Religion and Sports -very interesting

[Ray]

Jewish ambivalence about sports goes back to earliest Olympics.

â??The Chanukah story is really an anti-sports story,â? Jeffrey Gurock, professor of American Jewish history at Yeshiva University, told the Chronicle in a telephone interview.


Rabbi Mendel Senderovic
The original Olympic games started in ancient Greece as an expression of that cultureâ??s idealization of the human body, and it was closely associated with the Greek polytheistic religion.

According to the two books of Maccabees, one of the things the Greek-culture Seleucid Empire and its Jewish collaborators did to provoke the Jewish revolt was to establish a Greek-style gymnasium in Jerusalem.

The religious Jews of Judea objected to Greek athletics because of its links to Greek religion, because of its public nudity that violated Jewish laws of modesty, but also to some extent because Judaism emphasizes the mind and spirit over the body.

â??The Hellenists were those Jews who strayed from basic Jewish belief to become involved in Greek culture, which involves body worship,â? said Rabbi Mendel Senderovic, dean of the Milwaukee Kollel-Center for Jewish Studies. â??Your mainstream Jews of more spiritual leaning did not involve themselves in that.â?

â??In Jewish culture and tradition, the ideal Jewish male is the rabbi, the teacher, the scholar,â? and not the athlete, said Gurock.

http://www.jewishchronicle.org/article. ... e_id=10449

[Fat Man]

Hello Ray!

Excellent article.

As you all know I'm in the process of converting to Judaism and I go to a Reform Synagogue on Saturday mornings for Torah Studies and Shabbot Services. I just got back about a half hour ago as I'm typing this.

I have always admired the Jewish culture because they place a much higher emphasis on academics than on athletics. There are very few Jews in sports.

I remember reading about a Jewish baseball player who almost got kicked off his team because he refused to come to baseball practice on a Shabbot. Jews don't work on Shabbot, so a Jewish baseball player will not come to practice or play a game on Shabbot.

In the Anglo Saxon culture, any kid who does not like sports and prefers academics over athletics is regarded a nerd or geek at best, and a sissy or a "fag" at the very worst. His masculinity or manhood is in question.

But in the Jewish culture, it's the kid who excels academically in science and math who is respected as a young man. In the Jewish culture, he wears the mantel of masculinity.

As a kid, he has to study very hard in academics and learn to read Torah in Hebrew to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13 when he goes from being a boy to a young man.

Also, in the Jewish culture, anyone who does poorly or refuses to study in academics and prefers athletics over academics is regarded as a fool and still just a boy. Even as an adult, he is still just a BOY!!!

That's why, when I see a football player, or a basketball player, I'm almost tempted to say, HEY BOY! But if he's black, I'll just keep my mouth shut because my calling him BOY might be interpreted as being a racist comment. But, if he tries to shove sports down my throat, I'll just simply brush him off and say, sorry, but I'm just not interested in sports. And if he persists, then I will rudely tell him to bug off and leave me the fucking Hell alone! (Yeah! I do cuss and swear, but I won't take God's name in vane.)

But if he's another white person, I will let loose on him if he tries to shove sports down my throat, and I won't hesitate to call him BOY!!!

[Sergey]

I'm atheist, while I don't get the Jewish views, I'm glad because most atheists actually think (that is already out of a jocks capabilities) and reason, and we barely have criminals.

[Fat Man]

I'm atheist, while I don't get the Jewish views, I'm glad because most atheists actually think (that is already out of a jocks capabilities) and reason, and we barely have criminals.

Yes, I have read of some recent statistics that atheists only make up less than 1% percent of the prison populations here in the USA. Jews make up the second lowest percentage while all the other religions make up a much larger percentage of the USA prison populations.

[Fat Man]

I have been thinking, that the hatred that most jocks have toward the nerds and geeks in our high schools reminds me of the Anti-Semitic hatred that Nazis and various right-wing groups have toward Jews.

This is in light of the fact, that so many times the typical nerd or geek is usually a Jewish kid. Of course, while most jocks hate nerds and geeks they won't admit to hating Jews, but the hatred of nerds and geeks is a "safe" way to hate Jews. Jocks only have to say that they hate nerds and geeks without making any mention of Jews, and if Jewish kids are the victims of the hate, well, so much the better as far as the jocks are concerned.

