I rooted against my country yesterday. Dang, it felt good!

[KamaAina]

No, not the Olympics, the Little League World Series.

The whole thing was pretty much ruined before Saturday's U.S. championship game. The ABC announcer interviwed one Sean McIntyre of Thousand Oaks, Calif. Young Mr. McIntyre informed the nation that his team prays before every game, and that the Anaheim Angels' Darin Erstad attends his church.

Great. The fundies have now sunk their talons into a bunch of eleven- and twelve-year-olds. :puke: Plus, ten percent of Erstad's big, fat, big-league contract (and many others) is (presumably) going right into the pockets of the medievalists. :puke:

And so, another rarity for me: "Go Texas!" With absolute predictability, Richmond, Tex. proceeded to do their best Red Sox imitation, leaving the Thousand Oaks Handmaid's Tales in the final against a team from the Caribbean island of Curacao.

Amazingly, it has now come down to "Go Curacao"!

We now turn you over to Yankees announcer John Sterling for the call: :-)

"Swung on, and grounded to first. Garia there. Over to the bag -- got him! Ballgame over! Little League World Series over! Fundies lose! The-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e fundies lose! Time of the game, an unmanageable two hours, forty-seven minutes..."

Edit: Wasn't quite finished:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=1870825

It was the first Little League title for the tiny island in the Netherlands Antilles, and the first for any team from the Caribbean. Jonathan Schoop, who earned the save, said he expected crowds at the airport and a lot of attention at school.

Um, yeah, Jonathan. You may even get to meet your nation's leader, who I do not know offhand, but at least it isn't Bush*.

Now, the kicker:

California's coaches refused to come to the postgame news conference.

Huh? Were they too busy praying or something? Morans.

[lil-petunia]

1. you do know what "to root" means in australia?

Let's just say that most couples do it horizontally.

[SaveElmer]

2. How does praying make him a fundie ?

Lot's of liberals pray!

Was there more to it than that ?

[KamaAina]

11. Of course liberals pray. They just don't brag about it.

That's what sets off my (admittedly somewhat hair-trigger) fundie detector. It just seemed wa-a-a-y out of place before a Little League game, where I'd be expecting the players (twelve-year-olds, remember) to talk about their favorite boy band, or pizza topping, or whatever.

[Droopy]

3. It really doesn't bother me that the kids pray before the game

I just don't see the wisdom in thinking that God is going to pick your side to win. If there is a God I don't think he/she is too interested in the outcome of a ball game. That being said, pray if it makes you feel good. It's a free country.

[KamaAina]

4. What bothers me is that he felt compelled to announce the fact

on national television (and that ABC, presumably knowing this, devoted the air time to it). If you want to pray, pray -- but please, pretty please, do NOT shove it into my face every chance you get!

Can you imagine the scene if they'd won? It would've been like when a fundie football player scores a touchdown (kneels in the end zone), times twenty.

[telamachus]

5. chill out

no one forced it in your face. Not all churches are fundamentalist.

[Carson]

7. If I announced on TV that I was gay...

would that be shoving my sexuality in your face?

[KamaAina]

10. If you did so before taking the field in a Little League game...

...I would be flabbergasted!!

Sexual orientation is not something that eleven- and twelve-year-olds normally discuss; neither, for that matter, is religion. So what was the point of the piece?

[Carson]

9. We prayed before every game, however

it was not that we would win. Our team (softball) would pray that no one would be hurt, etc.

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

6. Yea, those evil prayers

Gotta hate them.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

8. wow...a little too sensitive, I would say

if you are judging 12 year olds for praying before ballgames. You know, they could just be praying that no one is hurt, that good sportsmanship wins the day and that their opponents would have safe travels home...sound pretty damned evil to me.

Yeah, I suppose you're one the persons around here who has no problem with religion...and then can't stand it when innocently mentioned...

f--- off...
theProdigal