Substance, Gravity, and Nothing, or, Memory

The one good thing, explained the commentator, was that the fumble out of bounds stopped the clock. But then the clock started again, and nobody on the field seemed to be aware of the situation. The clock expired, the ball snapped, Cliff Avril sacked Ryan Tannehill and it never was going to be a safety, but still, you know?

I think the clock was supposed to be running. But it seems as if nobody else did in the moment. It seemed a strangely appropriate end.

Week one. Chaos and confusion don’t necessarily reign, per se, but still. You know?

On Faith

Faith:

Two weeks ahead of the Super Bowl, half of American sports fans say they believe God or a supernatural force is at play in the games they watch, according to a new survey.

That percentage includes Americans who pray for God to help their team (26 percent), think their team has been cursed (25 percent) or more generally believe God is involved in determining who wins on the court or in the field (19 percent). Overall, half of Americans fall into one of these groups, according to the survey Public Religion Research Institute released Tuesday.

“As Americans tune in to the Super Bowl this year, fully half of fans — as many as 70 million Americans — believe there may be a twelfth man on the field influencing the outcome,” Public Religion Research Institute CEO Robert Jones said in a statement. “Significant numbers of American sports fans believe in invoking assistance from God on behalf of their favorite team, or believe the divine may be playing out its own purpose in the game.”

Football fans were the most likely to pray for their own teams to win, with 33 percent saying they ask God to intervene in games, compared to 21 percent of fans of other sports. They were also more likely to think their teams were cursed (31 percent compared to 18 percent) and to take part in rituals before or during games (25 percent to compared to 18 percent).

(Kaleem)

It is time to actually stop and think about this, for minute. No, no, don’t pray about it. Think.