Miscellanea: The Pope, Starbury
An Intro to Miscellanea
Occasionally on my old blog I would post a column with a few topics which I had thoughts I wanted to write about, but in a short format instead of a whole post so I decided to combine them in a post called Miscellanea. This is the first of the Miscellanea columns for the new blog. The topics are not usually related, but occasionally there will be a common theme amongst the topics discussed.
Pope Goes Retro
No the Pope has not started wearing leisure suits. He recently reinstated the practice of giving out indulgences. It is not quite the old format, which was abhorred by Martin Luther but sort of a re-imagining of papal indulgences. In the movie industry they re-imagine just about every older movie which made money at some point. Sure some of the movies were not really a hit with the critics. (See Martin Luther noted critic of the Catholic Church) For those who are not up on their history, a papal indulgence was the practice of literally selling the right to go to heaven. Maybe you were not certain your behavior would warrant induction into the pearly gates, who knows how difficult it is to get in maybe it is like the Baseball Hall of Fame and even if you were the all time hits leader like Pete Rose, or Mother Theresa, you would not get in for some inconsequential and seemingly unrelated infraction. The indulgence was seen by those who opposed it as the ultimate sign of the Church taking advantage of its parishioner’s faith and was one of the main causes of the schism of the Catholic and Protestant Churches. Reports are that the new indulgences are a reward for those who are active in the community, but it would seem if their beliefs are true they would not need some sort of fast lane or back entrance they should be able to stroll through the pearly gates with every one else rather than use the easy pass. I do not suspect there is much congestion at that stop at the moment. I do not mean to mock the Catholic Church I just feel that they should not have brought back one of the least popular practices in their history even if the new version really does have good intentions. The word indulgence is right in the name so that should give you an idea of what it is all about. It seems sort of like banks giving mortgages to people who could not afford them only instead of them moving in right away they were promised they could move in after they died.
Starbury to Play Supporting Role in Boston
The talented but mercurial point guard Stephon Marbury made his debut with the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics last night. He scored eight points in his first NBA game since last year. He may have been a little rusty, but he knocked down a few jump shots and showed off his trademark crossover dribble on two forays to the basket. He does not have an actual trademark on the crossover dribble it is just a phrase commonly used in sports. Strangely announcers often speak of players having a patent on a certain move such as there goes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar again with his patented sky hook. Again I do not believe he has a patent on the sky hook although as successful as it was for him it is inexplicable that no one has done it since. The next time I make a trip to my local patent office I will make sure to ask the lady at the front desk whether Kareem has a patent on the sky hook. Marbury, who nicknamed himself Starbury and actually has a star tattooed on the side of his head, surprisingly has a reputation as being a tad egocentric. He will have to play a subservient role on the Celtics, but if he does so and becomes a capable sixth man it will greatly enhance the Celtic’s chances of repeating as champions and winning their league record nineteenth championship. Yes they already have the record with seventeen just as they did previously when they had sixteen. Maybe I am biased because I am a Celtic’s fan, but I am glad to see Marbury get another chance. He is a great talent. He can be enigmatic at times, but he does have a low cost clothing and shoe line, which is targeted to provide an affordable alternative to the exorbitant prices of other NBA star’s shoes. Starbury does not sell leisure suits at the moment. It is too bad as a nice Celtic green leisure suit would look fantastic on me. The leisure suit was sort of like the Snuggie only you could wear it at the office and at home lounging on the couch. It is easy to pick on the Snuggie, but as ridiculous as it is I will not get too worked up about it unless people start wearing it to work or the mall. Then I will unleash a full on assault of the Snuggie and anyone associated with it.
Full Disclosure: I heard mention of the return of papal indulgences on Real Time with Bill Maher. He also wore a Snuggie for his final rant. I do not know for sure if he ever wore a leisure suit, but my guess is he did.
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