-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
St. Xavier is an all-boys Jesuit high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. During a football game with long-standing intra-city rival Colerain, the St. Xavier student section chanted “We’ve got Jesus!”, moments after Colerain missed a game-tying field goal. Do they really think that Jesus cares about who wins a football game?
The Colerain student body responded with their own chant: “We’ve got girls!”
While St. Xavier won the football game, by a score of 17-14, they lost the chant war.
H/T: Yahoo! Sports.
I don’t think the chant “We’ve got Jesus” was meant to imply that Jesus hoped or would hope that Xavier will score more points at football than Colerain, and that He would tamper with reality to bring that result into being. He did not tamper with the results of contests when He was on earth, as best we know, or can see from what He said. I think that the chant was meant to convey a reminder to the boys of Colerain, in their time of grief, that the boys at Xavier loved them and were compassionate. The responding chant is hard to understand, unless it meant that the boys from Colerian are more comfortable accepting compassion from girls rather than from other boys, showing that their minds were indeed soaked in the American cultural biases – not yet free.
Sure Jesus cares. Don’t you see every successful athlete tell you Jesus won the game for him today? Funny though when they lose the next week, Jesus had nothing to do with it. Didn’t pray hard enough I guess.
Marty – I think you are wrong as demonstrated by the large number of people who express the belief that God does exert influence on the outcome of sporting competition. That is exactly what they meant to imply.
Crediting a supreme being for athletic success is so common it is background noise. The unspoken subtext is that we are the favored ones & you are lesser beings.
“We’ve got girls”
Wicked burn right there.
All “Jesus” is local.
I know of a betting site in Vegas…..that if I recall its Football Jesus out of Vegas or off shore……..they have like a 74% average….so…not so good unless you bet on the margins…
I’ve been told that Jesus HATES American football–but he LOVES soccer!
Prior to any decision most American professional sports coaches and managers think to themselves: “What would Jesus Do”. This isn’t about religion though, it’s because Jews are great sports strategists.
“I don’t think the chant “We’ve got Jesus” was meant to imply that Jesus hoped or would hope that Xavier will score more points at football than Colerain, and that He would tamper with reality to bring that result into being.”
You’re joking, right? No? You’re deranged, right? No? (How would you know?)
American footballers. Compassion! Yeah, right.
Funny thing, that “Thy will be done” stuff. Never heard one of these type say, “We give all honor, glory, and praise to Jesus for this stunning loss.– heavily favored, yet a lesser, weaker, inexperienced opponent stuffed us like a Thanksgiving turkey, setting all types of records in the process. We’re just glad to have been on the field playing our small part as Goliath in God’s glorious scheme of things. We’re so proud that he chose to humble this way.”
BTW, if Xavier went winless, would Jesus be the one that made all those “For Sale” signs appear on the coach’s front yard?
Actually Jesus used to be a hell of a wide receiver until his hands got injured.
Chant wars … I love it
TomMil,
lol … best response of the month!
All of my uncles were in World War II.
One who fought in Europe told of reclaiming and losing the same land over and over. Germans and Americans left each other written taunts on walls or rock fences.
While moving forward, my uncle saw that a German had written, “GOTT MIT UNS” on a wall.
An American had answered, “WE GOT MITTENS, TOO.”
Great article David. I would love to see video of that episode. A super response by the public school!
Tom Mil,
You need Jesus!