Vecsey: This is a most wonderful gesture, having the Yankees and the Red Sox play at 1 p.m. on Sunday. It could even be the start of something better.
Article Source: NBC Sports
from:NBC SportsWhen religion involved, game is just that
Seeded on Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:07 AM EDT (NBC Sports)
Leave a Comment:
Saving...
I remember when opening day here was on Good Friday this year. A local priest made a fuss and wanted the game moved. MLB told him to buzz off.
So the religious are not the only hypocrites.
I have all the respect in the world for those who take their religion seriously and observe their Holy Days. But anyone who gripes about games conflicting with their religious observance is a flat-out hypocrite. If your religion is that important to you, that big a part of your life, then the game should be completely irrelevant. Observance of a solemn religious holiday, in my opinion, is not supposed to be a matter of convenience. No one deems it an outrage when on Good Friday there's a full slate of MLB, NHL, and NBA games. Nor are accomodations made for Christmas, Easter, Ramadan, etc. I feel the NFL should not have made any accomodations, as it is not a religious institution.
There will be people for whom baseball and their religion are equally important. One year they should move the baseball game and next year they can move the religious event. Then everyone can be accommodated.
Which is more boring: baseball or church? At least church is shorter. But baseball has hot dogs.
Could some sort of picture-in-picture set up solve this problem entirely? Or, if a friend who is allowed to use electricity records the game, could those forbidden from using electricity watch the game later?
Baseball also has beer.
church has wine. Both have Padres.
Synagogues have wine and long winded sermons during which people nod-off.
Much like a hot afternoon in the Coliseum watching an Oakland A's game.
To be fair, I can wear shorts, go unshowered, and fart at an A's game.
Therefore, difficult as this decision was, my vote goes to baseball.
MO, Like you never farted in church! Don't you lie to me!!!!
Congrats on the decision! Equal opportunity for Christians at Easter?
Sure, why not.
But my decision is that baseball should, like the "show," go on no matter what.
If an individual player decides not to play, or a fan decides not to go, because of religion, I respect that. Still I don't know that the whole game needs to be called off.
If all the other fans want to see the game they might not care about the holiday being a problem for them. I think the majority of the fans will vote with their feet and their viewing habits. The league and networks have a profit motive of course.
I think they've opened up a can of worms.
A can of worms, indeed. The way I heard the Hank Greenberg story, he told the manager he wouldn't be playing on Saturday because the game wouldn't be over by sundown. The next day, he got a standing ovation from the crowd and both teams, for putting God first. That's the way it should be: respect a personal decision which has been made for a religious reason and insure no repercussion. The accomodations must be the same for Christian, Muslim, or whatever, players, who choose to honor God above all. That's the only way to show that you respect others' personal choices.
I recall a player named Danny Thompson who was a Seventh Day Adventist who wouldn't play on Sundays. Didn't Sandy Koufax miss a start in the '65 World Series because on the day he was supposed to pitch it was on Yon Kippur?
"We'll miss him at the plate, we'll miss him at the bat
but he's true to his religion
and he's got my respect for that."
Forgot who penned that but it was one his allstar teammates.
I sincerely doubt this was anything other than a decision based solely on economics. The New York area has a large Jewish population. Yom Kippur or not, a fair number of Jewish baseball fans would probably attend the game anyway. However, a large number would probably choose to attend religious services instead. That would have had a huge impact on ticket sales, parking fees, and concessions. The teams made a good call -- move up the game times to preserve their revenue streams. They may claim otherwise, but I guarantee that's what it was really about.