Did I Just See What I Thought I Heard?

[AfterShock]

Did I just see what I thought I heard?!

Say it ain't so!
How can this happen?
AfterShock is shocked! And that doesn't happen very often.
But enough is enough. It's gone too far this time and I have to speak my mind or I'll explode.

However, in the past, I've held my tongue and bit my lip. When we lost the Miss Winstons and their wonderful smiles I thought it couldn't get any worse.

Then we lost original thought in post race winner's circle interviews, and replaced independent thought with a scripted speach -- scripted so as not to miss mentioning a single sponsor, big or small. Gotta get 'em all. It's all about the profits, doncha know.

Through the seasons, I've seen some of NA$CAR come and go as the organization grew. Along the way, I've watched drivers become "spokespersons" and "role models" as the driver's duty requirements evolved to "salesperson".

One driver who stands out in my mind for being pretty darned good at selling his sponsor's products and/or services is Mikey Waltrip. Especially those commercials with his brother D.W. That's about as perfect a match betwixt driver and sponsor as it  gets. Mikey manages to get plugs in for his sponsor in an original way. Not so for many of the other drivers.

Oh, they manage to include all the names to thank while in the winner's circle -- and then some. For a few, memorizing scripts isn't their best attribute though, God Bless 'em.

Which brings me to

Saturday night -- Busch Series race at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indiana.

The Invocation.

Pastor Mark Wright, of Hazel Dell Christian Church in Indiana.................
What was he thinking?!

I'm serious!
If Pastor Mark wasn't performing some of the best sarcastic humor I've wittnesed in a loooong time, ... and using his pulpit to reach and open thousands of fan's eyes and ears, as well as concerned Christians, and cause them great wonder, ..........

......... then, AfterShock is not only "shocked", and perplexed -- AfterShock is offended.

But I've seen it coming for awhile this season. Invocation goes to prayer which includes the usual bestowence of blessings on, ........ well,.......... like drivers who wait to exit the driver's compartment of their race car in Winner's Circle after the race -- and just before the airing of another round of re-run commercials, to let the Network "sell some of the Official Sponsor of NA$CAR products, so the Sponsor can "cut back to the race live if anything happens during the break".........
But, I digress,..............................................................

I've noticed the Official Sponsor's names pop up in those Invoctions as of late.
Whuzzup with that? Sponsors got an in with God?
Since when has the Lord been inclined to bless NA$CAR sponsors moreso than
the rest?

The powers that be NA$CAR openly call upon the God for blessings, but --
I wonder? As I recall a story in the New Testament about how Jesus became very angry at what had become of the Temple. If my memory serves me correctly, Jesus refered to it as a 'den of thieves', as he over-turned merchant's tables laden with wealth.

I'm thinkin' Jesus got a few threats over that. Which is when the words turn red in the Good Book here.

Destroy this temple and it will be rebuilt in three days.
Those mis-using the temple figured Jesus meant the brick and mortar temple, when, in fact, Jesus meant HIS Body.
Communication is everything.

How many "tables" did/does Brian have set-up then/now? California Speedway has a mall under the grandstands I'm told.

Somehow, I just can't imagine Brian finding the way to get God as an Official Sponsor of NA$CAR -- but rumor has it they will be making an announcement of an Official God of NA$CAR and, that God will lend His name to "Cup" next season.
The God Cup Series. Might even sponsor a race too.

So as anyone can plainly see, I have a LOT of thinkin' to do 'bout this.

I want badly to learn Pastor Mark is a genius at sarcastic humor. But, I'm afraid what I'll come to know as fact is that Brian has now incorporated a method of extracting profit from prayer -- as prayer becomes another avenue to advertise. Might even have to put a new entry in the dictionaries. "Advertising Prayer"

The last few words of Pastor Mark Wright's invocation were delivered in Ricky Bobby style,.........................................
"Let these good boys and good girl................................... ...............
GET IT ON!!
In Jesus name I pray."

Yeah!
Me too.

