I’ll settle for WWF…

Are there any famous Unitarian Universalist sports figures out there? Commenter Patrick Murfin says no. I think he’s probably right, but I’d love to prove him wrong.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to identify a Unitarian, Universalist, or Unitarian Universalist who was or is a major sports figure, using the following criteria:

“Major sports figure” means plays on a major-league sports team in the U.S. (or equivalent abroad), or plays professionally (e.g., pro boxer, jockey, NASCAR driver), or is an Olympic gold medalist). I’m willing to consider those who hold world records with duly constituted sporting bodies. College players acceptable if their team wins a major event, or if theyr are personally a record holder. Crew member on a winning America’s Cup boat. Test match cricket would be fine. Dressage champion, sure why not. Hey, we’re desperate here. I’ll settle for a WWF wrestler (actually, finding a Unitarian Universalist pro wrestler would make me personally very happy).

The sports figure must have acknowledged himself or herself to be a Unitarian, Universalist, or Unitarian Universalist, and/or have been a member of a U, U, or UU congregation.

I’ve posted this same challenge on this blog before, with no results. But now the World Wide Web is bigger and shinier than it used to be, and our search skills are so much better. I’ve heard rumors about a Unitarian Universalist who got an Olympic gold medal in canoeing or kayaking — can we track that down? If we can’t have a Unitarian Universalist superhero, surely we can at least have a Unitarian Universalist sports figure!

Back in the day…

Are Unitarian Universalists sports-deficient as I have claimed? It turns out that back in the day, Universalists played some serious basketball. A denominational history expert sent me an email message to which was attached a scan of a newspaper clipping dating from 1960, just before the Universalists and the Unitarians consolidated into the Unitarian Universalist Association:

First Universalist has won the Somerville [Mass.] Y.M.C.A. Junior Church Basketball league championship for the third straight year by defeating West Somerville Baptist, 70-14.

By winning three successive years, First Universalist retired the Somerville Elks Trophy, which was presented to Rev. Elmer D. Colcord by “Y” President Norman Ray….

College Avenue Methodist finished in second place, one game behind, when it defeated West Somerville Congregational, 47-18….

The article goes on to state that First Universalist finished the 1960 season with a 13-1 record. That’s an impressive record, but what I find most impressive is the score of that final season game — the Universalists kicked some serious Baptist butt.

This raises an interesting question: were the Unitarians actually good at any sport? The man who president of the American Unitarian Association at the time of consolidation did play varsity football at Harvard, but one wonders if he was an exception rather than the Unitarian rule.

As always, your comments and speculations on this subject — a subject of great import — are more than welcome.

(For the record, I played on my college’s ultimate frisbee team. I don’t think we ever won a game.)

More eventful than usual

Carol and I went for a walk late this afternoon. It was a dreary gray day. We were on Pope’s Island heading across the bridge towards Fairhaven when we noticed a police car parked in the middle of the bridge. A police officer was standing in the sidewalk gesturing for us to cross to the sidewalk on the other side of the bridge; he was standing behind some of that yellow tape the police use to block off crime scenes.

As we stood there waiting for a break in the four lanes of traffic so we could cross to the other sidewalk, Carol told me that what she had read on the Web site of the New Bedford Standard-Times: that yesterday evening someone had seen someone walking along the bridge carrying a rope; that later police had found an empty noose tied to the railing of the bridge; that police divers were searching the water under the bridge.

As we passed the place where the police car was parked, another New Bedford police car pulled up. And a uniformed police officer sat on a dock over on our side of the bridge. “They must still have divers in the water,” said Carol.

When we got to Fairhaven, we turned down Middle Street. In the parking lot of the Fairhaven VFW, we saw four black-and-white Fairhaven police cars, one unmarked car with its blue lights flashing, a state police car, and several other cars. There were two tripods with video cameras standing on the sidewalk, and there was a man with a video camera on his shoulder further in the parking lot. There were perhaps thirty or forty bystanders spread out around the VFW parking lot: a couple standing on the porch of one of the apartments on the left, several people standing on the sidewalk in front, several more standing around the liquor store to the right of the VFW, and even more people standing on Bridge Street on the other side of the liquor store.

