That's unfair, Joanna. Some of the most avid baseball fans I have known are
women. To stay friendly with one of them, a New Englander, I had to watch
every Boston game last season--there were oral quizzes. And while at Yaddo
years ago I dated a novelist who was writing about the game--she dragged me
into Albany, no small round trip, to see minor league games, hre jones was
so fierce.
But I'll admit that I love baseball, tho I'm a haphazard fan. Almost as
slow as cricket, which is almost as slow as an ox-pull.
Mark
At 03:53 PM 4/7/2005, you wrote:
>Well, that proves it. God is not, unfortunately, a woman.
>
>best joanna
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Pierre Joris" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 3:55 PM
>Subject: Re: God is a Reds fan
>
>
>Well, I listened to the game (but not to the Reds commentator) & the
>reason the Reds won was because the Mets' closer screwed up real bad.
>He did that all by himself and God had nothing to do with it. Unhappily
>for me there are only three reasons to watch baseball: the Mets, the
>Merts and the Mets. -- Pierre
>
>On Apr 7, 2005, at 10:39 AM, Douglas Barbour wrote:
>
>>For Americans, especiall, this column is a necessary reading experience,
>>I think:
>>
>>
>>Jesus is a Reds fan [PERMALINK]
>>
>>
>>If you've been wondering which baseball team has been anointed by God,
>>the answer is the Cincinnati Reds. At least that's the gospel according
>>to a Cincinnati sportstalk radio host named Andy Furman.
>>
>> I wish I'd known this before I made my National League picks.
>> But reader Michael Vines only hipped me to the good news on Tuesday.
>>
>> When the Reds opened their season at home against the New York Mets
>> Monday, Furman led into the game broadcast with a fire-and-brimstone
>> sermon extolling the virtues of God, U.S. troops, Pope John Paul II and
>> the Cincinnati Reds. You can hear it yourself at mlb.com, where you can
>> listen to either team's radio broadcast of every game all year if
>> you're inclined to pay $14.95.
>>
>> The first Reds broadcast of the season starts with Furman talking over
>> "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." That ridiculous cliché, more than
>> the whacked-out nature of the sermon -- which at one point has the Reds
>> looking down from heaven -- is a clue the whole thing might be a joke.
>> But if it is, I don't get it. A transcript:
>>
>> "Whether it's Vietnam, whether it's the Persian Gulf War or
>> whether it's Iraq, whenever American soldiers are marching around the
>> globe: God almighty -- God, who called home John Paul the Great --
>> will determine once again the path and the mark, a great American
>> victory overseas in the Persian Gulf area now, in 2005.
>>
>> "As God is my witness, as sure as there is a pope in heaven today, as
>> sure as the mighty Ohio River flows in between Ohio and Kentucky, as
>> surely as the Furman brothers sitting next to me now, circumcised, as
>> sure as I'm sitting here, once again, God will say, 'It is time for the
>> Reds to march.' From the Civil War to World War I to World II
>> to Vietnam to the Persian Gulf War, and to Mosul and to Fallujah,
>> one baseball team has been called by God to look down from heaven
>> above, and to represent him.
>>
>> "It's not about football, Andy. It's not about basketball, Randy. It's
>> not about swimming. It's not about field hockey. It's not
>> about bowling. It's not about tennis. It's about one sport that God
>> almighty has determined to represent America, and that sport is baseball.
>>
>> "And the one team, the one team that is best represented is the oldest
>> and the best franchise. Whether it's G.I. Joe or the Doughboys. No
>> matter what it is. Say it loud, Furman brothers, the Reds are No. 1.
>> God bless America, and God bless the Cincinnati Reds on 700, WLW."
>>
>> Reds fans can take comfort that God's on their side, but would it be
>> blasphemous to ask why He can't do something about the pitching?
>>
>>It's from King Kaufman's Sports Daily. Whew. Who could have known...
>>
>>http://www.salon.com/news/sports/col/kaufman/2005/04/06/wednesday/
>>index1.html
>>
>>Doug
>>Douglas Barbour
>>Department of English
>>University of Alberta
>>Edmonton Alberta T6G 2E5 Canada
>>(780) 436 3320
>>http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
>>
>>He saw the dark as a ragged garment
>>spread out to air.
>>Through its rents and moth-holes
>>the silver light came pouring.
>>
>> Denise Levertov
>>
>=================================================
>"Lyric poetry has to be exorbitant or not at all." -- Gottfried Benn
>=================================================
>For updates on readings, etc. check my current events page:
> http://albany.edu/~joris/CurrentEvents.html
>=================================================
>Pierre Joris
>244 Elm Street
>Albany NY 12202
>h: 518 426 0433
>c: 518 225 7123
>o: 518 442 40 85
>email: [log in to unmask]
>http://www.albany.edu/~joris/
>=================================================
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