Goldy in hot water from USA Today

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Didn't Jesus say something about not making a show of your faith but living a life that shows your faith? This guy's doing the DJ Dozier thing trying to impress us all. Hats off to Goldy. Well played my good man.
 

Goldy represents the University a lot better than Brewster's offense does
 

The U has issued a formal statement about this:

We have had a discussion with Goldy about the incident in Penn State on Saturday. It certainly wasn't his intent to offend anyone or trivialize their religion. The life of a mascot at a sporting event is fast-paced and enormously high energy. This was plainly a mistake. On behalf of Goldy and the University of Minnesota, I want to apologize to the Penn State player involved and anyone else who may have taken offense from this incident. We have reiterated to Goldy the importance of exercising appropriate religious sensitivity in the future.

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/65...EyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUgOy9cP3DieyckcUsI

Go Gophers!!
 

For full disclosure, I'm a home-schooling "Tim Tebow" type (as if that's supposed to insult me) and this whole thing is stupid. The player went off by himself to pray. There was actually 1 or 2 other PSU players doing the same thing in different parts of that endzone. Goldy didn't really do much. In hindsight he should have just left the guy alone but it wasn't a big deal. Should be a non-issue. Just tell Goldy not to do it again and problem solved.
 



How does one learn to talk gopher? I'm so happy someone at the U is versed in the language. I'm glad they could have a discussion with him and resolve this. I think I want to know how too. Imagine the great discussions over a beer one could have with goldy. he's seen so much, been everywhere.
 

If u watch closely maybe he wasnt mocking the prayer. He is watching the crowd when the player does the cross on his chest. Goldy kneels in front of him, never seeing him do anything but concentrate in the corner of the endzone. He was, however, definetly trying to break his concentration. At the end he offers him a high five, but is ignored. He then gets a fist bump from a Gopher cheerleader and shows a tear, possibly just mocking the player not giving him a high five.

Of course, then again, who knows what goes through the mind of a Gopher when he sees 100,000 people surrounding him.
 

PigAxeJug said:
Of course, then again, who knows what goes through the mind of a Gopher when he sees 100,000 people surrounding him.
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usually they scamper about wrecklessly looking for a way out. That Goldy is one cool gopher.
 

Kare 11 had this as one of their lead stories. I can't believe anybody picked this up in the media, but they're desperate for ratings. I didn't think this was a big deal. I don't think Goldy was trying to offend anybody. He's trained to be a comedian, to play off the crowd, and make quick decisions. However if given the chance, I don't think he'd do it again.

If people are going to pick on Goldy, I'll say the Penn State player is being disrespectful. God and Jesus, or whoever he worships, certainly doesn't care about a silly football game. I think it's offensive to God and Jesus to pray for a football game and it shows lack of awareness that there are many things in the world that really need prayers and faith. Football is not one of them.

And I know it can be tempting to pray after so many tough years as a Gopher fan. Just say no. Grab a brew.
 



GoldInDirt said:
Kare 11 had this as one of their lead stories. I can't believe anybody picked this up in the media, but they're desperate for ratings. I didn't think this was a big deal. I don't think Goldy was trying to offend anybody. He's trained to be a comedian, to play off the crowd, and make quick decisions. However if given the chance, I don't think he'd do it again.

If people are going to pick on Goldy, I'll say the Penn State player is being disrespectful. God and Jesus, or whoever he worships, certainly doesn't care about a silly football game. I think it's offensive to God and Jesus to pray for a football game and it shows lack of awareness that there are many things in the world that really need prayers and faith. Football is not one of them.

And I know it can be tempting to pray after so many tough years as a Gopher fan. Just say no. Grab a brew.
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1) I agree that it's stupid for the media to play this story up.
2) Why is it offensive to pray before a football game? How do you know what he was praying for? You are assuming he's praying for victory (dumb) but he could very well have been praying for an injury-free game for himself and all others (commendable).
 

Goldy should turn this into a running bit. You know how the Hornets used to have their goofy hornet mascot transform into a super hornet that could dunk? Goldy could go into a special chamber and evolve into Richard Dawkins.
 

Gophers6x said:
I don't know if it is a religious debate, or a "how do you represent your school" debate.

I thought it was disrespectful. Goldy was certainly within his rights to do what he saw as humorous. The problem is he represents The University of Minnesota, so I think erring on the side of caution would have been the way to go. Ultimately I think it comes down to respect, which is something that is lacking in society today. I thought Goldy showed poor taste.
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Well said, Very disrespectful!!
 

upchurch said:
Didn't Jesus say something about not making a show of your faith but living a life that shows your faith? This guy's doing the DJ Dozier thing trying to impress us all. Hats off to Goldy. Well played my good man.
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I think this is what you were referring to, Matthew 6:5-7

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words..."

In fairness, I think the context in that time and place was different, since He was referring to the religious leaders of the day.

