February 05, 2007

God and Sports

I know I'm stepping on someone else's schtick here, but the postgame comments from the Super Bowl last night just rubbed me the wrong way. During the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy, Colts owner Jim Irsay (who's lucky there wasn't a sniper from Baltimore in the crowd), coach Tony Dungy, and quarterback Peyton Manning all made sure to thank God for their victory over the Bears last night. I'll confess that I'm not a religious scholar or anything close to it, but I wasn't really aware that God was calling the shots in sports now. Does the Colts' victory last night indicate that they prayed harder than the Bears? Did Lovey Smith somehow offend God, resulting in Rex Grossman's terrible performance? Are the Colts just better people than the Bears?

I'm sure that, if pressed on those questions, none of those gentlemen would agree that the Bears lost because they are somehow morally deficient in God's eyes. That being the case, it sure would be nice if they could stop going on about thanking God for their victory. If there is a God, I'd like to think he's got better things to do than decide who's going to win the Super Bowl.

Posted at 08:20 AM · Philosophy • · Unimportant (Non-Baseball) Sports · Comments (3) · TrackBack (0)

March 20, 2006

So Much for Condi 2008

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is retiring at the end of July. Given Rice's oft-stated desire to serve in that position, I confess I'm curious to see if she'll try to land the job. Probably not, given the Bush administration's dogged persistence in keeping the same cast around the President year after year, but it's an interesting thought. While I personally think Rice is doing a fine job and she's far from the first Cabinet member I'd recommend the President replace, but one way or the other it would be a good thing if he started to hear from a few new voices, and if this were a way to accomplish that, I'd be all for it.

Posted at 06:05 PM · Unimportant (Non-Baseball) Sports · Comments (1) · TrackBack (0)

February 06, 2005

Break Up the Patriots

Congratulations to the New England Patriots, who tonight won their third Super Bowl in four years, cementing Bill Belicheck's place in the annals of professional football and establishing themselves as the most frugal dynasty in history (three wins, nine points). While it was an exciting game, it was rather sloppy on both sides. The Pats made any number of mistakes, but Philly couldn't take advantage thanks in large part to Andy Reid's decision to give up early, burning up the clock as if the Eagles were up by ten rather than trailing by ten. The Pats might still have won the game, but the Eagles would not have had to rush nearly as much at the end if they'd displayed a little more urgency on the previous drive. I suspect Eagles fans will be replaying that nonchalance frequently over the offseason.

Posted at 08:38 PM · Unimportant (Non-Baseball) Sports · Comments (2) · TrackBack (0)

August 26, 2004

Golden, One Last Time

Posted at 03:42 PM · Unimportant (Non-Baseball) Sports · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0)

January 26, 2003

Ouch

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who won their first Super Bowl title, 48-21. Oakland, to their credit, never gave up, and made it an interesting game late with two scores (and the final should have been 48-23, as Porter was clearly pushed out of bounds on the two point conversion attempt), but the Tampa defense was way too much for the Raiders. I feel for the Raiders, as they will probably have to endure a few years of mediocrity as they rebuild, but it was good to see Tampa finally break through.

Now, let's get on to more important things. Pitchers and catchers report in 18 days.

Posted at 08:52 PM · Unimportant (Non-Baseball) Sports · Comments (2) · TrackBack (0)