We had no idea what had happened, but it was pretty obvious that nothing was really going on any more. When we got back home, the Standard-Times Web site had a brief story: at 10:40 p.m. yesterday evening, police responded to a large fight somewhere around Bridge, Main, and Middle Streets (the Standard-Times reported that the fight took place at “the intersection of Middle and Main Streets,” but Middle and Main parallel each other). Three men received serious knife wounds; one of those died this morning after being flown to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.

But we didn’t know all this until we returned home. We walked past the VFW and down to the harbor so I could look at some ducks. “They’re Buffleheads,” said Carol, while I was still trying to figure out what kind of ducks they were. “You’re right,” I said, “but I thought you didn’t like birding.” She smirked and said, “Yup, but I can see better than you.”

Then we walked home, past the people standing around the Fairhaven VFW, past the two police cars on the bridge to Pope’s Island, and then around the little park on the south side of Pope’s Island. “What’s that!” said Carol. A hawk flew clumsily away from us, keeping low to the ground. It reappeared on the other side of a big clump of rose bushes. Carol pointed to a big pile of feathers. “It caught a pigeon,” I said. “Let’s see if we can sneak up behind it and figure out what kind of hawk it is.”

We walked quietly around the clump of rose bushes, and there was the hawk sitting on the ground staring back at us: brown back, about the size of a crow, probably an immature Cooper’s Hawk. I thought it would immediately fly away when it saw us, but it didn’t. Then I saw the bright red in between its feet: it was clutching the carcass of the dead pigeon. No wonder the hawk had flown so clumsily away from us; no wonder it didn’t fly away while we were staring at it; it was holding on to its dinner. We watched the hawk for a minute or two, but it obviously wasn’t going to start eating again until we went away.

We walked on home. The sun came out as we walked across the swing span bridge onto Fish Island. We stopped to talk to someone we know; we waved to Russell at the Fish Island gas station. It was a more eventful walk than usual.

Basketball hoops, puzzles, and the liberal church

It happened entirely by chance, but by far the best thing I did in my twelve years as a religious educator was something I did at the Unitarian Universalist church in Lexington center, Massachusetts. At some point, I noticed there were lots of rabid sports fans in that church. I’m not a sports fan, so at first I just ignored the talk about football, baseball, basketball, soccer, blah blah blah — but talk about sports pervaded all aspects of church life, from the Sunday school to the youth group to adult committee meetings and social hour, and it finally sunk in to my thick head that sports was central to the lives of about half the church members.

So I got approval to install a basketball hoop. Kids from kindergarten up through high school started to play Horse after church was over. Adults didn’t play, but adult sports fans watched the kids playing. One young person, someone who had been something of a troublemaker, said to me, “Finally we have some sports at this church,” and then sighed with a mixture of pleasure and relief.

Why was this one of the best things I ever did? Because by getting a basketball hoop installed, I acknowledged that religion is a matter for the whole person. If you’re into sports, or if you’re simply an active person, having to sit through a typical worship service at a liberal church means having to deny the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence with which you are blessed. I speak from experience — I am not particularly good at sitting still, and when I am not leading worship I try to sit in the very back of the church because I know I am going to have to fidget and move around.

Psychologist Howard Gardner has developed a theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner claims that we human beings possess at least eight different, including linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist intelligences. Whether or not you accept Gardner’s theory as valid, it does offer a useful description of the kinds of knowing that we human beings can do; and helps us understand that each person has a unique constellation of strengths and weaknesses among these types of knowing.

But most liberal religious worship services that I have had to sit through focus on the linguistic, musical, and intrapersonal (i.e., internally reflective) intelligences — and that’s about all. If you stay for social hour, you might get to exercise your interpersonal intelligence. If the church is a pretty building, you might get to exercise your spatial intelligence.

Most liberal churches pretty much ignore those of us with strengths in bodily-kinesthetic and logical-mathematical intelligences. Sure, maybe you get to stand up once in a while to sing a hymn. Yes, maybe the minister will offer an interesting logical argument once in a while (but given current homiletic trends, that’s increasingly rare). But that’s about it.

