Editor: CB Scott needs no introduction.
All over the United States young men and small boys are getting ready for the first of the season game of America’s greatest sport, FOOTBALL. Old men are cleaning B-B-Q grills, buying pork ribs, chops, and butts, and all the while checking to make sure their favorite team shirts and jerseys from last season still fit for when they go to the first game of the season so they will look trim and athletic for their tailgate debut. They are also making sure their wives ordered all the right tickets to the right games. No self respecting FOOTBALL fan wants to wind up in the bleachers, watching girls Soccer because his wife ordered the wrong tickets to the wrong sport. (Is soccer a sport?)
Yes, it is America and America in the fall means FOOTBALL. Americans get involved in FOOTBALL one way or another, even churches get involved. That has always been the case and it has been a great ministry opportunity for many….at least up until now.
According to Todd Starnes of Fox News, that might not be allowed for some local churches in the state of Georgia. Starnes reported that the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), sent a letter to the superintendent of Walker County Schools demanding an “immediate investigation” into Ridgeland High School football coach, Mark Mariakis. It seems that the “good Americans” associated with the FFRF believe that it is a breach of the principle of separation of church and state for Coach Mariakis to allow local churches in the surrounding area of the high school to prepare pre-game meals for the Ridgeland High football team before they play games. The FFRF folks are also upset because Coach Mariakis “prayed with his team, used Bible verses in motivational speeches and on team shirts and participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.”
“Taking public school football teams to church, even for a meal, is unconstitutional,” wrote FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel, according to the report by Starnes. Starnes went on to report Seidel as having said, “This program is an egregious violation of the Establishment Clause and must cease immediately…taking school children to churches and having ministers present the Gospel of Jesus Christ and having the food blessed ‘shatters the protections the First Amendment put in place.”
The Walker County School system is giving the concerns of the FFRF consideration.
Well, I don’t know about the rest of you Sports Fans out there in the Baptist Blog World, but this old Southern Baptist Sabanite believes that what the Walker County School system needs to give attorney Andrew Seidel and the FFRF is a good old fashioned Crack-Back Block and let the devil take the hindmost parts with the rest of it.
Let them church ladies feed them young’uns and play FOOTBALL! And ROLL TIDE, Y’ALL!
Wow, did they really say “The Gospel of Jesus Christ”? Impressive. Well, advocating for a crack-back seems to encourage violence which I cannot recommend, unless of course it was meant figuratively. But they might cry foul even at the use of ‘violent’ imagery. That being said, we might blitz the heavens on behalf of these folks. Perhaps if the students just “showed up” and were not ‘taken’ to a church, and if those who want to opt out of the ‘blessing’ of the meal and thanksgiving to the Lord, are given opportunity to do so, then they would be OK… Read more »
Oh and HOOK ‘EM!
CB, My LSU Tigers are going to get some nice payback for that colossal beatdown the Sabanistas administered back on January 9th. I have no doubt of it. I have two elementary school boys playing football this season for the local city YMCA teams. They are loving it. Yes, the grand tradition of the South continues on grass fields all over the region this year. They say that they play something similar in other parts of the country, but I’ve seen no proof of it. When the 3rd place team in the SEC can win the National Championship, you know… Read more »
Alan, you have wrapped many paragraphs of wisdom inside an opening paragraph and closing paragraph of great foolishness.
However, one cannot be right all the time.
WOO PIG SOOIE!
How true, Doug, how true!
Any team whose “call” is “Woo Pig Sooie!” should be summarily banished.
Right. Because “Oh, look at the birdie!” is that much better.
Doug, I love you, man, but you are defending, “Woo, pig, sooey!”
I find I can sleep at night better than when I tried to defend “Rotate, Detergent, Rotate!”
Gotta remember that one.
“Rotate, Detergent, Rotate!”?????
You old Pig Farmer, you!
giggle 🙂
If you vanish the call with the team, a lot of hogs will go hungry, David. For shame!
Alan, this situation happened in Georgia. Churches, Lodges, and various service clubs have been feeding the FOOTBALL teams of every burg, hamlet, town, and city heaping helpings of high carb foods since Moses called a foul on a linebacker playing for the Egypt Taskmaster against the Brickmason City Hebrews. Also, coaches usually, along with a QB Club, organize these pre-game meals to save money and keep the team together in one place before they go to the field house to suit up and get the pre-game speech. Now, let me say something that might surprise you. I don’t care if… Read more »
“Go State! for my alma mater, Miss. St. as well.”
You guys are going to be in for a big surpise on Sept 15 down in little Troy, AL.
Go Trojans!
Well, I agree with all of that, CB.
Except for the RTR part, of course.
I understand, Alan.
Many people all over the FOOTBALL Universe do not agree with the RTR part. Yet, there is just nothing they can do to stop it. If you remember, the last folks who tried to stop the RTR was a little band of SWAMP-LIZARDS from Louisiana. It did not work out to well for them, as you know.
So why don’t you just stop fighting the inevitable my dear brother and come along with me and shout, ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!
Never.
Ever.
Ever.
Geaux Tigers.
See you in Death Valley.
