"God. That's the reason, I'm telling you"

I'm a sports fan. Even though I don't care a great deal about certain sports, being a sports fan I can get into watching nearly any sport, even if it's something where I have no idea what's going on, like rugby. Certain sports, even though I don't follow them, either have certain teams or players which you just know about, for better or worse. An example would be Kobe and the Lakers. Unless you live in L.A., you can't stand either of them, so when you hear they're in the finals, you just can't help rooting for the other team, no matter who it is. Well that's changed, thanks to Dwight Howard.

"God. That's the reason, I'm telling you"

When asked why his team would prevail against the Lakers, that was Dwight's response. Yup, this idiot thinks his god is the reason why his team is going to win. Now let's forget for a moment the direct insult he just made to the Lakers and their fans who happen to believe in the same god as Dwight, who've just been told their god doesn't care as much about them, perhaps not even liking them, and also let's forget how I guess this extends to every other team and their fans since if they're not in the finals, then obviously this god doesn't like them, either. Let's forget the insult that he no doubt makes to his religion with this comment. Let's forget how inflammatory this could also be to those of other faiths and of course to those of us free of faith. No, let's forget all that and focus on just how fucked up Dwight clearly is.

Of course we have the belief in the magical sky daddy. That's comical enough, but at a time when our nation has two war fronts, North Korea with nukes, a world AIDS epidemic, pirates, slavery, starvation, and American Idol, this magic sky daddy of peace and love, yadda yadda, is going to exercise his all-powerfulness to decide which team is going to win a sports championship. That's an immense level of crazy right there, coupled with an immensely inflated sense of self importance, arrogance, and complete detachment from the world and the rest of humanity.

Now I've heard it explained by believers before that when sports figures thank their gods, it's not an implication that their god favors them or their team, but rather it's an acknowledgment, a sort of thanks for making it possible for them to succeed by giving them some sense of inspiration and drive. Still crazy, in my opinion, but ok, I can sort of buy that, but then there's this lovely statement from Dwight. It really confirms what most of us have always thought, despite the excuses from believers, that these people honestly believe their god made them win, that he favors them over others. It's just like those crazy Old Testament stories of massacring this tribe or that tribe, enslaving their women and dashing their babies on rocks all because god likes them better and gave them victory.



Years ago, there was a quarterback who had an amazing comeback. His name was Randall Cunningham. He lead the Vikings to the NFC championship game, thanking god every second along the way, coming close to Dwight's comment. Although heavily favored, the Vikings lost. I would have paid BIG money had a reporter run up to him on the field after the loss and asked something like, "where was your god today, Randall? Why has he forsaken you? Do you think your god loves the Atlanta Falcons more?"

So now I find myself having to root for the Lakers. Damn you, Dwight Howard.