Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse are two of my favorite footballers – even if they play for Newcastle United. :) Demba Ba in particular has a shot like a cannon.

But, I got to thinking about the differences in Europe and the UK — and the US. Americans get all woo-hoo over Tim Tebow and his Christian prayer pose. That’s just as common among athletes in Europe. Except sometimes those athletes aren’t Christian – they’re Muslim. Their celebration means as much to them as do the poses of Christian athletes.

So – you think there aren’t any Muslims in the NFL? Think, again. What if they kneeled and faced in the direction of Mecca after scoring a touchdown? What do you think would happen?



  1. KMFIX says:

    Looking forward to that day.

  2. Donaldo says:

    As a Christian and a Tim Tebow fan, I don’t care if they chant to their gods, strike a pose, or whatever. I think the Tebow phenomenon is more about a young man defying conventional wisdom and making the haters crazy. Will he ever win a superbowl? Frankly, I don’t care enough about football to get worked about it. Fandom is a transient thing. I’m sure he will get used to anonymity some day, like the rest of us.

    • Dallas says:

      defying conventional wisdom and making the haters crazy

      I agree he’s merely mocking a religious ‘strike a pose’ for publicity. It’s brilliant ! He panders to his religo-worshipers provides fodder for the rest!

      In the words of the famous dramatist, Brendan Behan, “there is no such thing as bad publicity” !!

    • Jimbo says:

      “Their Gods”?!? Really? You don’t know that Muslims and Christians share the same God? They only differ on which prophet holds the most influence. They respect that Jesus was a prophet of God, but that Mohammed was the final one.

      • HUGSaLOT says:

        Muslims, Christians, and Jews worship the same God (or father). Jews just worship the main God from the Hebrew Bible (aka old testament) Also if I understand this right, Christianity and Islam are spin-offs of Judaism. Though not sure if Islam is an off shoot of Judaism since it’s a very old religion compared to Christianity.

        So each of these faiths focus on different aspects of the SAME God.

        Jesus (the son of God) for Christians and they also have “the New Testament” focusing on Jesus. And other off-shoots of Christianity then focus on different aspects from Christianity (e.g Virgin Mary for Catholics, profit Joseph Smith/Brigham Young for Mormons, etc)

        Islam focuses on Mohamed, who is a prophet but Muslims still worship the same God from the Torah. The Torah contains a handful of the same books from the old testament that Jews and Christians read. Therefore it’s the SAME God.

        However only Christians call it “The old testament” and it’s still some what different from the Hebrew bible and interpreted differently.

      • Donaldo says:

        No, they don’t worship the same god. Jesus IS the God of the Christians.

  3. The Monster's Lawyer says:

    That ain’t football. And they don’t know how to ‘Tebow’ worth a shit.

  4. orchidcup says:

    Muslims, Christians and Jews believe in the same God. They are three branches of the Abrahamic religions. If we could get any of these religious zealots to agree on any one thing, there would be Peace on Earth and life would be Heaven for the rest of us.

    However, there will never be Peace on Earth so long as soccer is called football instead of its proper name.

    Soccer is played with a round ball and football is played with an oblong ball. Sensible sportsmen wear padding and protection.

    The Brits can’t seem to get anything right. They don’t speak proper English, and their sense of humor is whacky at best.

    • HUGSaLOT says:

      THANK YOU! I was trying to remember what part of the Torah, Hebrew bible, and the old testament all share; Abraham.

      As for Football/soccer. The game Americans know as “soccer” is a much OLDER game than Football, and it was called “Football” long before america was even founded. After all they actually USE THEIR FEET with the BALL and avoid using their hands. So therefore they called it “FOOTBALL”

      Where as in american football (off shoot of rugby) the foot is only used in a few offensive plays (kick off, punt, and field goal). it’s mostly played with player’s hands. Why isn’t it called “Hand-sometimes-foot-ball?”

      But “soccer” is just boring to watch.

  5. the dude says:

    Eidard takes a break from his usual religion-mockery to salute religion.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Who cares?!

    The NFL (American “Football”) is a totally private organization. Some teams are publicly traded and many of them often receive public money to build/maintain stadiums. But the NFL itself and for the most part, even the teams are private. And as long as the the teams and the NFL permit “Tebowing” then I can’t see the harm. It certainly isn’t any worse than seeing Nike headbands or revolting tattoos and smurf/troll hair protruding from the helmets.

    Tim Tebow may be a religious idiot but he is entitled to his own opinion just like anyone else. And when he is not playing the game he does offer a completely different perspective of honor and respect which I personally find very refreshing from the usual arrogant smugness that nearly every other football player is afflicted with.

    At best, Tim Tebow gets on one knee and bows his head which could be interpreted in many different ways. One possibility might be that he’s giving thanks to be an American football player – or an American! Another reason might be to honor the memory of Ceasar for historically encouraging games of violent sport. But the fact that Tebow admits he’s praying to a Christian god makes some of us cringe (myself included). But you have to look at it objectively and realize that Tim Tebow is not hurting anyone (off the field) particularly when it’s done at a private event which just happens to be open to the public. He’s simply expressing his American right of freedom of expression which I’m sure is still a bit of a foreign concept to many non-American’s (including many of the foreign Euro-trash too).

    Quite frankly, I enjoy a little drama at these events. And Tim Tebow is really just doing his job when you think about it. He is, after all, an entertainer! All sports figures are entertainers!!! Sports figures like Tim Tebow might not dance, sing or act, but without an audience these sports figures might as well not perform either.

    So if Tim Tebow wants to pick his nose during each huddle then I say that’s fine. It might not be in the best “taste” but I can’t see the harm in it particularly when you see the other players doing equally if not more disgusting things like spitting, drooling, and throwing buckets of Gatorade. And if any other player wants to do his/her own thing like pray to Allah while not interfering with the game – or anyone else’s activities – then I say let them do that too. That doesn’t mean I agree with them, I’m just there to watch the circus animals perform.

  7. TheOne says:

    WTF is this crappy sport that isn’t actually football!? A bunch of guys kicking a round ball around, that’s it? What fun is that in this game. It’s unlike NFL at all.

    As for Teebow, it’s the media that made it news. NOTHING is new about what he has done except for his seemingly impossible wins. But people forget almost every football player is religious and no game is an absolute sure win, even for a good team.

    You’re talking about this as though you’re new to the sport(s). Stick to what DU has done over the years and leave sports out of “news reporting” would you. It’s bad enough the staff bad mouths sports they have little clue about nor give a sht for them; or did everyone already forget? I don’t forget.

  8. Joe says:

    Who flattened the football and made it round?

  9. Lou Minatti says:

    “Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse are two of my favorite footballers”

    Spock says, “Fascinating.” Any more kickball videos you care to post?

  10. honeyman says:

    You are a modern day missionary Mr Eidard. Thanks you for bringing angelic light of the ‘beautiful game’ to the heathens. COYS.

  11. MartinJJ says:

    Obama would step on the field and shoot them in the neck. He doesn’t need any approval for that anymore. Those pesky terrorists. They are everywhere!

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