worked my first jh girls game of the season tonight. my partner, who is a retired county police officer, 6'8", came up to me during an injury TO and said the lady in the front row called him a RACIST!!!!

i couldn't believe it!!! i hope this isn't a sign of what the rest of the season is going to be like.

Don't worry, it's not a sign. By the end of the season they won't be nearly that polite.

First crack....
 

I get to break into the action tonight. Gear bag is filling back up and I'm catch the fever! I'm ready to go... hopefully won't have any "stupid parents", :D, but I know better!

Since the genome project has proven scientifically there's no such thing as "race", why didn't you go over to her and tell her there is no such thing as a "racist" and the reason all those fouls were being called on her son was because he just was a lousy player?

John,

Why would that comment upset you more than every other comment fans make towards the officials?

Peace

Rut,

Probably because it implies cheating. If a fan yells, "you missed it" or "that's terrible" (the usual) it's just the typical fan ignorance. If someone says that you are a cheater or that you favored a team (or that you're a racist), it's a little more irritating. We're out there trying to create a balanced atmosphere and then someone says (or implies) that we care who wins. A little more than the usual garbage.

Z

Then if being upset about being called a racist upsets you (by a fan mind you) then you probably would really get upset when they call you a "cheater" or a "homer" by fans before. What is the difference? You are going to get upset because a fan (who most of us consider to be obtuse in the first place as it relates to the game of basketball) calls you a name that implies the basically the same thing?

If you believe them when they tell you "good job," you must believe them when they tell you are terrible.

Peace

Subtle difference I suppose. I've heard "Homer" a few times - that's the typical fan garbage thinking that the ref favors the home team... possibly subconsiously. "Cheater" is starting to cross the line and say that the officials are favoring one team. What would be the reason? Don't know. "Racist" not only implies that you are cheating one team, but that you are doing it based on skin color. Yes, it all comes out of the mouth of the fan, so John shouldn't be too surprised, but there is a difference.

Z

Z,

If you do not put much credibility in what they say when they call you a "homer," why would you put credibility in if they call you a "racist?"

I understand that this might not be a pleasant thing to hear or be accused of. One word does not change the implication. I have been called many things on the court, field or diamond before and I just consider the source. Just because they did not use a specific word does not mean that is not what they were thinking. I have worked in many racially mixed games before and I have never been called a racist or openly heard someone say that I was favoring one race over another, but it was strongly implied. That comes with the territory. This is what we have to deal with from time to time.

Peace

Please. I'm begging you. Remember: Race and/or politics = crappy thread. To the moderators, I give you the immortal words of Walter Peck in Ghostbusters: "Shut this down. Shut it all down."

Wasn't Walter Peck the one who Dan Akroyd said "It's true. He has no d***"...one of the best lines ever!

Seems to me that John is just posting what happened, he doesn't seem to me to be terribly upset.

John, I'm sure every game won't be like this but don't ever get too comfortable because that's when you'll hear something from a fan/coach/player that you never thought you'd hear. "Somedays you're the bug and somedays you're the windshield".

Venkman: Everything was fine until d***less here shut off the power grid.

Peck tries to attack Venkman and there's much shouting.

Mayor of NYC (aka "Lenny"): (Trying to get his meeting back under control) Is this true?

Stantz: It's true. This man has no d***.

:D

Laughed my a$$ off the first time I saw that part of the movie...

Hey, I have a Dick's near me!

Well, I tried to do it from memory, but IMDB tells me I got it wrong. Here's their version:

Dr Ray Stantz: Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by d***less here.

Walter Peck: They caused an explosion!

Mayor (Lenny): Is this true?

Dr. Peter Venkman: Yes it's true.
[pause]
Dr. Peter Venkman: This man has no d***.

Walter Peck: Jeez!

[Charges at Venkman]

Mayor: Break it up! Hey, break this up! Break it up!

Walter Peck: All right, all right, all right!

Dr. Peter Venkman: Well that's what I heard!

Worked a playoff game a long time ago between two Christian Schools: one not affiliated (that I know of) with a denomination, and the other one attached to a Baptist church. During a timeout in the second half (good, tight game), I was over near the student section of the Baptist school, and one kid muttered, 'hey ref, you must hate baptists.' I just about lost it!

About the only churches I've gone to in my life were baptist and I've been a member of one since I was 8!

You cannot worry about what people say. These are fans that make these stupid comments. Always consider the source.

You should have immersed him in a technical foul. :D

While I get the "immersed" joke, it's important to remember that Baptists are Baptists not because of how they baptize (immersion or sprinkling), but because of who they baptize (adults, not babies).

I am a Baptist, myself.

And since we're off topic, remember that Anabaptists aren't groups that don't baptise, but groups that believe baptism is merely symbolic and not operational.

