The Chris Moeller Archives

God in the huddle

The athletic director and the newly-hired football coach at my alma mater, Iowa State University, have been pushing to add a team chaplain to the athletic department payroll for the 2007-08 sports year. The proposal involves paying for the position with private contributions so the pair might potentially skirt that tiny deterrent called the Separation of Church and State. One hundred and twelve members of the university faculty have signed a petition opposing the plan, and the issue will now go before an entity called the ISU Athletic Council, a rung or two beneath the United States Supreme Court in final judgment.

Faculty members such as Hector Avalos [Disclaimer: a terrific friend to a spirited little show on campus television called "Wake Up ISU" (1995-1998)] contend that the so-called "spiritual guidance" position to be created is nothing more than the latest attempt by fundamentalists to force religious indoctrination into public institutions.

If their skepticism is misplaced, as supporters claim, the simple solution would be to fill the position with a Muslim cleric. No Christian would oppose that.

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Last week, the father of the late Cardinals' pitcher Josh Hancock, killed in a car accident April 29th, filed a wrongful death suit against Mike Shannon's Steaks and Seafood, the restaurant in downtown St. Louis that served his son the night of his crash. I'll say only this about Shannon's: they refused to serve me even an O'Doul's non-alcoholic brew when I was 18 years old.

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Spring is the time of year in which we typically get a 100 movie list from the American Film Institute-- a la "100 years, 100 laughs," or "100 years, 100 thrills." I haven't seen any thing on the horizon yet this year, but man named Chuck Tryon, through YouTube, has gone perhaps one better-- 100 numeric quotes, featuring everyone from Philip Marlowe to Han Solo to Roy Hobbs to Navin R. Johnson. It's 9 and a half minutes well spent.

posted by CM @ 12:42 PM