After a nerve racking game like that, I need a beer............Well, another beer anyways. What a magnificent performance by both teams. In a stunningly similar repeat of Superbowl 42 in 2007, the New York Giants go to the Superbowl as the favored to lose underdogs, against the strong passing game of the powerhouse dynasty of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. With Tom Brady's arm and one of the strongest offensive lines in the league, the Patriots were being considered a shoe-in for the championship by many top name sports officials, stating that Eli Manning, though a great quarterback, wouldn't be able to overpower the phenom they call Tom Brady. Once again, just as in 2007, they underestimated Eli Manning.
This post season played out like as though I was watching a movie I'd seen before(in regards to the Patriots and Giants). New England rolled through almost every team in the regular season, losing only 3 games, finishing it at 13-3, while the Giants finished with a mediocre 9 wins and 7 losses. That 9th win against the Cowboys in the final game of the regular season was what earned them their seat in the playoffs, barely. As any football fan knows, however, there's no such thing as barely win it comes to football, there's only winning and losing, the former of which the New York Giants certainly accomplished tonight.
With the exception of New England having lost 3 games through the season, everything was exactly the same. Patriots sat at the number one seed in the AFC, and the Giants at the number 4 seed in the NFC as a Wildcard match up. Both records, once again, sit at opposite ends of the spectrum. The best team of the AFC, and the worst team of the NFC facing off against each other in the biggest event in sports, and in dramatic fashion, Eli Manning leads the giants to a game game winning score in the last minute of the game, leaving Tom Brady and the Patriots with barely 50 seconds and no time outs to get the ball down the field and into the end zone, which is about 15 seconds more than he had in 2007 when Manning through that famous touchdown pass that ended what would have been a history making perfect, undefeated season for the Patriots.
So it makes me wonder if the 9-7 season record has become the Giants magic spot. At the beginning of the playoffs I called it. Everyone was hyped up on the Packers or the 49ers, favoring one of these two teams to make a Superbowl appearance, but when I saw the Giants record, I said, "I don't know, Eli Manning's got that 9-7 luck. He beat the undefeated Patriots 4 years ago." Sure, I would have rather seen two different playoff teams in the Superbowl(Namely Baltimore and San Francisco), but I just had a feeling that Eli would pull it off again. Being as it was the Patriots they were playing, I couldn't be happier with the result, because as I've said many times before, I HATE TOM BRADY!!!!!!!!TUCK RULE THIS TOM!!!!!!(2001 Raider vs Patriots playoff game reference, haha. I'll never forgive him for that, whether it was the referee's decision or not.)
So, as far as I can see, they've found their sure fire method to winning championships, having shitty barely winning seasons. haahaha. I wish Bill Palechik was capable of human emotion or facial expression, cause I would have loved to see the disappointment on his face when he had to once again accept defeat at the hands of what statistics would prove was a much inferior team. GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!
Bill Belechick after the Patriots lose to Giants in Superbowl 42
Bill Belechick after winning a game just a few weeks before Superbowl 42
I've been fighting with myself over the past few days whether or not to write about this particular subject. It seems the vast majority of our nation practice some form of religion, and believe in some type of deity or God. I myself do not believe in, or practice any religion whatsoever. My mother attempted to instill her beliefs in me, which is Christian, but as I grew older, I started picking apart the belief structure and biblical stories, and came to a conclusion based on logic, reason, lack of evidence, scientific theory(backed up with plenty of tangible evidence), and rationality, that such things as God's and miracles, and the theory of Creationism as explained in the biblical book Genesis, could not possibly be correct.
This is just what myself as an individual human being believe to be true, just as you as an individual human being may believe whatever it is you want to believe. As you can probably imagine, my mother and her parents, my grandparents, weren't very pleased with me when I expressed my opinion on the matter, but, again, I am an individual person, capable of individual thought. Of course, they had no choice but to accept my beliefs(or non beliefs, however you want to put it), so we don't ever need to talk about it or even delve into the topic of religion when we are together. I understand, you might be getting worried about where I'm headed with this post, but trust me, this is not in any way an attempt to mock, or ridicule your individual religious beliefs, but to share my thoughts on a particular branch of Christianity.
A couple day's ago, I stumbled across a documentary entitled "Jesus Camp." "Jesus Camp" is a documentary film set in both Missouri and North Dakota, about Evangelical Christians. The film mainly follows a female preacher, who's is determined to reclaim the United States as Christ's Nation. First off, this countries constitution clearly states that there is to be a "Separation of Church and State," so she is already going against the wishes our nations(a nation she claims over and over again to love) founders. However, anybody that has lived in this country for more than 2 years, and is able to speak, read, write, and understand the English language, knows that such a separation does not entirely exist. For example, look at our Pledge of Allegiance, "Under God," or our money with "In God We Trust," printed on it. These are obviously conflictive with our constitution.