Say it ain't so.

Brian and his merry following of sponsors have degraded prayer with advertising.
Is there no end to the shame Brian will bring upon NA$CAR and it's fans?
Thanx in large part to Brian's leadership, the sky seems to be the limit.

Blessed be thy owners of NA$CAR,
For they shall inherit the Earth.

For what good is it for a man to inherit the world
Yet forfeit his Soul?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

.

****edited to correct my mistake of "Mike" to "Mark," and to correct spelling. A "Creative" poster once pointed out my misspelling. That poster was correct in doing so. I appreciate the heads-up, and intend to be more aware of said misspellings and correct them prior to posting. No more 'rough draft' posts. Just the 'edited,' proof read versions.****

[Chris]

well.. I was working on my Fantasy Picks for SUNDAYS race,.. so i was just kinda 1/2 way listening...
Didn't really catch much of the prayer... just the part about the "let these Good ol boys, and Good ol girl,..... Get it on"
First caught me off guard because I wasn't aware it was the prayer, and I thought it was some kinda 'sex talk' or something... LOL

Then I looked up at the TV and saw it was the prayed before the National Anthem...
SO I have no clue what was said before that...
I know,... leave it to me for some "sex" something to catch my attention... ROFLOL
 

[Blu]

Did I just see what I thought I heard?!

Say it ain't so!
How can this happen?
AfterShock is shocked! And that doesn't happen very often.
But enough is enough. It's gone too far this time and I have to speak my mind or I'll explode.

However, in the past, I've held my tongue and bit my lip. When we lost the Miss Winstons and their wonderful smiles I thought it couldn't get any worse.

Then we lost original thought in post race winner's circle interviews, and replaced independent thought with a scripted speech -- scripted so as not to miss mentioning a single sponsor, big or small. Gotta get 'em all. It's all about the profits, doncha know.

Through the seasons, I've seen some of NA$CAR come and go as the organization grew. Along the way, I've watched drivers become "spokespersons" and "role models" as the driver's duty requirements evolved to "salesperson".

One driver who stands out in my mind for being pretty darned good at selling his sponsor's products and/or services is Mikey Waltrip. Especially those commercials with his brother D.W. That's about as perfect a match betwixt driver and sponsor as it  gets. Mikey manages to get plugs in for his sponsor in an original way. Not so for many of the other drivers.

Oh, they manage to include all the names to thank while in the winner's circle -- and then some. For a few, memorizing scripts isn't their best attribute though, God Bless 'em.

Which brings me to

Saturday night -- Busch Series race at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indiana.

The Invocation.

Pastor Mark Wright, of Hazel Dell Christian Church in Indiana.................
What was he thinking?!

I'm serious!
If Pastor Mike wasn't performing some of the best sarcastic humor I've wittnesed in a loooong time, ... and using his pulpit to reach and open thousands of fan's eyes and ears, as well as concerned Christians, and cause them great wonder, ..........

......... then, AfterShock is not only "shocked", and perplexed -- AfterShock is offended.

But I've seen it coming for awhile this season. Invocation goes to prayer which includes the usual bestowence of blessings on, ........ well,.......... like drivers who wait to exit the driver's compartment of their race car in Winner's Circle after the race -- and just before the airing of another round of re-run commercials, to let the Network "sell some of the Official Sponsor of NA$CAR products, so the Sponsor can "cut back to the race live if anything happens during the break".........
But, I digress,..............................................................

I've noticed the Official Sponsor's names pop up in those Invoctions as of late.
Whuzzup with that? Sponsors got an in with God?
Since when has the Lord been inclined to bless NA$CAR sponsors moreso than
the rest?

The powers that be NA$CAR openly call upon the God for blessings, but --
I wonder? As I recall a story in the New Testament about how Jesus became very angry at what had become of the Temple. If my memory serves me correctly, Jesus refered to it as a 'den of thieves', as he over-turned merchant's tables laden with wealth.

I'm thinkin' Jesus got a few threats over that. Which is when the words turn red in the Good Book here.

