Posted on March 9, 2008 - by Calvin L. Smith

Englishman Near New York (9)

Just got to tell you quickly about something on TV Saturday. They’re sports mad here, obsessed with it. Well, they ran a story yesterday about the Duke University college basketball team (BTW I am at Duke on Thursday), known as the Blue Devils, who were playing an important match. They aired footage of the match, and when Duke’s opponents had several foul shots (the basketball equivalent of a penalty), this Duke fan had come prepared to distract the player so he would miss the shot. But (and get this) he did so by standing up in a pair of bright-blue Speedos (and nothing else), then girating and dancing in the most ludicrous and mind-boggling manner every time this basketball player took the shot (he was right behind the basket and in full view of the player). I have never seen anything like it (and don’t want to again, I assure you). But guess what? It worked! The fellow kept missing the shots, to the delight of the Duke fans. I’m not surprised it worked…  that image is pressed indelibly on my mind, just count yourselves lucky you didn’t see it. It seems all is fair in love and sports here. But the reason I’m telling you all this is because they interviewed the chap afterwards… such a nice, clean-cut fellow with a wife and kid. Seemed so normal. He explained how he was just a regular guy who just wanted to support his team (arguably he took this support to new heights, I suggest). And asked what he did for a living, he said he was a pastor in Tennessee! So what was their appraisal in church today? They thought it was funny but scandalous. Coming from a rival tradition, their view was, “Must have been a Southern Baptist” 