Why Point at the Sky??
by One won lost won on Apr 6, 2007 12:51 PM PDT
31 comments
I don't know how baseball players managed to get on the "fast track" about how things are run in "Heaven".
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/photo?sl...
First, IF there even IS a place like heaven, how is it "our ancestors" get to say, "Sorry God, no time for You, I have to watch a ball game, and perhaps act God-like myself, and do supernatural things to affect the game!" Bonds, Guerrero, Swisher, they all think a departed loved one is helping them.
Say you die, and your 100-trillion neuron connections actually mysteriously travel to heaven (or a parallel set in another dimension get activated.) Why do you get to watch baseball games on Earth? Maybe everyone in Heaven, 100% of their time, has to participate in the ongoing "Greek Olympics"?? "First Adapters" may get to call the shots!(??)
Maybe for the first 1000 years, you have to go to the Andromeda galaxy, and do "good work" pushing boulders around? Why do baseball players make public displays indicating they think they know more about this than others know ???!
Some baseball players appear to think they have it "wired", and figure their antecedents get to become "mini-Gods" pushing baseballs over fences? Isn't one of the Ten Commandments about "no gods before me"? Doesn't that include ancestor-worship to give them thanks for using supernatural powers???
And, if they think God Himself is working, inning by inning, how come only one team gets a World Series victory each year, with MOST "heaven-pointers" excluded?
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In the case of Swisher,
I've always thought of it as more of an "in memory" kind of thing. Another side could be, as a lot of players believe, that the talent they have is God-given, not a home run being God-given, but the ability to do so. Of course then you can't believe in fate, which I don't, but I just wanted to point out the other sides of the arguement.
by californiagirl on Apr 6, 2007 1:27 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
In K-Rod's case,
I just assumed God was the one dropping rosin from the sky as necessary.
by Nico on Apr 6, 2007 1:46 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I bow to your glory.
QOTM.
by Ozzz on Apr 7, 2007 12:16 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
they could be pointing out
the beneficial weather patterns that allowed their ball to traverse the sky in the manner that it did. "thanks, low pressure area, which caused ample atmospheric lift for my victorious ball-strike!"
by rolliedigits on Apr 6, 2007 1:52 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
This makes sense.
Finally. I knew the AN group had answers, if I had questions...
GOOD WORK!
by One won lost won on Apr 6, 2007 6:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
my 2 cents
I think they really want to pick their nose and are just over excited.
by Satchmo22 on Apr 6, 2007 2:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
why point at the sky indeed
who is to say heaven is up in the sky? why can't it be underground? i've been to plenty underground events that sure seemed like heaven.
by fadedash on Apr 6, 2007 2:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Well, the Bible has always mentioned
Heaven as being upwards.
by californiagirl on Apr 6, 2007 2:30 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
swing and a miss
by OAKobsession on Apr 6, 2007 2:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Neither he nor you have to accept it as anything.
I'm not getting into an arguement. Peace.
by californiagirl on Apr 6, 2007 3:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
im not disagreeing
but i interpreted his comment to have nothing to do with religion, and more with raves or something, if it wasnt sarcasm than the "swing and a miss" is for me.
by OAKobsession on Apr 6, 2007 8:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
they could be
just reminding themselves that their passed on loved ones' memories keep them going-- keep their heads straight.
I think any religion or belief system places value on the dead. Personally, as a daoist I believe that I should pay respects to my ancestors whenever I can, because without them I wouldn't be in the position I am today.
Regardless, I don't think they're trying to say they are somehow performing as well as they are today because of some kind of direct supernatural contribution from the departed.
What's wrong with blessing the dead?
by ConditionOakland on Apr 6, 2007 2:21 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Well, I think they are saying that
Even last year, Swisher (joking? He likes to talk, let's face it) suggested his late Grandma helped push the ball over the fence as the reason a crucial home run just barely clear the barrier.
If there is =any= evidence of "pushing", it would be Bill King putting every person attempting the Wave back in their seat in the Coliseum.