Destroy this temple and it will be rebuilt in three days.
Those mis-using the temple figured Jesus meant the brick and mortar temple, when, in fact, Jesus meant HIS Body.
Communication is everything.

How many "tables" did/does Brian have set-up then/now? California Speedway has a mall under the grandstands I'm told.

Somehow, I just can't imagine Brian finding the way to get God as an Official Sponsor of NA$CAR -- but rumor has it they will be making an announcement of an Official God of NA$CAR and, that God will lend His name to "Cup" next season.
The God Cup Series. Might even sponsor a race too.

So as anyone can plainly see, I have a LOT of thinkin' to do 'bout this.

I want badly to learn Pastor Mark is a genius at sarcastic humor. But, I'm afraid what I'll come to know as fact is that Brian has now incorporated a method of extracting profit from prayer -- as prayer becomes another avenue to advertise. Might even have to put a new entry in the dictionaries. "Advertising Prayer"

The last few words of Pastor Mark Wright's invocation were delivered in Ricky Bobby style,.........................................
"Let these good boys and good girl................................... ...............
GET IT ON!!
In Jesus name I pray."

Yeah!
Me too.

Say it ain't so.

Brian and his merry following of sponsors have degraded prayer with advertising.
Is there no end to the shame Brian will bring upon NA$CAR and it's fans?
Thanx in large part to Brian's leadership, the sky seems to be the limit.

Blessed be thy owners of NA$CAR,
For they shall inherit the Earth.

For what good is it for a man to inherit the world
Yet forfeit his Soul?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Well after MUCH thought on this and a lot of wrangling in my head (theres a LOT of room there LOL) Im still  torn between a few thoughts here.

Shakey has known me for several years on another board (and invited me here, for which I am eternally grateful bud ) and knows that I make no bones about my  being a Christian, although I never try and force my belief on another. Its theirs (their belief) and I truly believe (and know from experience)that  being a Christian is not about going to Church necessarly, but a personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour.
When that happens trust me you KNOW it, and it can be in Church, in a truck cab, or at a racetrack or anyplace else. God really doesnt care where it is.
Ar any rate, given my past  views on religion ,and Christanity  Aftershook invited me to think about this incident and make my thoughts known.  It took me awhile to sort my thoughts out and Im still kinda going back and forth somethimes but here it is as best I can communicate it and I hope its at least semi coherent.

Did a little looking at Pastor Mark, and found out that he is a semi young guy at a pretty contemporary Christian Church (Hazel Dell ,in  an Indy suburb). Now ...that alone makes me have a few different thoughts as I tend to like a little more upbeat contemporary service personally.
 But anyways,a contemporary service is a little more upbeat and uses a lot of modern upbeat, uplifting songs and everyday words and  terms. The language of the people you are talking to so to speak. And..thatsa good thing! Its what Jesus did back in the day.
Now given that..I think that Pastor Mark was simply trying  to appeal to the folks like me that like a little more modern upbeat message that we can easily relate to. Jesus IS a pretty darn radical dude, and knows that to appeal to folks you go where they are and talk their language while still speaking the same unchanging message of salvation...just in a different way that they understand better.

Could Pastor Mark's words be taken another way??.ABSOLUTELY... and as I say, my own thoughts ran from outrage, to laughing a little ,to embarrassment, etc..
It could  be taken as blasphemous IF taken in a sexual context, OR maybe justa little humourous attempt there to appeal to who the crowd was, using  a popular movie theme that many  there had probably seen and could relate to, OR another way to look at it is that maybe Pastor Mark is a racing fan (and he IS I found out) and "Get it on" means simply and nothing more than that he was excited and saying lets get this thing started now.Just depends on how you look at it IMO.

Now, I certainly dont know Pastor Mark but I really believe that he was doing 1 or both of these things. Using a phrase thats in a popular movie, AND, he was saying "lets get it ON ", meaning "lets get this thing started , I cant wait!"
 I personally tend to believe it was more (and probably solely)the latter.


