An Atheist's NFL Predictions

Most who have been following my blog for a while know that I have a passion for the NFL. I play in Fantasy Football leagues, and I've been known to wager on a game or two.

One of my friends asked me for my predictions for the Wild Card Playoff games that start today.

Something weird dawned on me. After giving my picks, I found that I liked all the teams this week that had a (non human) animal as their nickname.

The Cincinnati BENGALS, the Philadelphia EAGLES, the Baltimore RAVENS, and the Arizona CARDINALS are my selections for this week.

Did the fact that my last post had to do with the absurdity of Noah's Ark subconsciously influence my picks? Or did I subconsciously make my selections before I felt compelled to post the Noah's Ark video? Since there is probably no God, the answer to this mystery will never be solved.

Now, I do have a problem not allowing human beings to be also placed under the "animal" classification. But including the New England PATRIOTS, the Dallas COWBOYS, and Green Bay PACKERS as animals would have taken out a lot of material for this particular post I'm making. So just as I am able to empathize with the animal kingdom and support animal rights causes, yet I'm also able to eat meat, I'm also able to accept the biblical definition of animal when it suits my purpose.

Another thing that made me do a double take was the nickname Packers. For my almost 49 years on this planet, I never thought about what Packers are. It would be funny if it is short for Fudge Packers, but alas it is not. So for those who care, here is the history of the Packer name straight out of Wikipedia:

Curly Lambeau, the team's founder, solicited funds for uniforms from his employer, the Indian Packing Company. He was given $500 for uniforms and equipment, on condition that the team be named for its sponsor (a similar event would occur the following year with the Decatur Staleys, who later became the Chicago Bears). An early newspaper article referred to the new Green Bay team as "the Indians" but by the time they played their first game they had adopted the name "Packers."

In the early days, the Packers also were referred to as the "Bays" and the "Blues" (and even occasionally as "the Big Bay Blues"). These never were official nicknames, although Lambeau did consider replacing "Packers" with "Blues" in the 1920s.

In 1920, the Indian Packing Company was purchased by the Acme Packing Company. Acme continued its support of Lambeau's team, and in its first season in the NFL the team wore jerseys with the words "ACME PACKERS" emblazoned on the chest.

The only team this week that is named after an object is the New York JETS. But other than the Cleveland BROWNS and Buffalo BILLS (which has an animal for a town name and uses the Buffalo as their logo), all other teams are named after either humans or animals.

I don't get why birds are so popular for football teams especially. Meat eating animals are OK though like The Bears.

OK, back to my NFL predictions. So lets say I'm right about the first round. Now here is where it gets trickier. I think Arizona will beat Minnesota and New Orleans will beat Philadelphia next week. The San Diego Chargers will kill the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens will upset the Indianapolis Colts (of course, Baltimore would have to upset the New England Patriots tomorrow first).

I like Arizona to upset the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers to take care of Baltimore.

In the Super Bowl, I predict the San Diego Chargers will be victorious.



Incidentally, the Chargers are not named after a credit card customer or an instrument that replenishes batteries. They are actually named after a charging horse (a large strong horse formerly ridden into battle). But evolution reared its ugly head, and the Chargers lost the horse, and now only have a lightning bolt associated with them.

The horse's head (never on the helmet) went extinct after the 1973 season.

So much for irreducible complexity. According to Intelligent Design Theory, one would have to think that if you took out something as functional as a horse's head, the system would cease to exist. Apparently the lightning bolt is still thriving and so are the San Diego Chargers.

Last year, I'm still upset that Jesus didn't help Arizona Cardinal's quarterback Kurt Warner win the Super Bowl. He made it close, but allowed a divine miracle to occur right near the end of the game when Santonio Holmes made an unbelievable catch:



Jesus and God, I still can't figure out if they are one and the same at times, have done a great job to make it seem that there is randomness to who they favour and who they let win NFL football games.

There could be another explanation. It has been 10 since Jesus and God bet on Kurt Warner in the Super Bowl. Why do God and Jesus need to bet? I'll let the theologians chime in and answer that one. I'm sure they'll come up with a reason.

If God Suddenly Disappeared......

......it sure as heck would explain the Holocaust.

I know the following Edward Current video has made its rounds, posted on many atheist blogs. But I think it is important to for as many people (especially believers) to see in as many places as humanly possible. And besides, I have writer's block again:


What the heck, I'll add this stupid quiz that I found on LFG's Link Viewer site:


Created by OnePlusYou -

Isn't It Time For God To Put An End To The Atheist Bus Campaign?

Isn't this the perfect chance for God to finally come out of hiding? I know that if I was all powerful with a bit of a wrathful edge to me, I would do something to prove these atheist buses wrong.

How about making the sun rotate around the earth for a couple of days? Or simply write some messages in clouds? God can always of course make the limb of an amputee miraculously grow back. How about doing it in a couple of seconds on national TV?

CLICK TO ENLARGE


At first, when I heard about the Atheist Bus campaign, I was indifferent. In fact, I was sort of against it. I just looked at it as immature game playing by obnoxious atheists. But now that it has come to Canada, and I see all the press it is getting as well as the discussions and irrational ire it is causing, I'm fully supportive of it.

This is getting people thinking, people who may not thought so hard before. Not putting "There is no God" makes a big difference. By using the word "probably," it lightens the offensiveness of it, and opens up the debate in a much nicer manner. What it really does, is get many theists (the ones who are not too far gone) to look at the evidence for God. And once one really starts looking for evidence in a rational and objective way, many will come to the conclusion that there is probably no God, just as I did.

Kids will also start question their assumption of God at a much earlier age, and parents will need to explain why they believe in God, and that kind of gets tough, considering there really is no evidence to rely on. I'm sure the bible will be used, but children old enough to use the internet will be doing more searches, and bottom line will be questioning more and more.

Now about the Stop Worrying And Enjoy Your Life Part. I know many idiotic theists interpret this as a green light to atheists to rape, steal, and murder, but that argument gets shot down in a hurry because other than sociopaths, humans don't get pleasure from harming others. We are evolved to respect The Golden Rule (reciprocal altruism), though some cultures frown up The Golden Rule at times (see many Muslim countries that focus on a shame culture versus the guilt culture of the West).

Naturally, we are social animals who feel strong senses of empathy and guilt. We are prewired to get a sense of enjoyment (or at least extreme satisfaction) from helping an old lady walk across the street, not throwing an old lady in front of a speeding car.

And the stop worrying part is very important. Stop worrying about what God thinks, stop talking for God, as God is most probably a fictional character. In other words, at least respect the idea of separation of church and state because you are probably wrong, and don't worry about making abortion illegal because you think God doesn't like it, let the woman choose, and don't worry about homosexuals getting married either.

Lets not forget, if you are an anti-evolutionist and if you stop worrying about whether God exists or not, you might just start accepting real science by not letting the bible get in the way when it comes to the overwhelming evidence that supports evolution.

The more scientific minds, the higher the chance that future generations will be on this earth to enjoy a much longer life attached with more quality.

See also, The Atheist Media blog for a clip on the Atheist Buses coming to Toronto.

Oops, I forgot to make my Super Bowl prediction when I first posted this, so here goes. Kurt Warner has Jesus going for him, but Obama is cheering for Pittsburgh. Who has a greater desire to intervene? I'd say Jesus, because he isn't the top banana anymore, so I'm going with the Arizona Cardinals, plus 6 and a half of course.
Oh, and take the over. If the Cardinals cover, the game is definitely going to be high scoring.