CC = Catholic Contradiction
It's about that time of the year, when the high school and college football seasons are dying down and the playoffs are in full swing. Hmm, well, not in college, since the BCS and Harris Polls incorrectly control the outcomes of teams. It doesn't make much sense to me that while a playoff format works extremely well in college basketball and in pro football, college still relies on these meaningless (aside from the championship) bowl games, which are solely based upon which advertiser can fork over the most money. Still, that's a different story, not what I want to cover here.
What I want to cover here is high school football, and how Catholic schools, which already rub me off the wrong way while idle, really piss me off in their contradictory methods.
Let's take a look at the teams in the MHSAA State Finals, as copied and pasted from the MHSAA's site:
2005 Football Finals
Nov. 25-26 at Ford Field, Detroit
Televised Live on FSN Detroit
(Exception: Division 4 - delayed broadcast at 11 pm)
Now count the Catholic schools that are in the finals. Six of 16. Roughtly 38% of the teams in the finals are Catholic schools, and so far in the finals they're 2-0. Keep in mind we're not even looking at the Catholic teams that made it into the playoffs. It's a safe assumption to say that Catholic schools are dominant in high school football. Al Fracassa, Brother Rice's head coach, is a man of legendary status, and I felt on top of the world when he shook my hand and told me I was something special when my squad attended morning agilities camp with Brother Rice. When Doug Pickens was Rice's QB, he led Rice to the state championships every year he was there, and lost the state championship four years in a row. I played them my junior year and we nearly upset them in the first round if it wasn't for some awful second half playcalling, but in any case, Pickens could've played in the MLB right after high school. Instead, he goes to Michigan and plays on the baseball squad, quite a waste of talent if you ask me, but my IM football team last year beat his, so maybe he's just overrated.
Back to my point. Catholic schools rule high school football. Catholic schools. Schools that teach Catholicism. A religion that has faced enormous controversy throughout history, and especially recently (little boys and The DaVinci Code are two such events). A religion that denounces the war (with the exception of Pat Robertson), and is stricly (with the only exception being The Boondock Saints, where "the laws of God are higher than the laws of man") nonviolent. Catholicism preaches, coerces its members to "turn the other cheek" as Jesus himself did, and encourages its people to be the "better man" and turn away from a confrontation, even though we all know that realistically, those types of people are pussies. A religion that strives to makes itself synonymous with figures such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Princess Diana, telling their tales even though they do not necessarily belong to the collective. A religion that simplistically tells people that violence is bad, evil, that you will go to hell if you do so.
And yet Catholic schools take solace in the fact that their schools are the best at a sport which requires brutality, humiliation, and bloodlust: football. Catholic schools scout and recruit students heavily, and Catholic school football players that transfer to public ones (such as Charles Stewart to Harrison High, who now is playing for Michigan) are considered extremely valuable commodities.
You want a shot at college ball? Play for us, we're a state powerhouse with a hall of fame coach, fuck that religion stuff, that's simply an aside. Sit in a church, listen to some Catholic priest jabber off his monotone stuff, then go home. Besides, how about a nice car to fit into our parking lot, which is already filled with BMWs, Infinitis, and H2s? Can't afford it you say? Well, let's see what our boosters can come up with. You play well for us and we'll see who we can talk to, don't you see all our alumni who are playing D-I ball? You bring us money, and we'll make you a star.
That's what Catholic schools are all about: money. Another contradiction. Remember Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? When Indy had to choose the Holy Grail amongst all the different cups, and he chose the carpenter's cup because Joseph lived in poverty? This scene was supposed to emphasize the HUMILITY of Christianity and Catholicism. Yet Catholic schools will badger their alumni for money, even when they know they're college students with no budget whatsoever. What the hell do you want your graduates to do, send you beer can money? Churches ask for donations, but Catholic schools ask for salaries, saying it'll go towards new and better improvements, bigger steeples, more comfortable pews, shit that takes away from the entire Catholic moralistic perspective that Catholics must be humble and modest. How can you concentrate on a confession when the seat in the booth is lavishly garnered with leather and plush?
Catholic schools are just mini-colleges when it comes to football politics, and the fact they contradict their highest beliefs leads me to deeply question my faith. I've recently bought The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, and these books may even cause me to read the Bible (to get the background), which I have thus far avoided because I believe it's another form of brainwashing that Catholicism carries (Catholic church is the biggest form of cult brainwashing I've ever experienced). I'm interested in seeing what The DaVinci Code has to say about the entire Catholic religion, and I know in the text it speaks about how Catholicism and Jesus were all a farce and the Vatican is holding the greatest cover-up in all of history so they will stay in power.
No offense to my friends who attended them, but Catholic schools are a joke. The fact they regard themselves as football powerhouses and the fact they recruit players to play for them displays the gross disregard for true Catholicism these schools carry. Several devout Muslims claim that terrorists killing in the name of Islam do not truly represent what they label as "true Islam". In this particular case, Catholic schools do not truly or fully represent what Catholicism is. I'm certainly not ashamed to be a Catholic because nothing in this world is perfect, but this just adds to the already expeditiously-growingly list of its faults, and just know that I am a damn proud member of the "I Went To a Public School...Bitch" group on facebook.
What I want to cover here is high school football, and how Catholic schools, which already rub me off the wrong way while idle, really piss me off in their contradictory methods.
