Football player prays before match, gets mocked by mascot

This is too spontaneous and funny not to post. At a recent football match involving University of Minnesota, Morris (yes, PZ’s school), one of the rival team’s players thought it would be prudent (or perhaps good PR) to be seen publicly kneeling to pray on the field before the start of the game. Unfortunately for him, he probably didn’t count on Goldy the Gopher, UMM’s cheeky team mascot, to be around:

UMM unfortunately lost the match (20-0? Owch), which may indicate that the guy’s prayers actually worked … but at least we get a funny bit with a giant costume gopher, especially when he gets fist-bumped by an enthusiastic young lady afterwards. Go, Goldy!

Unfortunately, Goldy also got reprimanded for the ribbing:

Minnesota spokesman Dan Wolter says the stunt was "plainly a mistake" and the mascot didn't intend to offend anyone or trivialize religion.

Bah, fuddydoodles. Not only was it an innocent bout of teasing, but also, it wasn’t really trivializing religion so much as the dolt who actually seems to believe that his cosmic deity would give the slightest crap about how well he and his team could catch or punt a ball.

(via Pharyngula)
Technorati tags: football · University of Minnesota · Goldy the Gopher · religion · prayer