Mike
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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
AMEN, Brother! Mike, you have NO IDEA what it is like here in Nashville Music City, USA. Unless you are like me, a native Chicagoan (Oak Park), schooled in Wisconsin (Kenosha and UW), lived for 20 years+ in Cedarburg, and am a quiet Christian (think Lutheran as in Garrison Keillor and Lake Woebegon, MN). Starting a NASCAR race with a prayer the includes "smokin hot wife" and a descriptor of every engine, team and sponsor is really not that big of a deal in the "Buckle of the Baptist Bible Belt". Boogidy, boodidey, boogiddie...Y'all come down as see us now, ya' hear....:-))
Posted by: Michael | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 02:07 PM
yup.
Posted by: ian campbell | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 02:09 PM
Actually, seeing that I really want to be an honorary American. OH YEAH
Posted by: Keith Loh | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 02:18 PM
I am not a fan of religion in any form but at least this guy is honest about his 'faith'. Ble$$ Je$us.
Posted by: Nigel Hansen | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 02:23 PM
Seems that on the headshot of the preacher the sync between words we hear and the movement of the lips is really off. Is this a hoax?
Posted by: Luc N | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 02:40 PM
Yee-Haw!
Amen, Brothers.
The South's gonna rise again!
Posted by: Bill Mitchell | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 02:43 PM
I gotta think that's the best public prayer *ever*!
Posted by: Richard E. | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 02:48 PM
I am a racer and it has always been a huge yawn when some self-absorbed moron prays for us...
That guy's prayer for Nascar is the first honest preacher I have ever heard. Amen to him for his bravery and integrity, telling it just exactly and precisely like it is....
Best wishes
Posted by: greg smith | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 03:08 PM
I think you you have here is the sequel to the prayer scene in the movie Talladega Nights. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A0-u85aAYg
Which may make it that more bizarre.
Posted by: Steve Weeks | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 03:10 PM
Blasphemy, everyone knows Jesus would have endorsed Pirelli tires.
Posted by: Barry | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 03:13 PM
Some of the more mainstream churches could probably gin up additional revenue from product placements in their Sunday sermons. It's tough to make a go of it from what gets dropped into the collection plates.
Posted by: Chuck Albertson | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 03:16 PM
God is cringing.
Posted by: Jim Bullard | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 03:45 PM
It is said of the Dutch (I am a Dutchman) that they're all preachers and merchants neatly rolled into one - but as it is also said, everything is bigger in America ...
Posted by: Hans Muus | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 04:00 PM
I thought for a minute there that was the daily opening prayer in the House of Representatives...
Posted by: Ed Kirkpatrick | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 04:03 PM
We don't have any prejudices about Americans here in Europe - really, none at all, but ... oh man, this so confirms all of them ...
Posted by: efix | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 04:19 PM
Hey, I paid good money to have my product mentioned in that prayer and he stumped over it!
It's a divining rod that takes you straight to the breakfast sausage section of the grocery store.
We can only hope that there are a bunch of NASCAR fans who always wait for the prayer and then run to the bathroom and pee while everyone else is all MESMERIZED by that holy man.
Posted by: David | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 04:22 PM
I'm an American, and that DOES NOT represent me!
The Red States of America should just secede already.
Posted by: CK Dexter Haven | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 04:37 PM
Best part for me is, he's clearly reading from something he wrote down. Pretty sure he wrote the "boogity boogity boogity" part, too.
But at least he knows his audience.
Posted by: emptyspaces | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 04:39 PM
"Talladega Nights" comes to life! It is hilarious. Thanks for posting Mike!
Posted by: Richard Skoonberg | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 04:42 PM
That's the sort of prayer even us atheists can appreciate.
Posted by: david | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 05:13 PM
I'm speechless.
But not suprised.
Posted by: john robison | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 05:36 PM
Nutshell I think is an appropriate metaphor.
Posted by: Jeff | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 05:45 PM
I'm not sure what to say about that. I guess any marketing opportunity is a good marketing opportunity. Maybe they just need to loosen the bible belt a notch or two. The game is just getting too big for it's britches.
Posted by: Ken White | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 05:49 PM
I think I sent money to that holy man! I hope he didn't use it to get his wife a boob job.
cfw
Posted by: Carl Wemhoener | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 05:51 PM
Oh man, now I wanna be an American!
Posted by: Arg | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 06:00 PM
If it aint got a engine it dont belong here is what I say.
Plus one of my favorites, which I take as satire. Your mileage, if it disagrees, is your own bidness.
"Soccer - America's Path To Socialism", by Billy Bob Neck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBkbj_S3etY
Posted by: Dave Sailer | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 06:00 PM
Thanks a lot. Now I'm going to have nightmares.
Posted by: latent_image | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 06:02 PM
Yes true esoteric religion at it's best. :0
Posted by: MJFerron | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 06:16 PM
Oh dear God...
Posted by: Bruce Krobusek | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 06:19 PM
I have never heard a priest thanking God for his "smoking hot wife, Lisa". As this is a photographic blog, and one unusually grounded in reality, are we to expect any photographic evidence of this assertion? Perhaps DOMAI.com has the early test polaroids? On second thoughts, perhaps not....
Meanwhile, from across the pond, can I urge the US Congress and President Obama to sort out the debt limit / cuts / cap / balance nonsense so that the rest of the world doesn't collapse under the weight of dollar denominated confetti?