So, I have an idea that might put an end to bullying of nerds and geeks in our schools. Categorize bullying by putting it in the same league as Antisemitism.

But don't count on any help from the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, because they are too fucking busy defending NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) and normalizing pedophilia!

There was once a time when I use to believe in the ACLU, but not anymore! Now, they are traitorous dogs who should be taken out and shot!

Or better still, put to sleep like the rabid dogs that they have become!

[Ray]

Hello Ray!

Excellent article.

As you all know I'm in the process of converting to Judaism and I go to a Reform Synagogue on Saturday mornings for Torah Studies and Shabbot Services. I just got back about a half hour ago as I'm typing this.

Yeah, I thought you might like that.

And the whole idea is just illuminating. To think.. that the omnipresent madness that is sports today began with rich boy-lovers. I might just have to convert to the religion of common sense.

[Fat Man]

Hello Ray!

Excellent article.

As you all know I'm in the process of converting to Judaism and I go to a Reform Synagogue on Saturday mornings for Torah Studies and Shabbot Services. I just got back about a half hour ago as I'm typing this.

Yeah, I thought you might like that.

And the whole idea is just illuminating. To think.. that the omnipresent madness that is sports today began with rich boy-lovers. I might just have to convert to the religion of common sense.

You know, you're absolutely right!

Sports was invented by wealthy old pedophiles!

That's probably why so many professional football players are rapists!

I hate pedophiles!

And I hate the ACLU because they are now defending pervos and there are some shrinkos in the so-called mental health profession who actually want to legalize pedophilia and do away with the age of consent laws!

Do you think any child wants to have an ugly old man who probably smells bad laying on top of him or her?

FORGET IT! Let's not go there!

All pedophiles should get the death penalty.





And if you have any kids, you want to keep one of these spray cans handy to chase away the pedos.



This one of course is even Kosher! An UZI made in Israel.

[Polite24]

So many professional football players are rapists? Quick, name 3.

I realize that some athletes get in their trouble with the law, but when the majority are doing good things(that don't get talked about because the media loves controversey), you sound ignorant making that statement.

[rotten]

Okay, ya got us polite, football people are great guys. Not aggressive steroid abusing animals.
WTF ? You think we have football players stats memorized? Though it would be amusing if they printed criminal stats on the back of sports cards.
I don't know if you've been paying attention, but as we've noted here before, a lot of amateur and professional sports criminals result in a coverup, or a mild slap on the wrist. The most recent one i can think of because i was involved afterwords, was a drunk high school football star, who drove his truck into one of the school buildings. The school knew who did it, but he was a good kid and they didn't want him to get in trouble. So they lied to their insurance company about what had happened.


Rae Carruth Carolina Panthers conspiracy to commit murder 24 years[1] North Carolina DOC record
Cecil Collins Miami Dolphins burglary 15 years[2] May face further imprisonment in Louisiana after release from Florida prison. listing at Florida DOC
Dwayne Goodrich Dallas Cowboys criminally negligent homicide 12 1/2 years [3] Hit and run accident. Eligible for parole in 2009.[4]
Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson retired (from Dallas Cowboys) sexual assault, bribery 4 years, eight months released after serving 28 months[5]
Darryl Henley Los Angeles Rams drug trafficking, attempted conspiracy to commit murder 41 years[6] expected release date 03-28-2031[7]
Travis Henry Free agent, recently released from Denver Broncos Drug trafficking 3 years[8]
Terry "Tank" Johnson Chicago Bears probation violation relating to weapons possession 120 days served 60 days[9]
Jamal Lewis Baltimore Ravens using a cell phone to facilitate a drug deal four months served four months[10]
Leonard Little St. Louis Rams involuntary manslaughter three months[11] Involved in fatal car crash while intoxicated.
Dexter Manley Washington Redskins drug possession, evidence tampering 4 years (1996) 2 years (2002) served over three years total[12]
Byron "Bam" Morris Kansas City Chiefs drug trafficking 30 months Released after serving two and a half years[13]
Eugene "Mercury" Morris retired from Miami Dolphins drug trafficking 20 years conviction overturned - reached plea bargain and released after serving 3 years[14]
Nate Newton retired from Dallas Cowboys drug trafficking 7 1/2 years (two separate convictions)[15] released after serving about two and a half years[16]
Lawrence Phillips released/retired assault with a deadly weapon (intentionally driving into victims) 10 years [17]
Robert Rozier (a.k.a. Robert Rameses) retired from Arizona Cardinals[18] multiple murders multiple convicted of four murders, served 10 years and placed in witness protection after testifying against Yahweh Ben Yahweh, later sentenced to 25 to life on check kiting charge under three strikes rule[19]
Art Schlichter Indianapolis Colts forgery, theft, others 16 years[20] committed over 20 felonies related to gambling, released from prison in June 2006[21]
Orenthal "O. J." Simpson retired robbery, kidnapping nine to thirty-three years [22]
Alonzo Spellman retired/cut (from Chicago Bears interference with a flight crew, simple assault[23] 18 months served one year
Donte Stallworth Cleveland Browns DUI Manslaughter (Driving under the influence of alcohol) 30 Days incarceration, 2 years house arrest [24]
Michael Vick Atlanta Falcons conspiracy, related to dog fighting[25] 23 months[26]
Stanley Wilson Sr. retired from Cincinnati Bengals burglary 22 years sentence was under a third strike provision [27]

