tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post6415899505647850087..comments2024-03-28T20:30:10.681-04:00Comments on southern orders: VATICAN II'S EMPHASIS ON THE LAITY AND THEIR WITNESS IN THE WORLD WHEN PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD LEADS TO THIS POWERFUL WITNESS OF THE GRANDSON OF VINCE LOMBARDI!Fr. Allan J. McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-61293674825889777222015-01-31T21:31:16.045-05:002015-01-31T21:31:16.045-05:00Professional and college football today is much to...Professional and college football today is much to much as characterized in some of the above comments.<br /><br />Back in the 1980's though came a story of how it should be. To be sure, this is an extraordinary example which harkens back to a time when there were true scholar-athletes.<br /><br />Richard Tardits was a rugby player from Biarritz,France who was a member on the French junior national team. While visiting a family in Augusta,Ga., he decided to go up to Athens to try out for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. From what I remember, one reason he decided to do this is that unlike American academic institutions, French academe did not offer 'athletic" scholarships. Coach Vince Dooley was impressed and decided to give him a chance, even though his only knowledge of American football was from books and videos.<br />He surpassed expectations by working his way into the starting defensive line. He would eventually make the All Southeastern conference team and graduate in three years with dual degrees. He then went on to become a member of the New England Patriots where he played for three years as a linebacker. He then went on to play for the United States rugby team for six years, helping the team to the 1999 World Cup. <br /><br /><br><a href="http://atlanta.sbnation.com/atlanta-braves/2011/3/7/2035405/richard-tardits-georgia-football-history" rel="nofollow">Le Sack</a><br />Georgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-31852248127303624072015-01-31T18:21:26.717-05:002015-01-31T18:21:26.717-05:00Daniel:
While I won't jump on the "capit...Daniel:<br /><br />While I won't jump on the "capitalism-is-all-bad-and-greedy" bandwagon, I will give you this: I find many of the NFL owners as obnoxious as the players. They are the ones who orchestrate the entire charade whilst they charge obscene amounts of money for the right to watch their product and license their product's souvenirs. Even if no one showed up for the games, it wouldn't matter, because 32 owners split BILLIONS (not millions) between themselves just for the network rights. They pay the detectives and PR hacks to keep the clean image for their players and they enable. And their obsession with keeping gambling out of the NFL scheme is insane. If we were honest, we would admit that people bet on football games all the time. If they legalized it, the NFL could take the "vig" and actually do something good with it, like donate a large portion to charity.<br /><br /> The only thing more obnoxious than big-time professional sports is award shows--don't even get me started.Robert Kumpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10567786012498143419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-23471117552079460662015-01-31T15:26:36.774-05:002015-01-31T15:26:36.774-05:00Daniel, you don't get it, but you never will.Daniel, you don't get it, but you never will.Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06672484450736725268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-30319892659189030822015-01-31T15:10:41.777-05:002015-01-31T15:10:41.777-05:00Robert, perhaps I was brought up cynical, but I ha...Robert, perhaps I was brought up cynical, but I haven't thought professional athletes were "wonderful" "community leaders" since I was 12. What they are is people who work very hard for large companies that make great gobs of money. If athletes' salaries disgust you, look up what the networks pay each NFL team to show their games. And of course, people will pay $100, $200 or more just to go. Why shouldn't the guys who risk concussions and crippling injuries get their share? I am more troubled by the corporate manipulators who corrupt our government, take giant tax breaks, stick it to us all, move jobs overseas and won't pay people at a Wal Mart or a McDonald's a decent living wage with decent benefits. They'll take in billions instead of millions. But it's easier to gripe about the football players; they work under the bright lights instead of in the shadows.Danielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-35195034961082298392015-01-31T14:21:33.678-05:002015-01-31T14:21:33.678-05:00You are right Daniel, inasmuch as none of them are...You are right Daniel, inasmuch as none of them are perfect and I certainly don't have any desire to spew venom, as you say, so perhaps my remarks are excessively intemperate. What bothers me is the farce that so many of us have been sold about what professional athletics supposedly is contrasted with the ugly reality of how brutal and duplicitous it is in actuality. It's interesting too that you group entertainers in with this group of "community leaders" who have disappointed us: Essentially athletes have become entertainers and are paid entertainer salaries. Most of us recognize what a farce the entertainment industry is and we have much lower expectations from actors, singers and the like. But we are still being told how "wonderful" professional athletes are, when more and more of them are anything but. These are all people, all doing their jobs and there are good and bad in all groups. However, I do think, that while it is unrealistic to expect anyone to be perfect, some high profile people should be held to a higher standard.Robert Kumpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10567786012498143419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-67583935514335179322015-01-31T13:16:14.015-05:002015-01-31T13:16:14.015-05:00Athletes, actors, musicians, writers, politicians,...Athletes, actors, musicians, writers, politicians, even priests are imperfect people, with wide ranges of human behavior in every group. We follow them to appreciate what they are, not for what they aren't.<br /><br />And if you spend your life searching for perfection and spewing venom at those you find wanting, you'll spend a lot of time jogging by yourself.<br /><br />Enjoy the Super Bowl! Danielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-23687133210573010262015-01-31T12:15:36.083-05:002015-01-31T12:15:36.083-05:00I should add that I also don't waste my time o...I should add that I also don't waste my time on the college game either. Many of those players are barely enrolled in any meaningful curriculum and they are just the farm teams for the NFL.Robert Kumpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10567786012498143419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-91356289991151057422015-01-31T12:00:28.411-05:002015-01-31T12:00:28.411-05:00Gene:
I somewhat agree with you about pro footb...Gene: <br /><br />I somewhat agree with you about pro football players. The problem is money--too much of it. When Steve Young signed with the LA Express of the USFL in 1984 for a four-year 40 million dollar contract, I was flabbergasted. That kind of money--for a mere four years' work--was just unbelievable. <br /><br />I was a huge Chargers fan (living in San Diego) so I read the book by former Charger's owner Gene Klein called "First Down and a Billion". I was shocked to find that every NFL team hires private detectives to follow problem players and quietly keep them out of jail and their names out of the papers when they get in trouble. The last straw was reading an interview with Defensive End Leslie O'Neal, who boasted that he didn't get ahead by "kissing butt". I realized I was wasting a lot of time watching a lot of players who were not worthy of my time and attention. Maybe they can be paid millions for playing a game, albeit a dangerous game, but I DECIDED I WOULD NO LONGER CONTRIBUTE to the farce. The number of problem players has escalated logarithmically since the 1980's and the police blotter is full of NFL player names, many of whom are thugs, who can't stay out of jail for two weeks straight. The NFL once had a policy of drafting players who graduated from college. Now they don't even bother with the pretense of that--they'll take anyone good enough to play, even if they just came out of the juvenile authority camp.<br /><br />It is outrageous to think that a player like Paul Hornung had to sit out a year as punishment for gambling, yet we have players committing violent crimes who are back on the field just a few weeks after arrest. We've even have NFL players arrested and charged with murder!<br /><br />What is even more ridiculous is the NFL itself. There have always been rogues in the NFL, but even the bad-guy players had an underlying concept of decency and they knew the fans were paying their salary. Now the NFL has all these ridiculous rules about keeping jerseys tucked in and socks pulled up to protect the "brand", but they continue to allow criminals, drug-users and felons to take the field and do their cuddly public service ads for the United Way. It's a whitewash job all the way. If daily Massgoer Vince Lombardi were alive today, he'd quit from embarrassment.<br /><br />These guys are making way too much money and most are horrible examples for young people. If you want to waste your time admiring them and enabling this dysfunctional overpriced nonsense, fine. Just count me out. I might look at a game if I'm visiting someone's house, but I have been effectively NFL-free since 1986 and I don't miss it a bit.Robert Kumpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10567786012498143419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-71227459332568739822015-01-31T10:35:44.104-05:002015-01-31T10:35:44.104-05:00The "players on that field" are mostly t...The "players on that field" are mostly thugs and felons…tattooed, barely literate freaks. The very act of watching college or pro sports supports the sham that has been perpetrated on us for years. Get a hobby, jog, cycle, fish, hunt…quit living vicariously through these wastoids foisted on us by marketers and propagandists. You are spending 4-6 hours on a weekend on a couch slowly coagulating in your own juices...Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06672484450736725268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-13722009379344604972015-01-30T23:27:38.257-05:002015-01-30T23:27:38.257-05:00Mr. Anonymous, while it would be better for Mr. Sh...Mr. Anonymous, while it would be better for Mr. Sherman to marry his new girlfriend, any new life should be glorified. Plenty of players on that field will have caused or paid for abortions.Danielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-57550706446912653352015-01-30T18:41:18.941-05:002015-01-30T18:41:18.941-05:00jdj, For God's sake quit apologizing. Ignotus ...jdj, For God's sake quit apologizing. Ignotus piled on here years ago with his captious comments, ambiguous references, ridicule of Fr. and the TLM, and his arrogant ignorance. I think restraint is way over rated...Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06672484450736725268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-84302556509702712862015-01-30T16:25:07.003-05:002015-01-30T16:25:07.003-05:00Ok, Robert, I get it. So sorry for my comment. I...Ok, Robert, I get it. So sorry for my comment. I can usually manage better restraint, but didn't this time. (Perhaps you would have had to be a parishioner at MHT, and experience the wreckage to understand, but that doesn't excuse me). Please forgive me.Jdjnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-79355121911639310722015-01-30T15:00:50.994-05:002015-01-30T15:00:50.994-05:00"I remember Christian teachers telling me lon..."I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man's actions but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner. ...I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life -- namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things." <br /><br /> -- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity <br />JusadBellumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-86931255708055880352015-01-30T14:20:39.675-05:002015-01-30T14:20:39.675-05:00While I enjoyed this story and admire the fact tha...While I enjoyed this story and admire the fact that Joe is an old school Catholic like his grandad, WHY, do we have to start piling on Pater Ignotus? So he disagrees? So what? Does everyone have to agree with us?<br /><br />I spent four years getting a degree in journalism, a great degree for those who wish to go on to become pastry chefs, but at least I learned one thing: It is far more effective to attack ideas than to attack people. Kind of like the old proverb of loving sinners and hating sin. Can't we practice that in this forum?Robert Kumpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10567786012498143419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-90218210658040894242015-01-30T13:28:08.055-05:002015-01-30T13:28:08.055-05:00Thank you for sharing this, Father. It is nice to...Thank you for sharing this, Father. It is nice to see that a person in the spotlight has learned what matters most- and is not afraid to share it with others.Carol H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02475843499648488542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-19562944874891920562015-01-30T10:20:24.655-05:002015-01-30T10:20:24.655-05:00So why do the Ignotuses of this world not get it? ...So why do the Ignotuses of this world not get it? The "catechetical haze" still has them fogged in? Or is it just stubborn arrogance that prevents admitting mistakes? They are a dying breed, TBTG (the news from the NCR fish wrap this week attests), but one wonders how many parishes will survive the holocaust..Jdjnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-61251328743033404542015-01-30T08:37:28.901-05:002015-01-30T08:37:28.901-05:00Father, a very uplifting story...contrast that wit...Father, a very uplifting story...contrast that with a story on TODAY show this morning, a player for Seattle (forgot his name) who might become a father on Super Bowl Sunday...thanks to his girlfriend. I don't know why NBC needs to glorify that!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com