Groups that don't baptise are called Quakers, or Jehovah's Witnesses.

Now we can go back to basketball...

The "ana" means "again". Anabaptists were one of the first groups in America to re-baptize people who had been baptized as infants. They felt that baptism was symbolic, a statement of one's faith. Since an infant was unable to make that statement, they re-baptized believers as adults.

You want to put those two groups in the same breath, Juulie? :)

Well, when the topic is the mechanics of baptism, they belong in the same breath, don't they? There are a lot of differences, but some similarities, such as the "meetinghouses", the conscientious objection to war, the non-recognition of holidays (which Quakers used to practice until about the time that the Jehovah's Witnesses were beginning), and even, for some Quakers, the belief against the Trinity. Today, Quakers are a motley crew, like many mainline denominations that range from liberal-humanist to conservative-evangelical. But there was a time when we were as sectarian and anti-worldly as the Jehovah's Witnesses. The only real theological difference between the sectarian periods of the two groups is the equality of the person of Jesus Christ with the person of God the Father -- Quakers have been mostly of the conviction that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were in substance and person equal with God the Father, and the JW's have never believed that. They see the Trinity as a statement of polytheism and thus blasphemy. Jehovah's Witnesses also elevate the Bible (their version) much higher that the Quaker view, but this isn't as determinant to faith as the issue of Jesus and His death and resurrection.

Is there a way to move this to the General board? It is most certainly off-topic. Unless we start talking about the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. That's very basketball related, and an issue among Quakers and JW's.

It's important to remember that there are probably dozens of different religious belief systems and practices that have been called "Satanism." Depending upon the precise meaning given to the word, the total number of Satanists in the world can be anything from a few thousand to four billion individuals. Dialog on the topic is almost impossible because there is such variability in the meaning of "Satanism" and "Satanist."

Juulie, my dear friend, aren't you forgetting a few groups? You know, like us guys who have been around for almost 6000 years?

Wow! Ghostbusters and baptism! This thread gives a new perspective to the prhase, "I digress!" Lutheran, by the way. We baptize babies. And the d***less line was hilarious!

Depends on who wins
 

One night after a game, the home coach (a pretty good friend of mine)yelled at us on the way off the court.
"Nobody will ever call you guys Homer!"

Guess who had won the game?

Mark, isn't there some similar ritual (besides circumcision) in the Jewish tradition? Why would the earliest Christians, who were exclusively Jewish, use baptism as a symbol of faith if it weren't found somewhere in their own history? Did Christians appropriate baptism from "pagan" religions of the day? It seems more likely to me that they were familiar with baptism from their own religious backgrounds -- namely Judaism.

You shouldn't do that ;) But that's not why I replied to your post.

My favorite religious observation of all time was from a wedding reception. A Lutheran woman married a man who came from a Catholic background. All his friends were Catholic, and I happened to be sitting with a group that split about evenly. Of course the subject of the Catholic/Lutheran split came up and one of the Catholics at the table said, "Catholic and Lutheran are exactly the same, except Lutheran priests can get married." The Catholics all nodded as if this were common knowledge and the Lutherans all sat there open-mouthed as if someone had just called them Buddhists.

It might not translate well into pixels, but it was a hilarious moment.

I wonder if there are any referees who are Quakers????
If so, I've never met one.
Could he work games with his hat on?

I'm quite certain there are. Although, I don't know if she works with a hat.

I am certain there are Penn grads who are referees.

Nope, no hats. And she doesn't call people thee or thou, either. She is still struggling to figure out how to handle the Star Spangled Banner thing. The reason I know this is because she's talked to me about it quite a bit.

What does the Star Spangled Banner have to do with being a Quaker? I am sure you know what you are talking about, I just have no idea what that means. If you could please fill me in on what you meant.

Uh, no.

BTW - about two years ago I was working a game with Juulie and commented on the odds of a Quaker woman working a game with a Jewish man. She said the odds weren't that huge. I then asked her what the odds would be if I knew a joke about Jews and Quakers. She said "no way". I then told her the joke.

Jesus, a Jew and a Quaker are playing golf...

Funny how the baseball thread always has an off-topic disclaimer. Of course, I don't think anyone planned this mass digression. Oh, and good Catholic/Lutheran anecdote, Chuck! Ain't it the truth!

Me too, he works in the office next to me. :D

This thread has been slimed.

Guess I've got some research to do, then. . .

I'm wondering about John the Baptist, who was a Jew and, well, a Baptist. In that time there were many Jews who were baptising. But perhaps that tradition hasn't carried through time, especially since Christians picked it up.

Can one of the moderators move this over into the general thread, so we don't have to feel guilty?