Let's take a look at the teams in the MHSAA State Finals, as copied and pasted from the MHSAA's site:
2005 Football Finals
Nov. 25-26 at Ford Field, Detroit
Televised Live on FSN Detroit
(Exception: Division 4 - delayed broadcast at 11 pm)
|
|
DIVISION 2 - Final | DIVISION 1 |
| DIVISION 4 Grand Rapids Catholic Central (12-1) vs. Flint Powers Catholic (11-2) - 7:30 pm Final Statistics | Live Audio Rosters/Results/Quick Facts/Starters | DIVISION 3 Caledonia (11-2) vs. Haslett (13-0) - 7:30 pm Final Statistics | Live Audio Rosters/Results/Quick Facts/Starters |
| DIVISION 6 Halftime Kingsley 7 Monroe St. Mary C.C. 14 Statistics | Live Audio Rosters/Results/Quick Facts/Starters | DIVISION 5 Muskegon Oakridge (12-1) vs. Jackson Lumen Christi (12-0) - 4:30 pm Final Statistics | Live Audio Rosters/Results/Quick Facts/Starters |
DIVISION 8 - Final | DIVISION 7 Traverse City St. Francis (12-1) vs. Unionville-Sebewaing (13-0) - 10 am Final Statistics | Live Audio Rosters/Results/Quick Facts/Starters |
Now count the Catholic schools that are in the finals. Six of 16. Roughtly 38% of the teams in the finals are Catholic schools, and so far in the finals they're 2-0. Keep in mind we're not even looking at the Catholic teams that made it into the playoffs. It's a safe assumption to say that Catholic schools are dominant in high school football. Al Fracassa, Brother Rice's head coach, is a man of legendary status, and I felt on top of the world when he shook my hand and told me I was something special when my squad attended morning agilities camp with Brother Rice. When Doug Pickens was Rice's QB, he led Rice to the state championships every year he was there, and lost the state championship four years in a row. I played them my junior year and we nearly upset them in the first round if it wasn't for some awful second half playcalling, but in any case, Pickens could've played in the MLB right after high school. Instead, he goes to Michigan and plays on the baseball squad, quite a waste of talent if you ask me, but my IM football team last year beat his, so maybe he's just overrated.
Back to my point. Catholic schools rule high school football. Catholic schools. Schools that teach Catholicism. A religion that has faced enormous controversy throughout history, and especially recently (little boys and The DaVinci Code are two such events). A religion that denounces the war (with the exception of Pat Robertson), and is stricly (with the only exception being The Boondock Saints, where "the laws of God are higher than the laws of man") nonviolent. Catholicism preaches, coerces its members to "turn the other cheek" as Jesus himself did, and encourages its people to be the "better man" and turn away from a confrontation, even though we all know that realistically, those types of people are pussies. A religion that strives to makes itself synonymous with figures such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Princess Diana, telling their tales even though they do not necessarily belong to the collective. A religion that simplistically tells people that violence is bad, evil, that you will go to hell if you do so.
And yet Catholic schools take solace in the fact that their schools are the best at a sport which requires brutality, humiliation, and bloodlust: football. Catholic schools scout and recruit students heavily, and Catholic school football players that transfer to public ones (such as Charles Stewart to Harrison High, who now is playing for Michigan) are considered extremely valuable commodities.
You want a shot at college ball? Play for us, we're a state powerhouse with a hall of fame coach, fuck that religion stuff, that's simply an aside. Sit in a church, listen to some Catholic priest jabber off his monotone stuff, then go home. Besides, how about a nice car to fit into our parking lot, which is already filled with BMWs, Infinitis, and H2s? Can't afford it you say? Well, let's see what our boosters can come up with. You play well for us and we'll see who we can talk to, don't you see all our alumni who are playing D-I ball? You bring us money, and we'll make you a star.
That's what Catholic schools are all about: money. Another contradiction. Remember Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? When Indy had to choose the Holy Grail amongst all the different cups, and he chose the carpenter's cup because Joseph lived in poverty? This scene was supposed to emphasize the HUMILITY of Christianity and Catholicism. Yet Catholic schools will badger their alumni for money, even when they know they're college students with no budget whatsoever. What the hell do you want your graduates to do, send you beer can money? Churches ask for donations, but Catholic schools ask for salaries, saying it'll go towards new and better improvements, bigger steeples, more comfortable pews, shit that takes away from the entire Catholic moralistic perspective that Catholics must be humble and modest. How can you concentrate on a confession when the seat in the booth is lavishly garnered with leather and plush?
Catholic schools are just mini-colleges when it comes to football politics, and the fact they contradict their highest beliefs leads me to deeply question my faith. I've recently bought The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, and these books may even cause me to read the Bible (to get the background), which I have thus far avoided because I believe it's another form of brainwashing that Catholicism carries (Catholic church is the biggest form of cult brainwashing I've ever experienced). I'm interested in seeing what The DaVinci Code has to say about the entire Catholic religion, and I know in the text it speaks about how Catholicism and Jesus were all a farce and the Vatican is holding the greatest cover-up in all of history so they will stay in power.
No offense to my friends who attended them, but Catholic schools are a joke. The fact they regard themselves as football powerhouses and the fact they recruit players to play for them displays the gross disregard for true Catholicism these schools carry. Several devout Muslims claim that terrorists killing in the name of Islam do not truly represent what they label as "true Islam". In this particular case, Catholic schools do not truly or fully represent what Catholicism is. I'm certainly not ashamed to be a Catholic because nothing in this world is perfect, but this just adds to the already expeditiously-growingly list of its faults, and just know that I am a damn proud member of the "I Went To a Public School...Bitch" group on facebook.
posted by KTrain at 7:04 PM
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