Saturday, December 17, 2011
Mudville / Media / Sports / News Bites God's particle; God's quarterback
Posted by Michael Miner on 12.17.11 at 02:16 PM
- Jeffrey Beall/Wikimedia Commons
"The wild improbability of a universe that allows us to be aware of it seems to demand some explanation."
And while an explanation "does not require theism," Gerson continues, theism certainly fills the bill. "It explains a universe finely tuned for life and accessible to human reason. It accounts for the cosmic coincidences. And a theistic universe, unlike the alternatives, also makes sense of free will and moral responsibility."
He's just saying...
Sportswriters should be so fearless. An explanation for Tim Tebow does not require theism, but theism fills the bill. Yet what sportswriter would touch the idea? Here's the New York Post's Phil Mushnick fumbling for an explanation:
Let’s not get too carried away, now. Though Tim Tebow makes an inspirational, follow-that-star, keep-football-in-Christmas story, he did not win Sunday’s game against the Bears.Neither did Matt Prater’s 59-yard field goal to send it to overtime. And the failure of Chicago running back Marion Barber to stay in bounds with the Bears up and Denver out of timeouts didn’t do it, either. Sure, all three of those fellows helped.
But as a practical matter, the Bears lost this game when, winning 10-0 with 4:34 left, they were ordered into a “prevent defense,” a strategy that has been preventing victories almost as long as Leviticus has been followed by Numbers in The First Playbook.
Mushnick is willing to go biblical to give his story a little snarky color, but not to come to grips with what he just saw with his own two eyes. As a practical matter, the Bears lost because all four factors Mushnick mentioned lined up perfectly for Denver. God works, let’s remember, in mysterious ways, but he works through us. If Michael Gerson had taken a different path through life and wound up a Bears beat reporter, maybe he'd have begun his account of the game on a bolder note:
"Leading a fourth-quarter comeback that surely left Chicago's atheists with plenty to think about, Tim Tebow rallied the Denver Broncos to an improbable 13-10 overtime victory over the Bears Sunday. The conflux of unlikelihoods that turned the game around does not require theism to understand, but they bore an uncanny resemblance to answered prayers.”
On Sunday Tebow’s Broncos face the powerful New England Patriots. If Tebow meets that test it will be high time to put God in the lead. If he fails, it proves nothing. God, Fate, Karma, and the cold and mechanistic universe agreed long ago on one ground rule: anyone riding too high for too long will be chopped down to size.
Comments (6)
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“The wild improbability of a universe that allows us to be aware of it seems to demand some explanation."
only because you’re demanding — how about the aliens that seeded our planet really do want us to know?
at least some - those that can handle it … right now the chosen, i think 9…though several numbers have been tossed out there…am pretty sure the bush clan thinks there’s 1000, you know, so-called points of light…but you knew that already, didn’t ya?
anyway, tell your handlers would offer ya more but really don’t respond well to demands, you know, free will & moral responsibility prevent it…but as for the theism, for sure, start w/ bulfinch…that’ll keep ya busy filling out your scorecard.
oh, and please start w/ the As & relay to aphrodite our message — instead of watching the bears tomorrow, we’ll definitely be attending her temple services….nothing like spending a sunday with a callipygian goddess
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speaking of callipygian goddesses on local newscasts … oh, never mind … we weren’t really…besides, too soon… just bit miffed couldn’t remember where that temple was.
@FGFM - got any room for a part-time job next yr … might need a local media critic … have a plan & will have our own fingers pointing out national damage, & then some … for legal reasons, don’t even want to know your name, just a bank account # to wire transfer some occasional peanuts - least more than these guys are paying ya.
only guarantee - maybe some laughs & the absolute certainty no one is gonna like us…which is why they’ll be hanging on every word…sort of like that romanesque guy, except won’t be “good boys” — will be “good, bad boys” … but no romanesque groin vaults.
also thinking about picking up a weather bunny, but pretty sure it’s gonna cost too much…way too much…have you priced groin vaults lately?
oh, might even have a “sports” page just to keep it blank.
overall, sorta kinda like Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang, but different.
& no rush…only got the idea about an hour ago.
@FGFM - very cool - when get through w/ the ‘replace the 1st divorce lawyer w/ the 2nd’ have been advised is standard practice, when you finally realize they’re working for themselves not you, will think more about Captain Billy.
@Jerone - know any? … 2nd attorney is working out well thus far - can legally transfer the ‘lust-in-heart’ to where it belongs on jan 3rd when ‘forever open free & clear’ after going over the 1st’s head & dealt direct cutting very quick deal..ps - don’t ever believe ‘em when they scream it’s ‘illegal’…only w/in their tribe’s bible….that said, do expect a formal letter questioning your mental health after doing do…so, on to tip #2 (#1 being start w/ a member of your own species, a male) if not possible ‘cause you’re in a big rush start out w/ an obese specimen, so can simply parry w/ a CDC link outlining potential mental health consequences of the condition showing your concern….and leave it at that, for the time being…