[Fat Man]

So many professional football players are rapists? Quick, name 3.

I realize that some athletes get in their trouble with the law, but when the majority are doing good things (that don't get talked about because the media loves controversey), you sound ignorant making that statement.

Okay, ya got us polite, football people are great guys. Not aggressive steroid abusing animals.

WTF ? You think we have football players stats memorized? Though it would be amusing if they printed criminal stats on the back of sports cards.

I don't know if you've been paying attention, but as we've noted here before, a lot of amateur and professional sports criminals result in a coverup, or a mild slap on the wrist. The most recent one i can think of because i was involved afterwords, was a drunk high school football star, who drove his truck into one of the school buildings. The school knew who did it, but he was a good kid and they didn't want him to get in trouble. So they lied to their insurance company about what had happened.

Oh! Mr Polite24 you are sooooooooooooo right!

Very few football players actually commit rape!

Instead, most of them commit . . . . . . .

MURDER AND MAYHEM!!!

And as we all know, sports was invented about 2,500 years ago by wealthy old pedophiles and pervos who liked to butt-bang little boys and young male athletes.

That accounts for the downfall of the ancient Greek culture.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hey Rotten! Thanks for posting all those crime statistics!

You've obviously have done your homework.

[Polite24]

Don't know how this slipped my mind and I never used it in my argument, but many of these football players that commit crimes are born and raised in the ghetto and they are around that type of behavior their whole childhood and it just never gets out of them. That is much more likely to blame for their behavior than the fact that they play football. In fact, they probably would have been much worse criminals if not for football.

Again, you guys can point out a group of guys who have got in trouble and it's deemed as a valid argument, but NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL players helping out just doesn't matter. You guys are like the media, stuff the negative down your throat, ignore the positive.

Seriously, search NFL charity work, or NFL player helps out, or anything like that with the other major sports too, and you will get pages upon pages of athletes and coaches doing great things. I would provide links but my computer is much too slow.

[Fat Man]

Don't know how this slipped my mind and I never used it in my argument, but many of these football players that commit crimes are born and raised in the ghetto and they are around that type of behavior their whole childhood and it just never gets out of them. That is much more likely to blame for their behavior than the fact that they play football. In fact, they probably would have been much worse criminals if not for football.

Again, you guys can point out a group of guys who have got in trouble and it's deemed as a valid argument, but NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL players helping out just doesn't matter. You guys are like the media, stuff the negative down your throat, ignore the positive.

Seriously, search NFL charity work, or NFL player helps out, or anything like that with the other major sports too, and you will get pages upon pages of athletes and coaches doing great things. I would provide links but my computer is much too slow.

Hey, I was raised in a poor neighborhood that was like Skid Row, only it was in a small town up in Minnesota. I guess you could call it a rural ghetto. I was witness to all kinds of deviant behavior. Believe me, I've seen it all. My neighborhood had prostitutes, and bullies, and my stepfather use to come home drunk and beat up on my mother and I, but I didn't turn to crime.

And football was NOT going to save me from the situation I was living in. In fact, having sports shoved down my throat in school only made my life even worse, and even resulted in a mental and emotional breakdown! Between that, and the beatings I received from bullies, and my ol' man, all of this causing me to spend three weeks in a psych-ward where I was beaten some more, and then one night, raped!

