Does God care who wins the Kentucky-Louisville basketball game?
Don Sestina, the Kentucky player’s father, said he and his wife will attend next weekend’s Kentucky-Louisville game. Father Paul Siebert, the priest at the Emporium, Pa., church the Sestinas attend, plans to join them on the trip to see the next installment of the commonwealth’s version of basketball good versus evil.
Of Siebert, the elder Sestina said, “He has some pretty good connections from above.”
This playful reference to divine intervention raised a question: Does God care which team wins a basketball game?
Bart Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, said he did not think so.
“Obviously, prayer has nothing to do with it,” he wrote in an email. “Otherwise both sides would win.”
This echoed something Abraham Lincoln said in his second inaugural speech about the ongoing Civil War.
“Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God,” he said of the North and South. “And each invokes His aid against the other. … The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”
Siebert said he “very definitely” agreed with how Ehrman and Lincoln viewed the idea of divine intervention. A loving God is not partisan, Siebert said. But He hears prayers for, say, the healing of a player’s injury. Coincidentally or not, Nate Sestina returned from a broken left wrist for UK’s games in Las Vegas. His return was earlier than expected.
“We will pray that Nate’s going to be back in great shape,” Siebert said of next weekend’s UK-U of L game. “Because God can do that.”
Still, fans pray for divine intervention. The bigger the game, the more fervent the prayer, said Dan Wann, a Murray State psychology professor who studies fan behavior.
“I think the quote was something like ‘there are no atheists in foxholes,’” Wann said. “And I’ve always thought there are no atheists in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the World Series.”
So why might fans pray for their favorite team to win or for a rival to lose? Fans seek influence on the outcome.
“Any chance that they have to try to gain control over this important outcome that they hardly really have any control over, they’ll do,” he said. “And fans, they resort to prayer all the time.”
This attempt at influence takes many forms. Superstitions. (Adolph Rupp, who certainly did not lack a measure of control in games, considered finding a bobby pin good luck.) Chants to lift up their favorite team. (Go Big Blue! C-A-T-S!) Yelling at referees.
“And one of the things they do is they pray,” Wann said. “It’s a pretty common response.”
Wann said he had participated in a study of fan behavior for a yet-to-be-released report. It had come to a finding that might surprise.
“The more likely they are to pray, the more they are likely to yell cuss words at the refs,” he said of fans. “I think that’s really funny.”
As Wann explained, the pattern is: If prayer doesn’t seem to be working, fans resort to, uh, earthier means.
“He just can’t take it anymore, so he prays,” Wann said of a typical fan. “And when that doesn’t work, he starts screaming things at the refs.”
Not logical
During the Kentucky-Utah game, a noticeable number of UK fans repeatedly expressed their displeasure with the officiating. They objected to what they saw as Utah repeatedly getting away with walking and flopping in attempts to get charging called on a UK player.
This led to a curious moment. In response to a blocking call made against a Utah player, a UK fan yelled at the refs, “Are you going to let them keep flopping?”
Huh?
This was bounced off Dan Wann, the Murray State psychology professor who studies sports fans.
“You continue to make the same mistake I’ve made for 35 years,” Wann said. “You’re trying to apply logic to sports fans.”
Wann cited another example: A fan in the upper reaches of Rupp Arena yelling as if the referees could hear him or her.
Wann confessed that he, too, has yelled at referees while attending Murray State games.
“Do I think the ref cares what I think? No,” he said. “It’s just my way of letting off steam and trying to gain control over an uncontrollable situation.”
Television debut
The fundraiser to get St. Mark’s church in Emporium, Pa., a big-screen television was a success. Now, people in Nate Sestina’s hometown can come together to watch him play for Kentucky.
With more than $900 raised, the church bought a 75-inch TV, said Father Paul Siebert, the church’s priest. The TV was plugged in Wednesday night.
Though plugged in, the TV did not make its debut for the Kentucky-Utah game, which had an 11 p.m. EST tip-off.
“That was too late, I suppose,” Siebert said with a chuckle.
Might St. Mark’s debut the TV with Kentucky-Louisville?
“Oh yeah,” Siebert said. “Oh yeah.”
True grit
If UK needed an example of the grit John Calipari seeks, Utah provided it.
Rylan Jones, a 6-foot-1 freshman, played 38 minutes, scored 12 points and made three-pointers to start and punctuate a critically timed 10-0 Utah run early in the second half that blunted UK’s momentum.
“I’m not sure how many college players would be playing under the circumstances,” Utah Coach Larry Krystkowiak said of Jones. “He’s pretty wounded (with) a pretty serious rib injury.”
Jones, who earlier this season became only the second Pac-12 freshman to ever record a triple-double (10 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists against Mississippi Valley State), has missed only one game.
“There were times in practice he wasn’t even lifting his arm,” Krystkowiak said. “So I wasn’t sure how much he was going to give us.”
Coaches vs. Cancer
The UK-Utah game benefited Coaches vs. Cancer, a collaborative effort involving the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
One of the game’s sponsors was UK’s Markey Cancer Center.
The fund-raising included former UK player Todd Svoboda. He shot a free throw in a promotion. A made free throw meant a $1,000 donation to the Markey Cancer Center. A missed free throw reduced the donation to $500.
Svoboda, who lettered for UK in 1992-93, missed. But when given another chance, he made the second free throw.
After being diagnosed with bone cancer, Svoboda received treatment at the Markey Cancer Center. He said he is cancer free.
Bill Walton
At a Thursday news conference previewing Saturday’s game against Kentucky, Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann said he watched UK’s game against Utah. This prompted a reporter to ask Holtmann what he thought of Bill Walton, who has an, uh, adventurous approach to color commentary.
“I love Bill,” Holtmann said before adding, “I don’t know if I could handle him (or) if he would overwhelm me if I watched him more than one game a week.”
Of Walton’s announcing partner Dave Pasch, Holtmann said, “He deserves an Emmy, or whatever you TV guys get.”
Happy birthday
To Roger Harden. He turned 56 on Thursday. … To De’Aaron Fox. He turned 22 on Friday. … To Jeff Brassow. He turned 49 on Friday. … To Eric Manuel. He turned 52 on Saturday. … To former Georgia Coach Ron Jirsa. He turned 60 on Saturday. … To Western Kentucky Coach Rick Stansbury. He turns 60 on Monday. … To Cliff Hawkins. He turns 38 on Tuesday. … To Northern Kentucky Coach (and Tates Creek High graduate) Darrin Horn. He turns 47 on Tuesday. … To Rodney Dent. He turns 49 on Christmas Day.