 I just have a real hard time believing that he meant any harm by it and I really tend to doubt the sexual overtones even entered his thoughts when he said it myself.

Kinda like me saying "screw that", or "cut the cheese", ..depends on how I mean it doesnt it?It could be taken 2 ways though huh?

So...I gues this is my thoughts on it..He could have used different words ..for sure , and in retrospect Ill bet he  wishied maybe he had . But I truly believe there was no blasphemy, slur, or harm intended.

My $.02.

[nascarbabe2U]

For what it's worth I personally am offended…and for me that’s saying a lot.

I think Pastor Mark is out of his league making the statement. I am not a religious person by any means, do I believe…..YES…..I DO.  But to me his statement was more an insult to the institution and those who do believe. Sure sometimes it’s ok to try and fit into a certain situation but never by any member of the clergy…..it’s just plan rude and disrespectful period. Yes, one can make things lighthearted and not so serious as long as the language is in proper context.

Communication is the key to everything but just because one feels the need to communicate doesn’t mean one should. Sometimes saying nothing speaks volumes too. In this case Pastor Mark should NOT have tried to fit in.

That’s just my opinion.

[IndyCarzGo]

Did I just see what I thought I heard?!

Say it ain't so!
How can this happen?
AfterShock is shocked! And that doesn't happen very often.
But enough is enough. It's gone too far this time and I have to speak my mind or I'll explode.

However, in the past, I've held my tongue and bit my lip. When we lost the Miss Winstons and their wonderful smiles I thought it couldn't get any worse.

Then we lost original thought in post race winner's circle interviews, and replaced independent thought with a scripted speach -- scripted so as not to miss mentioning a single sponsor, big or small. Gotta get 'em all. It's all about the profits, doncha know.

Through the seasons, I've seen some of NA$CAR come and go as the organization grew. Along the way, I've watched drivers become "spokespersons" and "role models" as the driver's duty requirements evolved to "salesperson".

One driver who stands out in my mind for being pretty darned good at selling his sponsor's products and/or services is Mikey Waltrip. Especially those commercials with his brother D.W. That's about as perfect a match betwixt driver and sponsor as it  gets. Mikey manages to get plugs in for his sponsor in an original way. Not so for many of the other drivers.

Oh, they manage to include all the names to thank while in the winner's circle -- and then some. For a few, memorizing scripts isn't their best attribute though, God Bless 'em.

Which brings me to

Saturday night -- Busch Series race at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indiana.

The Invocation.

Pastor Mark Wright, of Hazel Dell Christian Church in Indiana.................
What was he thinking?!

I'm serious!
If Pastor Mark wasn't performing some of the best sarcastic humor I've wittnesed in a loooong time, ... and using his pulpit to reach and open thousands of fan's eyes and ears, as well as concerned Christians, and cause them great wonder, ..........

......... then, AfterShock is not only "shocked", and perplexed -- AfterShock is offended.

But I've seen it coming for awhile this season. Invocation goes to prayer which includes the usual bestowence of blessings on, ........ well,.......... like drivers who wait to exit the driver's compartment of their race car in Winner's Circle after the race -- and just before the airing of another round of re-run commercials, to let the Network "sell some of the Official Sponsor of NA$CAR products, so the Sponsor can "cut back to the race live if anything happens during the break".........
But, I digress,..............................................................

I've noticed the Official Sponsor's names pop up in those Invoctions as of late.
Whuzzup with that? Sponsors got an in with God?
Since when has the Lord been inclined to bless NA$CAR sponsors moreso than
the rest?

The powers that be NA$CAR openly call upon the God for blessings, but --
I wonder? As I recall a story in the New Testament about how Jesus became very angry at what had become of the Temple. If my memory serves me correctly, Jesus refered to it as a 'den of thieves', as he over-turned merchant's tables laden with wealth.

I'm thinkin' Jesus got a few threats over that. Which is when the words turn red in the Good Book here.

