3/4/2003: Indian sports fan

[Undertoad]

Sorry for the late post today!

OK, what we have here is a Hindu priest, with fans offering special prayers for the victory of India over Pakistan in the then-upcoming World Cup cricket match.

I thought it was great to see this mix of religion and sports and clearly everyone is having fun with it. In the US sports tends to be more secular, except for those whom it serves as its own religion. I count myself as one who worships regularly at the stadiums, but I don't pray to God that my team wins, and really I doubt a busy God would have time, nor interest, to intervene to set the outcome of a sporting match.

And I'm certain that He doesn't take the point spread into consideration.

In US football, we've seen a trend for players to point up at the sky when something goes well. At some point organized religion is going to have to answer the "round worlders" notion, which suggests that everyone who points up is in fact pointing in an entirely different direction. Maybe they use different systems of geometry or something.

By the way, the match is over now, and the Hindus took it this time, by 6 wickets.