Indians pray to cricket God (BBC)
- Finally, someone is putting religion to good use.
- It just goes to show that God is what you make it.
In general: American sports fans run the gamut, but if you attend to the hype of the games, you'll find that sports fans, in general, are religious.
"Touchdown Jesus", University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, USA
Whether it's "Touchdown Jesus"°, prayers of thanks for home runs, petitions for divine aid in free throws, or thanking the Lord Almighty for a victory, athletes are religious. Ask baseball players, who hop over baselines as they take the field, or hockey players who are just as superstitious.° The famous "Hail Mary" American football play is specifically that: in the grandstands, hopeful fans are supposed to recite the Hail Mary while the ball is in the air, as if the Holy Mother herself will grant an eleventh-hour miracle. It works; ask any fan at a Catholic high school or college
And the fans are important to consider, as "Cricket Ganesha" demonstrates. While few American fans go that far, it can be said that some do. Bull Durham waxes philosophical on the phenomenon of "The Church of Baseball"; Field of Dreams is, strangely, another Costner film° chasing after the almost religious passions fueling the "American pastime".
But even the way a fan will lean forward in their seat--at the ballpark, at the tavern, at home--for the two and two in the bottom of the ninth, watching hawkishly for the hanging splitter, hoping to hear the crack of the bat and watch the hand-stitched, mud-burnished baseball take the rocket ride over the left-field wall. If you watch it closely, it's just like a hail mary. If they pray, they are praying. If they do not pray, they are still praying. Baseball season starts soon; unfortunately our international neighbors won't get much of a chance to see the American fan in action, but hey, if the Nike commercials are to be believed, everybody everywhere hangs on a heartbeat now and then if they're a sports fan.
Sometimes I wonder in vague terms about the implications of a truly objective society; not merely atheistic, but one which takes its funamental rejection of fundamental speculation and applies it to all speculation. Against this unreasonable backdrop a stark picture rises to the foreground: what would be the #1 movie in such a world? How exciting would the World Series be? Would recreation become so commonplace as to be dispassionate, circa Brave New World, or would humanity become ant-like, finding no objective reason for recreation?
Thus I assert that elements of religion affect just about everybody on the planet. Whether or not a sports fan believes in a God that can be on his side, he or she most likely believes irrationally about the game, and these beliefs will visibly affect conduct.
I suppose I wonder if a world can exist with humanity and without religion.
The Mesoamerican Ballgame: I just wanted to pass this site along to people. It's a fun site, aimed at kids, with some archaeology, anthropology, and also some speculation. Nonetheless, it gives us more to think about in terms of sports and religion.
Notes:
° Touchdown Jesus--The image, visible beyond one of the end zones at Notre Dame's football stadium, resembles Jesus Christ giving the official sign for "touchdown" (six points) in an American football game.
° Superstitious--American baseball player Wade Boggs was known for eating a whole chicken (baked, I believe) before each ballgame. Among hockey superstitions I've heard everything from lacing skates to praying over sticks.
° Costner films--I'm not sure whether or not it testifies to the point, but whenever Costner's career is in the dumper, he retreats to sports films. This is, in part, because he can overact anything. What success Dances With Wolves saw was at least in part attributable to his overacting. He's great when trying to make a myth out of a mundane point. So I think it lends to the American religions of sports if we pause to consider that when his career needs a shot, Costner likes to tap the vein of our epic faith in athletes.
thanx,
Tiassa
- The article almost speaks for itself.
- Finally, someone is putting religion to good use.
- It just goes to show that God is what you make it.
In general: American sports fans run the gamut, but if you attend to the hype of the games, you'll find that sports fans, in general, are religious.
"Touchdown Jesus", University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, USA
Whether it's "Touchdown Jesus"°, prayers of thanks for home runs, petitions for divine aid in free throws, or thanking the Lord Almighty for a victory, athletes are religious. Ask baseball players, who hop over baselines as they take the field, or hockey players who are just as superstitious.° The famous "Hail Mary" American football play is specifically that: in the grandstands, hopeful fans are supposed to recite the Hail Mary while the ball is in the air, as if the Holy Mother herself will grant an eleventh-hour miracle. It works; ask any fan at a Catholic high school or college
And the fans are important to consider, as "Cricket Ganesha" demonstrates. While few American fans go that far, it can be said that some do. Bull Durham waxes philosophical on the phenomenon of "The Church of Baseball"; Field of Dreams is, strangely, another Costner film° chasing after the almost religious passions fueling the "American pastime".
But even the way a fan will lean forward in their seat--at the ballpark, at the tavern, at home--for the two and two in the bottom of the ninth, watching hawkishly for the hanging splitter, hoping to hear the crack of the bat and watch the hand-stitched, mud-burnished baseball take the rocket ride over the left-field wall. If you watch it closely, it's just like a hail mary. If they pray, they are praying. If they do not pray, they are still praying. Baseball season starts soon; unfortunately our international neighbors won't get much of a chance to see the American fan in action, but hey, if the Nike commercials are to be believed, everybody everywhere hangs on a heartbeat now and then if they're a sports fan.
Sometimes I wonder in vague terms about the implications of a truly objective society; not merely atheistic, but one which takes its funamental rejection of fundamental speculation and applies it to all speculation. Against this unreasonable backdrop a stark picture rises to the foreground: what would be the #1 movie in such a world? How exciting would the World Series be? Would recreation become so commonplace as to be dispassionate, circa Brave New World, or would humanity become ant-like, finding no objective reason for recreation?
Thus I assert that elements of religion affect just about everybody on the planet. Whether or not a sports fan believes in a God that can be on his side, he or she most likely believes irrationally about the game, and these beliefs will visibly affect conduct.
I suppose I wonder if a world can exist with humanity and without religion.
The Mesoamerican Ballgame: I just wanted to pass this site along to people. It's a fun site, aimed at kids, with some archaeology, anthropology, and also some speculation. Nonetheless, it gives us more to think about in terms of sports and religion.
Notes:
° Touchdown Jesus--The image, visible beyond one of the end zones at Notre Dame's football stadium, resembles Jesus Christ giving the official sign for "touchdown" (six points) in an American football game.
° Superstitious--American baseball player Wade Boggs was known for eating a whole chicken (baked, I believe) before each ballgame. Among hockey superstitions I've heard everything from lacing skates to praying over sticks.
° Costner films--I'm not sure whether or not it testifies to the point, but whenever Costner's career is in the dumper, he retreats to sports films. This is, in part, because he can overact anything. What success Dances With Wolves saw was at least in part attributable to his overacting. He's great when trying to make a myth out of a mundane point. So I think it lends to the American religions of sports if we pause to consider that when his career needs a shot, Costner likes to tap the vein of our epic faith in athletes.
thanx,
Tiassa