But hasn't everyone forgotten that Rugby is the game they play in
heaven? I thought yez all knew that.
Jill
On Friday, April 8, 2005, at 12:39 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
>
>
_______________________________________________________
Jill Jones
web site: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones
blog1: Ruby Street http://rubystreet.blogspot.com/
blog2: Latitudes http://itudes.blogspot.com/
Latest books:
Struggle and radiance: ten commentaries (Wild Honey Press)
http://www.wildhoneypress.com
Screens Jets Heaven. Available now from Salt Publishing
http://www.saltpublishing.com
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