Destroy this temple and it will be rebuilt in three days.
Those mis-using the temple figured Jesus meant the brick and mortar temple, when, in fact, Jesus meant HIS Body.
Communication is everything.

How many "tables" did/does Brian have set-up then/now? California Speedway has a mall under the grandstands I'm told.

Somehow, I just can't imagine Brian finding the way to get God as an Official Sponsor of NA$CAR -- but rumor has it they will be making an announcement of an Official God of NA$CAR and, that God will lend His name to "Cup" next season.
The God Cup Series. Might even sponsor a race too.

So as anyone can plainly see, I have a LOT of thinkin' to do 'bout this.

I want badly to learn Pastor Mark is a genius at sarcastic humor. But, I'm afraid what I'll come to know as fact is that Brian has now incorporated a method of extracting profit from prayer -- as prayer becomes another avenue to advertise. Might even have to put a new entry in the dictionaries. "Advertising Prayer"

The last few words of Pastor Mark Wright's invocation were delivered in Ricky Bobby style,.........................................
"Let these good boys and good girl................................... ...............
GET IT ON!!
In Jesus name I pray."

Yeah!
Me too.

Say it ain't so.

Brian and his merry following of sponsors have degraded prayer with advertising.
Is there no end to the shame Brian will bring upon NA$CAR and it's fans?
Thanx in large part to Brian's leadership, the sky seems to be the limit.

Blessed be thy owners of NA$CAR,
For they shall inherit the Earth.

For what good is it for a man to inherit the world
Yet forfeit his Soul?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

.

****edited to correct my mistake of "Mike" to "Mark," and to correct spelling. A "Creative" poster once pointed out my misspelling. That poster was correct in doing so. I appreciate the heads-up, and intend to be more aware of said misspellings and correct them prior to posting. No more 'rough draft' posts. Just the 'edited,' proof read versions.****

For what it's worth I personally am offended?and for me that?s saying a lot.

I think Pastor Mark is out of his league making the statement. I am not a religious person by any means, do I believe?..YES?..I DO.  But to me his statement was more an insult to the institution and those who do believe. Sure sometimes it?s ok to try and fit into a certain situation but never by any member of the clergy?..it?s just plan rude and disrespectful period. Yes, one can make things lighthearted and not so serious as long as the language is in proper context.

Communication is the key to everything but just because one feels the need to communicate doesn?t mean one should. Sometimes saying nothing speaks volumes too. In this case Pastor Mark should NOT have tried to fit in.

That?s just my opinion.

After thinking long and hard on this. my gut feeling is like  this: why is everyone so suprised?   Just another example of  "runaway capitalism" at it's finest! ANd it's nothing new...been going on for many years...we just seem to notice it more because of the advances in tehcnolory that seem to make Televison and Sports an even larger part of our livves!

Now before everyone gets it worng and thinks I'm a "godless commie", I have no problems with people makin' tons and tons of money; I love Mom,, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Dodge!  But it seems as if the pursuit of the long green has taken precedent over everything else, and when it enters into my enjoyment of whatever it is I am watching we have a problem!

Case(s) in point:

A zillion commercials before you finally get to see the movie you paid $15 and up to see.... During a NASCAR event,NFL MLB or even NHL game... there's  an injury on the field or track...someone's dpwn on the ground in obvious pain, how serious we do not yet know...drs. are rushing on the "field" or "track" and the next thing you hear are those dreaded words...."we'll be riiiiiight back!!!"

I could go on and on, and i think some of you have made numerous negative comments on the NASCAR coverage lately, soooo I guess you all know what I mean.

The solution?

Not reall sure if it would work here... But over in Italia (otherwise known as Italy), my good piasn Big Looie tells me they  save ALL the commercials till the end of the show and run em' in a block...he also sez the audience stays tuned in  for em too! go figure! Could be a good thing,no? Imagine this if you will race fans... The ENITRE Daytona 500 next year without a SINGLE COMMERCIAL INTERUPTION!!! We can dream, can't we??