I'm an atheist, which means that god is an expletive. Expletives are
genderless and impartial. Spicer famously claimed that god is a baseball,
but he may have been joking.
On the other hand, this afternoon in Central Park I watched a Yorkshire
Terrier playing soccer--he'd apparently been trained. Great ball-handling.
Mark
At 05:58 PM 4/7/2005, you wrote:
>We don't have baseball over here, so I have to admit that I wouldn't
>really know and should probably not have spoken up.
>
>However, I know several women who are ardent cricket fans, and one of them
>has written a book-length poem about the game which she hopes will be
>published next year.
>
>But do you mean that God is after all a woman, and a Reds fan at that?
>
>best joanna
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 10:42 PM
>Subject: Re: God is a Reds fan
>
>
>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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