Posted by: James | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 06:37 PM
Except for the glaring omission of any reference to firearms, it is a perfect American prayer
Posted by: Ray Hunter | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 06:52 PM
Hmmmm. Can you say Talladega Nights? I hope he was praying the the little baby Jesus.
Posted by: Christopher Lane | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 06:59 PM
Hilarious... coming to the NFL & MLB and a high school game near you soon!
Posted by: Crage | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 07:37 PM
Is this real? The fellow seemed a bit of of sync. A talented someone could have taken an existing video clip and redubbed it with a new sound track. Since only a few seconds on either end are on the speaker, lack of lip sync would go largely unnoticed.
I find it disconcerting that we see clips like this, and although they're too trivial to do any verification on, they still affect our perception of culture.
Did anyone see this on TV? Can't trust everything you see on youtube.
Posted by: Samm Cooper | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 08:21 PM
Jeez, when it comes to America, sometimes one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. We're only a heartbeat away from someone discovering the 'baby Jesus's image in burnt rubber on the Nascar track. Boogity boogity boogity boo... and may God bless Arrrmurrukka!
Denny F.
Oz
Posted by: Dennis Fairclough | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 08:29 PM
Luc and Samm,
I assumed it was a joke when I first saw it, but I'm not so sure any more--there seems to be a report about it on a Fox News website, and another article talks about his wife and daughter's reaction to it and has comments by the preacher defending it. Maybe it is fake, but now I'd have to put it at 50/50. I guess I won't know for sure until it goes up on Snopes.com.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Monday, 25 July 2011 at 09:54 PM
The America I know won't fit in that nutshell.
Bicoastally yours,
Ben
Posted by: Ben Rosengart | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 12:07 AM
Rather explains the debt crisis, no?
Posted by: Andrew Kelley | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 12:39 AM
BTW, the "boggity, boggity, boggity" is from The Dukes of Hazzard, isn't it? The original ones, from the Seventies, that is.
Posted by: erlik | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 02:50 AM
We don't have any prejudices about Americans here in Europe
You speak for yourself!!!
Posted by: Steve Smith | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 03:19 AM
Good heavens.....you guys actually do this stuff! We've heard about it here in the motherland of course, but thought it was just a figment of our twisted & deluded media barons.
Posted by: Dennis Huteson | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 03:22 AM
Have to admit those particular statements
by the fat joweled so=called preacher exemplifies all that is incorrect in the
UnUnited states of America.
Maybe the shells are not big enough for the nuts involved in the charade known as Nascar!
Posted by: Bryce Lee in Burlington Ontario Canada, eh? | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 05:29 AM
The America I know won't fit in that nutshell.
Bicoastally yours,
Ben
Ben, you're right; I've watched it three times now and there's no sign of a pet-counseling ad.*
*Pompous Brit taking the p**s gratuitously because he's bored alert
Posted by: Jim McDermott | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 07:20 AM
Upon closer inspection..it's mostly cutaway and when you actually do see the preacher, 99% of the lips don't match the words coming out.
Posted by: David | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 08:29 AM
Yup. Nascar, Central Florida, Tennessee, and the South. What else can I add to that.
Posted by: Bob Rosinsky | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 09:07 AM
Nutshell ... nut's hell ...
Posted by: Bill | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 09:21 AM
"Good heavens.....you guys actually do this stuff! We've heard about it here in the motherland of course, but thought it was just a figment of our twisted & deluded media barons."
Well, I think it's possible it's a joke, and, if it isn't, then the pastor was having his own joke with the crowd. But the earlier commenter was right--if he'd just been able to work guns into the prayer too, it would have had just about every Red State cliché there is. (All that's left is country music. Or should I say "country music," in quotes, since it's very much a slick, citified professional genre now that has little to do with its mountain music or rural folk roots past the obligatory twang with which it is sung.)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 10:13 AM
Shades of "Talladega Nights"! Well, this IS America, where sports and religion are just about one and the same thing...
Posted by: Paul Luscher | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 11:40 AM
Oh, it's real, all right:
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/07/25/pastor-defends-calling-wife-smokin-hot-in-prayer-before-nascar-race/
It's fortunate NASCAR didn't have the invocation done by someone from the Westboro Baptist Church (who were otherwise engaged last weekend).
Posted by: Chuck Albertson | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 03:22 PM
For an American, this clip is almost as embarrassing as having elected George W. Bush twice. To make up for this Mike, you should be forced to sit through a Sara Palin lecture on American History.
Posted by: Richard | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 03:50 PM
>>BTW, the "boggity, boggity, boggity" is from The Dukes of Hazzard, isn't it? The original ones, from the Seventies, that is.<<
Erlik, I think in this context it references the catch phrase of Darryl Waltrip, a current announcer and previous race car driver. "DW" uses the phrase as the NASCAR cars cross the start/finish line at the beginning of the race, adding "Let's go racing, boys!!!" to the phrase.
(I used to follow Formula One, but now in my dotage it's easier to just keep track of who turns left first).
Jim
Posted by: Jim Hart | Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 05:16 PM
I think, he just took this scripture literally (which I think, you should):
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1st Thessalonians 5, 18)
By the way, check this songified version out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZnDt2wEFjk&feature=feedu
Posted by: Micha Drögemüller | Monday, 08 August 2011 at 11:02 AM