I was not interested in sports. I was interested in studying Astronomy instead!

But the only help that was ever offered to me was getting involved in some kind of sports program, even though I hated sports.

There were no offers of help to get me into some kind of science club, or an art club. NO, sports was all that was offered. Sports is the be-all and the end-all!!!

Of course, they claimed that they were concerned about my "health and fitness" because I was becoming overweight, and they even preferred that I put the books away, and get into sports.

Social workers refused to help me with my interest in science and art, and kept trying to push sports down my throat.

None of the social workers or mental health counselors gave a damn about my emotional or mental well being. All they cared about was, my becoming more physically fit, and to Hell with my mind!!!



Yeah! This is what physical fitness in the USA is all about!!!

Most jocks may be physically fit, but they are mentally unfit to live in a civilized society and should be shipped off to a desert island somewhere to live in the jungle!

And you can take that to the fucking bank!!!

[Polite24]

You're missing the point.

[Fat Man]

You're missing the point.

No! You're missing the point!

OK. Those jocks from the ghettos, you say they would have been worse if it weren't for sports.

Yeah, they probably would be into armed robbery, holding up 7-11 stores, or into drug dealing, or God knows what.

I guess that's why my mental health councilors tried to shove sports down my throat. One reason was for physical fitness, and the second reason, to give me something to keep me busy so I wouldn't be getting into trouble with the law or something.

Well, I took that as an insult!!!

There were other things that I wanted to do with my life, besides sports, like being in a science club, or an art club. Anything but sports!!!

Sports might save MORONS from a life of crime because they lack the imagination to do anything else with their pathetic little lives.

I knew what I wanted to do with my life, and it wasn't sports.

But I still got into trouble, because of my having an emotional and mental breakdown, which was the result of being bullied around, I wound up in the nut-house for three weeks where I was beaten and raped.

So, having sports shoved down my throat, didn't "save" me from getting into trouble.

Yeah! I guess I'm a criminal after all.

My crime?

Reading too many books and knowing too damn much.

See, when I was only in the 3rd grade, I was already reading at the adult level, and when I was 13 years old, I scored 150 points on a standard IQ test.

Anyway . . . . .

While reading books on Astronomy, when I was only in the 4th grade, I was already aware of how the 17th Century Italian Astronomer, Galileo, got into trouble with the church officials in "The Holy Office" and the Inquisition.

His crime?

Saying that the Earth and all the planets revolved around the sun, which went against Church Doctrine which said that the sun and all the planets went around the earth.

So, I knew too much, and I guess my elders, that is, the teachers and the mental health councilors feared I would become rebellious against the establishment like all the hippies of my generation, just simply because I knew too much.

You see, I also believed in evolution as well, and when I was a kid, I told my mother that I didn't want to go to Sunday School anymore, and she said that was OK with her. My mother encouraged me to read, and although we were a poor family I thought we were rich because we had a house full of books.

Perhaps, that could be the reason why some of my teachers and the PE coaches were afraid of me! They were afraid that I would rebel against the establishment. Also, they probably feared that when I became an adult, I would be too damn smart to give away any of my hard earned money to their favorite television preachers.

They want to keep us dumb so they can get rich. That's why my high school didn't teach science, but only how to fold paper footballs.

I was on to their scam, so they had good reason to fear me!

But they weren't afraid of the jocks who became rapists.

You see, knowing too much, well, that's makes me a worse criminal than a rapist.

I'm far more dangerous than a jock who goes around raping our sisters and daughters.

I had read too many books and I knew too much.

And in a sports loving country, that is very dangerous.

OH! BY THE WAY!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

ORAL ROBERTS IS DEAD!

The ol' fucker croaked off yesterday at the age of 91.

YEEEEEAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!

Aw! Too bad that he lived too fucking long, so he could rip off more people before he kicked the fuckin' bucket!!!

And, I hope Pat Robertson goes next real soon! The country would be better off without him as well. He's a sorry-ass mutha-fucka and we don't need him anymore!

Yeah, I know! I'm a bitch! I'm a big fat bitch!

[Skul]

You're missing the point.

Mate, you couldn't have added "I'm sorry to hear that, but..." to the beginning of your post?