I got home from working out in time to watch the Spain-Germany European Cup final from Vienna. I’m not inclined to patriotism in any form, but I’ll be darned if I, the son of an Austrian-born war refugee, was going to root for the Germans to win anything in the city of his birth. Spain won a deserved victory. A.S. Byatt has, not surprisingly, the best write-up of the whole tournament.
This leads me to my observation: legalizing gay marriage is good for sports teams. Spain did it a few years back, and wham, they win the Euro for the first time since 1964. Canada did it just before the 2006 Winter Olympics, and bingo, they had their best-ever medal haul. South Africa legalized gay marriage in 2006, and won the Rugby World Cup the following year. Massachusetts gave same-sex couples the right to wed a few years ago — and ask Red Sox and Celtic fans about how nicely things have gone for their teams since. For all those folks who insist that God’s punishment for gay marriage will be obvious, so far the evidence is, um, lacking. The evidence for the opposite is growing.
If California upholds gay marriage at the ballot box in November, I predict championships for USC football, UCLA basketball, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Anaheim Angels — all within short order.
Gay marriage causing sports victories? Is this a joke I’m not getting? What would the causal mechanism be? (Actually, I think the idea that the Creator of the Universe would care who wins a rugby match is pretty funny, but that’s probably not what you mean.)
this makes me happy even though I don’t love USC all that much.
Lester, the tongue is firmly implanted on the other side of the molars.
Sorry, I don’t see the Giants winning anything soon. And as much as it hurts I don’t think Cal will be winning the Rose Bowl either.
Oh, I’ve got Cal picked to finish second in the Pac-10 this year, and they’ll play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. ‘SC will play the winner of the Cocktail Party for the national title.
I”ve got Cal second too. But not ranked high enough for the Rose Bowl. Another Holiday Bowl for us.
So, if more states with college/national sports teams also legalize gay marriage, there will be total pandemonium come championship time?
…awesome.
It’s simply the Angels, Hugo. Get it right.
Officially, it’s the L.A. Angels of Anaheim, but the team prefers and uses “Angels” in all of its merch/promos/publications. Funny how devotion/loyalty to a smaller local region vs. a larger, more globalized idea of place was a topic in one of your more recent blogs…
And the Angels will win a World Series title while Gay marriage is still legal, before November balloting… =)
My bad, Vincent. I am no baseball fan, and all franchises are equal in my eyes, but I ought to have gotten the Angels’ monicker right.
Ha ha ha! You’re no baseball fan, yet you knew enough to predict an Angels title as opposed to a title for that other team representing metropolitan L.A.
(I couldn’t resist the chance for smack-talk!)
Well look at the damage caused by Katrina in New Orleans. The gay area of the French Quarter actually was not severly damaged. So much for God punishing The Big Easy for a liberal tude towards gays.
Norther California deserves the credit for gay marriage, so make it Cal winning the National Championship, and the Warriors and the A’s.
Illinois needs to approve gay marriages NOW! It may be the best chance the Cubs will have at winning the World Series.
Mike: Ha! Tell that to the Gay community in WeHo and Silver Lake and Echo Park…
Go Angels!
The Warriors? Seriously?
Actually, it’s the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Orange County, California, USA, Earth, the Universe, I’m told.
For a not tongue-in-cheek prediction, if California upholds gay marriage at the ballot box in November, I predict the marriage rate goes down at a faster rate and the percentage of out-of-wedlock childbirth goes up at a faster rate.
I am here to say that my wonderful brother-in-law (my brother’s husband) is responsible for all New England sports championships. He’s that nice. Perhaps if my brother was a gay polygamist, we would win even more titles. What will become of these children of gay marriage? Will they know for whom to root? Will they all throw like girls? And the girls, like boys? I think when your Celtics victory dance is “Gino on the Jumbotron”, God has spoken!
Go Sox!!!
Britain legalised gay marriage a few years ago *collapse of theory*.
Wrong, Tracey. The UK has registered partnerships giving the rights of marriage but it is explicitly NOT marriage. See the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_Kingdom
Domestic partnerships (of the sort offered by Britain or Germany) won’t trigger the winning of sports championships. It must be marriage and must be called marriage by name: that’s what’s different between the UK on the one hand and Spain and Canada on the other. (Or, in the States, what’s different between Vermont and Massachusetts.)