We ran into a similar situation several years ago in Missouri. We fed the high school football team in our fellowship hall prior to the game, and then had a “fifth quarter” party for the whole school afterward. We would sometimes have as many as 150 kids for the latter, which was announced over the loudspeaker at the game. What we discovered, when there were questions about “separation of church and state,” is that the pastor could give a devotional or talk, and someone could pray before the meal as long as the coach (who belonged to the Catholic church)… Read more »
“…but they do not compare to the atmosphere in Columbus or Ann Arbor, and there’s nothing like a Notre Dame home game.”
Lee,
I read just recently that medical science has had a breakthrough with some new drugs for the kind of delusional condition you have.
Good luck with it. You need it.
Oh yeah, if it works for you, send word to Alan Cross and Dave Miller. They need it also.
There’s nothing like Notre Dame at home down here in the SEC. Because, except for Ole Miss, nobody plays “Roll over and die” quite like they do.
Over all, Notre Dame has an excellent record of marching through the SEC, a lot like Sherman marched through Georgia. I know southern football fans like to see them on a down cycle, and they love to help put the Big 10 schools on probation, but there’s money up here, too, and it won’t be long before it all evens out. But it’s not close in atmosphere. October in Columbus is unbeatable, with the leaves turning, the air crisping, and 100,000 screaming fans in red in the horseshoe. And they put them in there, win or lose. I’ve seen LSU… Read more »
“a lot like Sherman marched through Georgia”
Too far, Lee, too far!
Go Trojans! <== Troy, not that other one!
On the serious side: I think I take issue with FFRF’s stance here, but I understand Alan’s cautions. That has long been part of my point in discussions like these: sure, while Baptist-Methodist has been the majority religion we liked it when the majority got to determine who prayed. How are we going to take it when the majority is Muslim-Mormon? However, I think if you left the door open for anyone to sponsor dinners and allowed just the relationship-building, that would be good. It falls to the church to then follow through and demonstrate the differences over time that… Read more »
I think the issue with the religious neutrality is a matter of interpretation related to whether there is “coercion” involved in the activity. If the players are required to attend the meal by their coach, and there is a presentation of the gospel, that is considered coercion. In Missouri, we simply issued the invitation to the team through the coach, and he passed it along to the players. Most of them took advantage of the opportunity. Having grown up in a community in which the Mormons were the predominant religious group, they do tend to take full advantage of the… Read more »
Missouri is one of the en schools I attended (Fall of ’64).
And if you haven’t heard this often enough yet: Gig’em Aggies!!
Which Aggies are you referencing? One of my roommates at East Texas Baptist College (then, Univ. now) had a brother who was a student at Texas A & M. They won that year as Bear Bryant was coach. He had left Ky. and another winning season for reasons of state. AFter A & M the Tide had to have him, and the rest as they say is history.
Texas A&M Aggies who are in their inaugural year in the SEC. I graduated from A&M in 1985 (though I’m considered Class of ’83 since I matriculated in the fall of ’79).
My prediction for the Texas A&M Aggies for their first year in the SEC……pain!
David
It just got worse, David: since the La. Tech game was postponed to October 13, we play 12 weeks in a row starting with Florida and ending with Mizzou both at home. And have 5 of 6 road games in a six game stretch. Surviving the year is the goal. 6-6 is an expected result and might be optimistic. I don’t see us exceeding 7 wins. And, yes, the pain will be high!! But to be understood when you willingly join the best division of the best conference in the nation and schedule the four schools that won the last… Read more »
The most I’ve had to say online about college football – read it here.
Duh!
I predict that Smokey will be howling a lot more this year up on ole Rocky Top.
David
Since I am a life long resident of Florida, my football teams are UF and FS. But as I see you are a fan of the University of Alabama, that is my third most favorite team for a very good reason. My late husband was named after Dixie Howell Scott, a former football player at your college. The story goes that my husband’s father grew up next door to Dixie Howell Scott and when he was born, the one and only name he wanted was that of the great football player. We had many laughs over the years about his… Read more »
Ma’am, I think that laws are violated when someone says they cheer for Florida, Florida State AND Alabama.
I’m going to have to contact a lawyer about that. I know one named Howell Scott. We will see what he has to say.
Dave, I think the law you cited only applies in certain situations. There are are numerous exceptions accounting for age, gender, and family relationships. Of course, if someone falls under these exceptions, he or she must still choose only one team to cheer for when the teams play each other. There can be no neutrality at that point. That would definitely violate the law of which you speak. I probably should have recused myself in this case as I have a conflict of interest, but, since I am not charging for the advice, I won’t worry about it too much… Read more »
Okay Dixie Howell, you are excused from this case.
or recused. Whatever the proper term is.
Aunt Peggy, Dixie Howell was an All-American in both FOOTBALL and baseball for the Crimson Tide. Your late husband was named for great nobility and was a noble man himself. No doubt you were proud to name Howell after his father. Did Uncle Dixie’s daddy grow up in Hartford, AL? If so, we are probably closer kin than we thought. I am sorry that you would consider the GATOR NATION and the Lesser Nation from Florida State as favorites above the SABANATION. At least the GATOR NATION is in the SEC. So I reckon that’s OK. Also, with great respect… Read more »