I am not Jewish and I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn last night so take this with a grain of salt (kosher salt please)...

Being baptised is like the initiation to the club. There is no initiation to Club Jewish, AFAIK all you need to do is be born to a woman who is already Jewish...and maybe a little ceremony if you're of the male pursuasion...(cringe).

As for so-called "converting" to Judaism, who knows how that works but AFAIK there is no water involved.

Well, I emailed Mark about this, b/c I felt it was too far afield even for an already off-topic thread, but since others are keeping it alive, here's just one entry I found online under "Jewish baptism". It's from MSN's Encarta, so I don't think that they have any ecumenical ax to grind:

OK, so maybe for converts there's a historical conection but I'm 99% positive no such connection exists today (I know that's not your point). But someone born into the religion does not go through the same initiation ie no cleansing required.

It's not really about "initiation into the club." Various interps give it varying amounts of potency from pure symbolism to pure operation. And it wasn't just for converts. There are a number of different baptisms mentioned in the Bible, and most of them are by Jews and for Jews.

I think you're right about there not being this ceremony today. I wonder how it changed? As for Quakers and Jehovah's Witnesses, it was (and is) a specific repudiation based on theology and the circumstances of church. I wonder if that's the case for Jews. Mark?

Juulie - as you may know, there are at least five different "strains" of Judiasm. I can only speak for the Reform group. We have dispensed with many of the symbolic rituals (including wearing yarmulkes in shul - although I still do) so I don't think this one ritual was singled out for any specific reason.

You'd have to ask an Orthodox Jew for a definitive answer, and I doubt there are any on this board. Maybe Romano can help, since he is in Israel.

BTW - what do you think of what's going on with the coaching staff at Tigard HS? Weird, huh?

All I saw was what was in the paper. If you have any more juicy details, I'd love to know them, via e-mail, I suppose. I tried to get Mrs. ABC to talk, but she says she doesn't know anything.

Cat pee glows under fluorescent light. Which raises the question, what weirdo discovered this!?!

I bet it is the same guy who discovered the same thing about scorpions.

while we're on the subject......
A man is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he comes upon a preacher baptizing people in the river. He proceeds to walk into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher. The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, whereupon he asks the drunk, "Are you ready to find Jesus?"

The drunk answers, "Yes, I am."

So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water. He pulls him
up and asks the drunk, "Brother have you found Jesus?"

The drunk replies, "No, I haven't found Jesus."

The preacher shocked at the answer, dunks him into the water again for a little longer. He again pulls him out of the water and asks again, "Have you found Jesus my brother?"

The drunk again answers, "No, I haven't found Jesus."

By this time the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk in the water again, but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds and when he begins kicking his arms and legs he pulls him up. The preacher again asks the drunk, "For the love of God have you found Jesus?"

The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and says to the preacher, "Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

Gotta love 7th/8th Girls Parents
 

..... that's all that needs to be said! :D Anyways, I've got a long lay off (longest of the year), two weeks off before things start to pick up.

Re: First crack....
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tjones1
[B]I get to break into the action tonight. Gear bag is filling back up and I'm catch the fever! I'm ready to go... hopefully won't have any "stupid parents"

__________________________________________________ _________
Are they going to lock the doors and keep all adults out? If they don't, you'll have a stupid parent, or two, or three, or......

not upset at all...
 

first, i was upset by the comment. 2nd, i was just commenting on what my partner was called. and 3rd, i have very thick skin and it would take a heck of alot more than that to upset me. i thought part of this forum was to share your experiences, so other can learn from them.

as usual on this forum, some can twist and turn a comment on this forum to there advantage. not sure why that is. it's more upsetting that some read more into a simple post than what's posted.

Re: Re: First crack....
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by refnrev

Quote:

Originally posted by tjones1 I get to break into the action tonight. Gear bag is filling back up and I'm catch the fever! I'm ready to go... hopefully won't have any "stupid parents" __________________________________________________ _________ Are they going to lock the doors and keep all adults out? If they don't, you'll have a stupid parent, or two, or three, or......

:D True

Actually it was Bill Muarry (sp).

TC

Kenny

First off I am not Hebrew, but have lived with a Hebrew family for an extend period of time. Honestly there is no way to 'completely convert' to the Hebrew race/religion because they dont want converts. Namely, Jewish people view themselves and thier religion as the chosen religion. Thusly, if they were to convert it would be like going up to someone and asking, "are you chosen?" However, there are previsions for childeren, mothers, and fathers that are of part Hebrew lenaiage and choose to convert because they have a kid/are a kid/ or aparent of a half hebrew kid, or what not depeing on how conseerivitive the Synagouge (sp) that you belong to...

Anyway my 2 cents