This little mission, however, is not the disturbing part of this film. The entire movie, this lady uses the power of, as I would describe it, Hitler type speech, to blatantly strip these children, some of which appear to be as young as 4 years old, of any personal thoughts or beliefs other than hers. With her exuberant and charismatic energy, she tells the kids to raise their arms and open their mouths to pray in "tongues," which, if you are not familiar, consists of the rapid chanting and muttering of complete jibberish. This, according to Evangelical Christians, is the Holy Spirit speaking through you, in an unrecorded language. Having never experienced such a sermon, I of course cannot verify whether or not such an event as possession of the Holy Spirit is real or not, but having done some research on how the human brain exactly works, I have somewhat of an understanding of the power that overwhelming speech, and the actions of your surrounding peers can have on an individual person's mind. Such individuals can start to mimic those actions of the people surrounding them unknowingly.This link will take you to an article on automatic human imitation http://www.physorg.com/news136647587.html
This woman even admits to using certain props and ideology that effectively "works well," with young children. The documentary also briefly takes you into the schooling of Evangelical parent's children. According to the movie, as of 2006, 75% of all home schooled students live in an Evangelical Christian home. The reason being that evolution is taught in schools, and the theory of creationism is no longer allowed. The parents tell blatant lies to their children, stating that there is no truth or fact in science whatsoever, and that these lies are nothing more than political issues, or the product of the "Devil" trying to spread non belief and sin. At one particularly disturbing point in the film, the children are told to pray to a life size cardboard cutout of George W. Bush, teaching the children that he is an inspirational figure, leading the charge to claim the U.S.A. as Jesus Christ's nation. The leader of the camp tells the children that she is "training them to be soldiers of God." In a personal interview with the woman, she compares her Bible camp , and the way she teaches the word of God to these young impressionable children, to the way Muslims train their young children in their own similar type camps, but instead of giving them hand grenades or rifles, she gives them a bible and the power of Jesus.
The film is upsetting on so many levels. It finds you both disgusted at what you are seeing, yet unable to look away. While the good message these people are trying to get across is there, but the clear brainwashing technique used to present it, and the hidden personal agendas and disapproval the adults have with certain aspects of our country, and other religious beliefs completely overpower any good deed they may have initially set out to accomplish. I was absolutely appalled by it, and believe in my mind, that what these people are doing to these children is a severe form of mental abuse, protected under the shield of the taboo words, "Religious Beliefs."
So before you think I'm bashing the Christian beliefs, allow me to note that the film also does a very good job in alienating this type of Christian practice and movement towards the combining of church and state, from the rest of the true, bible believing Christians of the nation, who instill the moral and wholehearted Christian values that do not condone hate and such Militant style teachings in their children. This is brilliantly done by periodically switching from the Evangelical Bible Camp, to the inside of a local radio station studio, where a Christian talk radio host expresses his disbelief and shock at the Evangelical movement as a whole, stating that their behavior does not express true Christian belief or values whatsoever, and that they seem to have "forgotten where they come from." He does not once specifically mention, nor even has knowledge of the existence of the particular camp the film centers on. That is until the end scene, where the camp's totalitarian style leader calls in to voice her opinion on the radio broadcast, sharing her camps teachings and beliefs, which the radio host very professionally, and respectfully tries to debate, telling her that children have their own mind, and should be given the opportunity to learn both religious and scientific theories, and be able to decide for themselves what they truly believe.
She of course writes off the idea, saying that children should only have to learn what their parents want them to be taught, defending that what she does is not "brainwashing" in any way. The funny thing is, the radio host never once uses the words brainwashing during the conversation, which tells me that "brainwashing" is already on her mind, and leads me to believe that she knows that that is exactly what she is doing . Bewildering isn't it? I found the film to be quite an eyeopening experience. I also found the Christian radio host to be very respectable, and intelligent, and able to overpower the insanity of the radical Christian Bible Camp, in the short, few and far between scenes in which he appeared, with what I would guess is how the majority of this countries Christian followers behave: Respectful to other people's beliefs, while keeping unwavering faith in their own beliefs. That's something I highly respect.
I've included a few clips of the film below, and the debate on the film with Bill Maher and his guest panel from the show "Real Time with Bill Maher," in its entirety. What are your thoughts?
