I just got this news from August Berkshire of Minnesota Atheists, about the upcoming godless cooption of a local baseball team:
Our baseball game is exploding in the news! I got a call today from someone in Massachusetts who wants a jersey!
• This morning (July 12) Heather heard them talking about it on K-TWIN radio 96.3 FM. They couldn’t believe it and were skeptical that the Saints would go through with it.
• “75 years of Spam; Ice cold beer here (TCF); Godless Saints” – Minnesota Public Radio
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/statewide/archive/2012/07/aroundmn-8.shtml
(With a reference and link to our Meetup page!)• “Minor league Saints hosting night for atheists” – Fox Sports North
http://www.foxsportsnorth.com/07/12/12/Minor-league-Saints-hosting-night-for-at/landing.html?blockID=759992&feedID=3697
(With a picture of the jersey!)• “Leave your God at home, it’s atheism night at the ballpark” – NBCSports.com
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/12/leave-your-god-at-home-its-atheism-night-at-the-ballpark
(With a link to the Fox Sports North article. Also some great comments from readers.)
I was really surprised at that last one: he’s right, the comments aren’t the usual shrieking Christian hysterics, and are actually fairly positive. It may be because the only people bothering to read about Minnesota sports have already lost all faith in a god.
Hmmm, “LA Atheists” next? :-)
Just curious, who came up with the idea?
Oh when the Ain’ts
Oh when the Ain’ts go marching in
Need a little help with the new lyrics here. Maybe it can segue into:
Anyone knows an ain’t, cain’t
Move a rubber tree plant
Of course, it was done first by Australian musician Ed Kuepper, and his ’90s band The Aints: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aints – named after his ’70s punk band the Saints. Not for atheistic reasons, he was just annoyed at the other Saints founder at the time :-)
The Saints are known for interesting advertising and promotions. At least a few times every summer they seem to make the local news. I believe it was earlier this summer when they had a wedding with their two pig mascots and they called them Kim Lardashian and Kris Hamphries.
That is good news.
Hopefully that will mean that the players won’t indulge in that terrible practice of pointing to the sky and thanking god whenever they score. Or is that just footballers?
If they win will Satan ask for his end of the deal and claim their souls?
garydargan, no god, no satan, no soul.
(So, no)
Only if they lose a fiddle duel.
garydargan,
I got the reference to the 1950s musical Damn Yankees.
testing…
No, also Tennis players.
What if we make this a new movement. Instead of Brights, or Freethinkers we start calling ouselves “The Ain’ts” as in “You Ain’t got a shred of evidence” or “You Ain’t gonna infect school kids with yer claptrap”. It’ll be a merchandizing tsunami.
Hey, The Aints used to be the trademark for the New Orleans football team before Drew Brees and Sean Peyton came here.
Will the fans up in Aint Paul be required to wear brown paper bags with eyehole cutouts on their heads too?
@12
No, but 10 years from now the team will be embroiled in a scandal regarding pitchers beaning opposing batters and runners breaking up double plays cleats up.
“It may be because the only people bothering to read about Minnesota sports have already lost all faith in a god.”
As a Wisconsinite and huge Packer fan, this may be my favorite single sentence I’ve read here.
Besides, you know, all the stuff about science and atheism and feminism.
I hate to bring on a tempest (oh, what am I saying, this is Pharyngula and flame wars are a specialty), but has this team or stadium ever recieved public money? If so, one has to ask, how would we feel about an equivalent religious event there, Constitutionally/ethically speaking?
I hope that at some point in the game, a pop fly ball causes the ump to invoke the Infidel Fly Rule.
chrismorrow, assuming public money had ever been used, if we can, they can, all we ask is equality of access irrespective of beliefs or lack of. We only tend to kick up when one side, i.e. usually the xian one, is being privileged over others in the public sphere.