So that’s why we need basketball hoops at church (although some of us with bodily-kinesthetic needs would prefer just to work around the building, but you get my point). And, come to think of it, that’s why we need puzzles at church (personally, I would be much happier sitting through a typical Unitarian Universalist worship service if the order of service had a really good puzzle in it). Religion should engage the whole person, not just bits and pieces of the person. With that in mind, although I can’t install a basketball hoop in this blog, I think maybe I will plan another puzzle….

Rainy day

Walking five blocks to the post office left me soaked to my underwear. Puddles several inches deep. Runoff pouring down the street. If April showers bring May flowers, this should be a bumper year for flowers.

Easter egg

In anticipation of Orthodox Easter (which will be on April 27th this year), I decided to hide an Easter egg on this site. If you find it first, I will send you chocolate, enough to make it worth your while to solve this puzzle. There are at least three ways to find the Easter egg.

Rules to win chocolate: Follow the instructions that appear at the Easter egg precisely, then return here to post a comment saying you’ve found it. First comment (judged by time stamp on comment) gets chocolate. There is a possibility for a second prize winner, and there are instructions at the Easter egg for claiming second prize (also chocolate). When you comment, be sure to enter your correct email address, because that is how I will reach you to find out where to send the chocolate.

If you find the Easter egg, and you want to talk about it in the comments here, please use the ROT-13 cipher so you don’t spoil things for those who wish to find it on their own.

And yes, I know this puzzle has absolutely nothing to do with the purported purpose of this blog.

Where did they go?!

Nine years ago, I served on the old Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Pamphlet Commission. We were the ones responsible for producing all the pamphlets for the denomination. Back then, the World Wide Web was still new and shiny and full of untapped potential. During my time on the Commission, I said we should offer the text of all pamphlets for free on the UUA Web site. This idea provoked strong opposition, both from other members of the Commission, and from UUA staff.

People said, “If we offered them for free, we wouldn’t be able to sell printed versions.” I said, “So what? The point of a pamphlet is to reach as many people as possible. We’ll reach more people online.” People said, “But if we offer them for free, congregations will print them up on their own printers.” I said, “So what if they do? Some small congregations can’t afford pamphlets any other way, and they’re the ones who need the pamphlets most. The congregations who can afford pamphlets will find that our printed versions look so much better that it will be worth it to purchase them.” People said, “But what about copyright?” I said, “Not a real issue. You retain copyright, but put a notice offering permission of any Unitarian Universalist congregation to print as many as needed.”

Finally, I tried to make my real point. I said, “This is not about printed materials at all! We should be concerned about making our pamphlets easily available on this shiny new medium, the World Wide Web.” But I was ignored.

Then the Pamphlet Commission was dissolved, and UUA staff took over producing pamphlets. And lo and behold, suddenly one day the full text of all the pamphlets was available online. Hooray! We did the right thing for once!

Well. Sort of….

Just now I went to the UUA Web site to try to find a pamphlet online so I could send the URL to a newcomer to our church who wanted to know more about Unitarian Universalism. But apparently the texts of most of our pamphlets are no longer available on the UUA Web site (or if available, so hard to find that they might as well be unavailable). And when the text of a pamphlet was available, said text was accompanied by a long and nasty-sounding copyright notice. (Update: Chris found the old pamphlets page archived here. Thanks, Chris!)

I’d love to be proved wrong on this (Update: Deb proves me wrong here — Deb has long been a strong advocate for making pamphlets freely available on the Web. Yay, Deb!). I’d love to have someone show me the easily accessible Web page where I can find texts for every current UUA pamphlet, so I can share those pamphlets with our newcomers. I’d love it if every UUA pamphlet came with a Creative Commons 3.0 (by-nd-nc) license, so I could freely reproduce the texts of pamphlets on our church Web site.

And if someone can’t prove me wrong — if UUA pamphlets are mostly available only as dead tree resources — then maybe it’s time to gather a group of people who actually understand new media, a group that would write and produce free online pamphlets (text, audio, video) under a Creative Commons license.