I wasn't home-schooled, but I respect and like Tim Tebow. To each their own.
 



I'm a religious guy myself, but I didn't see any mockery here. It wasn't even clear what the player was doing at first, Goldy just knelt next to him.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
2) Why is it offensive to pray before a football game? How do you know what he was praying for? You are assuming he's praying for victory (dumb) but he could very well have been praying for an injury-free game for himself and all others (commendable).
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Many theologians would argue that if God wants you to be injured, you should accept his will, and to pray otherwise is to show a lack of faith in God's ultimate plans for you.

In any event, if the Athletic Department backs down on this in any way I will be incredibly dissapointed. He's a mascot. Lighten up.
 

go_pher_roses said:
Attached is a link showing Goldy mocking a Penn State player in prayer on Saturday.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2009/10/did-goldy-the-gopher-go-too-far-in-joining-penn-state-player-in-prayer/1
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I was in that end zone and was thinking to myself that displays like the player was doing are totally his right to do, BUT, if you are going to pray, why wouldn't you do it in the locker room prior to coming out? Why do you wait until you make the big entrance, and THEN not distance yourself from your team, go into the end zone where you will be noticed, kneel in front of your fans and pray. That, to me, is not a religious gesture, but more a gesture to draw attention to yourself, period.
 

speaking of synagogues......

Donovan said:
I think this is what you were referring to, Matthew 6:5-7

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words..."

In fairness, I think the context in that time and place was different, since He was referring to the religious leaders of the day.

I wasn't home-schooled, but I respect and like Tim Tebow. To each their own.
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Let's add KFAN to this fire.....how come KFAN let go almost everyone who was Jewish> Sure Sinnaken still stops in, but I think Rosie is the lone member of the tribe.
Hmmmmmmm.....
 

Gopherprof said:
Many theologians would argue that if God wants you to be injured, you should accept his will, and to pray otherwise is to show a lack of faith in God's ultimate plans for you.

In any event, if the Athletic Department backs down on this in any way I will be incredibly dissapointed. He's a mascot. Lighten up.
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Well those theologians would be idiots. Even Jesus prayed that God would spare him from the cross even though he knew what his destiny was.

However, I agree with you that people need to lighten up. It wasn't a big deal.
 


For the record, I had the radio on in the car yesterday on the way home from work and a certain KFAN afternoon radio host talked about this on the air. That certain Barreiro said that he thought this shouldn't be a controversy. Maybe it wasn't something that Goldy should have done, but it wasn't scandal material.
 

The player said he was not bothered by it. END OF STORY!
 

Isn't it silly when someone tries to make a big deal out of something that really is not a big deal? Maybe the mascot should not have done that, was there any malicious intent? I am sure there was not. Maybe some of you should think about that the next time a horrible, "classless" act is done to Gopher Nation, that really is not a big deal.

The U announced the punishment as well. They are making Goldy go to the OSU game Saturday.
 

I will reiterate what others have already said. Religion, by nature, is a private matter. By bringing his faith into the public sphere, he is doing nothing more than looking for attention. There can be no other purpose for praying in public. He has thus opened himself up to mock and ridicule for his hypocritical actions.

Amen.
 


Donovan said:
I think this is what you were referring to, Matthew 6:5-7

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words..."

In fairness, I think the context in that time and place was different, since He was referring to the religious leaders of the day.
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The context wasn't different. He was talking about public displays of prayer to show off before the multitudes how pious you are. He may have been talking about the religious leaders of his day, but that's not important, he's talking about a particular practice. Kneeling down and praying while 100,000 watch is just the kind of public shows of Piety that he was talking about.

Of course, he's free to pray when and where he feels like.
 

seems to me the question is how does the pen state player kneel in prayer and then refuse to shake hands with somebody who was praying with him.... how come there is no out rage over that act of nonreligious behavior
 

One more thing:

Why the corner where the Minnesota cheerleaders & Goldy are?
 

Let me think what to say.. Mascots always do crazy things and sometimes they do mock people. That what Mascot is doing.
 

go4rob said:
I was in that end zone and was thinking to myself that displays like the player was doing are totally his right to do, BUT, if you are going to pray, why wouldn't you do it in the locker room prior to coming out? Why do you wait until you make the big entrance, and THEN not distance yourself from your team, go into the end zone where you will be noticed, kneel in front of your fans and pray. That, to me, is not a religious gesture, but more a gesture to draw attention to yourself, period.
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It reminds me of the gigantic cross that Mike Singletary wears. Is it really about his relationship with Jesus or is he merely screaming "Look at me! Look at me! Look at what a great Christian I am!"
 

Anyone ever think that Goldy just wanted to show some support and decided to pray with him. I didnt see any mocking. I just think the cheerleader came over to fist bump Goldy because he was left "Hangin" by the Penn St. player and thus the "tear drop"
 

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