounts to be wagered on the game's outcome. Bigger losses even than the 45 - 10 score were handed to big betters, and I for one, don't have a lot of compassion for them this morning.
It would be of great interest to me personally if it could be determined who the big losers and also big winners were following the game. Without any way of knowing the actual results of wagers on the game, I can wildly speculate that hundreds of thousands of people who were evil enough to bet against Saint Timmy came out of the day with sacks full of money. Oh, well, the Christians will bet that those evil-doers will get their justice in hell! Meanwhile, I have every hope that at least for this season, the holy crap will cease. At least in the football realm. Now, ON to the SUPER BOWL!
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