Nothing wrong with "blessing the dead". I do it all the time. I just don't do it after hitting a home run, driving, ordering dinner.... timing is everything.
by One won lost won on Apr 6, 2007 6:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sticking with ConditionOakland's point
Even that remains true in the Swisher case. Her influence on him when she was alive helped him give that extra something special it took to get the ball over the fence. So in a sense his late Grandma helped push the ball over the fence.
by DMOAS on Apr 6, 2007 6:28 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I personally like to point at the ground
when something goes wrong in my life. . . Because I know when something bad happens, it's Satan taking the time out of his hellish day to influence my life.
But that's just me.
by oaktownmario on Apr 6, 2007 3:22 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
The God of Wind
is who I take time out for....
If I'm painting on a dead-calm day, He Never Fails to show up and "puuuuuuuuuuuuh" blow the plastic off the ground and up onto the fresh paint.
A couple of "Knock it OFF!" usually settles Him down.
by One won lost won on Apr 6, 2007 6:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I usually point towards AlaskaA.
Guess which finger?
by Nico on Apr 6, 2007 4:16 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
The Thumb?
by DMOAS on Apr 6, 2007 6:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Perhaps a better question is,
"Why point at the sky when the batter hits a fly ball?" A fly ball was hit "up"? Really? Thanks for the help!
by Nico on Apr 6, 2007 10:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I can answer that one.
It's so that the players behind you, who may well have lost the ball, get a quick heads up that it's up there and headed their way.
As for why people point up after home runs, I always thought it was a nervous twitch.
Or faked god-bothering, designed to win over certain fans.
by Ozzz on Apr 7, 2007 12:18 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
lots of these guys...
should be pointing in the general direction of their illegal supplement providers (heh, I guess that's how you say "drug dealer" when talking about baseball these days). But given ths choice, I could see why they'd go with the sky instead.
by Cutthemullet on Apr 7, 2007 12:06 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I don't mind Vlad so much
because he doesn't make a big goofy scene out of it like K-Rod, who is assuredly one of the most annoying players ever to put on a uniform and really needs to stop the carrying on and show some damn respect and humility out there and quit yelling like he just won the World Series every time he saves a game. Some players who do it don't claim to be pointing to "God," like Swisher who is pointing at his grandma, who is presumably situated somewhere in close proximity to "God".
What can I say, opium is the religion of the masses or somesuch.
by emperor nobody on Apr 7, 2007 12:34 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
heh
I prefer the arrangement of your saying to the original.
by Cutthemullet on Apr 7, 2007 6:21 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
yeah...
I think my new favorite scene was last weekend, the last game of spring training against the Dodgers. He got the save by getting 3 guys out who had never even had an at bat all spring. Nevertheless, he jumped and squatted, pumping his fist like it was October. Even my dad (an Angels fan) was laughing at how ridiculous it was.
But yeah as far as the pointing at the sky thing, it really doesn't bother me at all. Sort of seems equivalent to a closer pumping his fist once after getting a final strike out. If they made a huge deal of it jumping and hollering and going nuts (other than for an amazing walk off or something... which is totally understandable) it would bother me a lot more.
by drmmerchk on Apr 7, 2007 3:22 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm wondering why it even bothers some people
An athlete brags and boasts and takes all the credit himself --- he's an arrogant jerk.
Somebody else maybe acknowledges another reason for success and he's "trying to shove religion down our throats."
Can't win for losin'.
Don't get me wrong, I hate overly-dramatic "anything," but pointing to the sky is hardly anything to get excited about.
by Vacafan on Apr 7, 2007 8:54 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Why do some pitchers
have recurrent epilepsy corresponding to the final out of the game?
by mikeA on Apr 7, 2007 9:03 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Joe Kennedy appears to have epilepsy
every time he throws a pitch.
by Nico on Apr 7, 2007 9:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
No, no...
I'm sure he meant AFTER the pitch.
by DMOAS on Apr 7, 2007 10:58 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oh, then it's
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Wait, no, that's what I have after Kennedy throws a pitch.
by Nico on Apr 7, 2007 11:49 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Hate to have to correct you again
but what you describe is PRE Traumatic Stress Disorder. A disorder that haunts all A's fans. You're not alone, good sir, you're not alone.
by DMOAS on Apr 7, 2007 4:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
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