Here at PFB we love to let our members spout off their opinions on anything and everything.

This week we we asked them for their predictions of Super Bowl 43.

Here’s what they said…

First, the chalk-lovers who like the Steelers to win.

	Steelers 31 Cardinals 17. I’d like to see the Cardinals win because I know it would make a lot of the “but they sucked during the regular season” fans and Kurt Warner haters angry, but it seems highly unlikely Pittsburgh won’t be picking up Super Bowl No. 6 on Sunday.
	3-0 Steelers. They’ll get a field goal on their first possession and the rest of the game will be dull, making football fans everywhere realize they should be longing for baseball season instead of getting all hyped up for (what’ll turn out to be) a rather boring Super Bowl.
	Defense wins championships, so we’re going with the Steelers. I’d say Steelers 24-14 because I like the number 4, and because I don’t think Troy Polamalu can stop Fitzgerald every time. Plus Fitz played at Pitt, so I’m sure they’ve got some film on him and stuff.
	Pittsburgh wins 24-17. (It will be close, but Pittsburgh’s offense is much better than people think.)
	27-24 Steelers. The Cards proved they can still score a few points against a good defense, so they’ll put up a few. I think it’ll be close, and I’d like to see Arizona win, but I think Pittsburgh prevails.
	Steelers, 27-19

…and here are your riders of the Arizona Cardinals bandwagon.

	30-27, Cards in the 1st O.T. in Superbowl history. Are you going to get sued if people use the word Superbowl on here? Superbowl.
	31-17 Cardinals. I just think Kurt Warner is going to pick the Steelers apart and the Steelers can’t win a high scoring game
	Cards 28, Steelers 17
	The final score will be Cardinals 24, Steelers 23. Kurt Warner will throw for around 250 yards & 3 scores, but will only complete 20 of his 41 attempts. 13 of those (and 2 scores) will go to Larry Fitzgerald, who will subsequently win the SB MVP award. In general, the Steelers keep the Cardinals locked down, but Fitzgerald is simply a beast who can’t be denied.
	34-31, Cardinals; Hey, why not?
	Cardinals Eleventy Billion – Steelers 0 (as a Cowboys fan, I’m still a bit chuffed about Super Bowls X and XIII and don’t want them to become the first team to win 6)
	28-21 Cardinals. Two words… Larry Fitzgerald
	My prediction is that the Cardinals win the Super Bowl in stunning fashion 32 – 14, Arizona. I think that the offensive line of the Cardinals will step up to the challenge of protecting Warner. This will expose the weakness of the Steelers, and I use weakness very loosely b/c their defense is incredible, but the weakest part of their defense is their corners. The only answer the Steelers have for Fitzgerald is putting Warner on his back. Cards win, Warner goes to Disneyworld with the MVP trophy. My real reason for picking the Cards is, being a Browns fan, I rue the Steelers and the day they became a franchise!
	Cards- 16, Steelers – 15
	I really have no idea what’s going to happen on sunday between the Steelers and the Cardinals. Will Kurt Warner continue to keep his eyes down the field and keep finding Larry Fitzgerald for ridiculous amounts of yardage? Or will the speed of Pittsburgh’s defense be too much for the Cards’ O-line to protect? Because I have to make a pick here, I’ll go with Arizona in the huge upset, 24-16 Cardinals.

I have no idea who’s going to win the big game tomorrow. Neither do you.

Vegas thinks they know. They’ve got the Steelers as 7 point favorites. Then again, last year the favored Patriots lost, thanks to the sticky helmet of David Tyree. So I guess they don’t know either.

Side note: If you’re interested in some of the crazy prop bets Vegas is offering, check them out here.

If Kurt Warner leads the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl, there will be lots of interviews and lots of opportunities to mention his faith in Jesus. He will jump on every one of those opportunities because that’s what he does. We all know that much.

If Kurt loses, he’ll have less microphones in his face, but he’ll still have his opportunities to thank God. And he still will. I guess we all know that too.

That’s what I find the most fascinating about this whole thing. No one wonders whether or not Kurt will praise God after a loss. Everyone knows he will. That’s a pretty cool place to be, I think, whether you’re a pro football player or an IT engineer. To be at a place where people know you’re consistent no matter the circumstances. Kurt’s a good example of that.

Another side note: for another take on the “God angle”, check out MSNBC’s John Walters latest article

As for the game itself, I hope it’s a good one. You never know with these Super Bowls. Some are classics. Some are so boring, I’d rather watch reruns of Dawson’s Creek. Hey, at least there’s the commercials, right?

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think the Cardinals would win any of their playoff games. So the fact that I don’t think they’ll win on Sunday is actually making me lean towards taking them. If they’re still in the locker room playing the “Nobody believes in us” card, regardless of whether or not it’s actually true, they will come out and start the game with more fire than the Steelers have. I see that as their best chance of pulling the upset.

So to answer the question, “Will God Allow Kurt Warner to Win the Super Bowl?”. I think the answer is ‘Yes’. He will allow it.

But the better question is “Since God has allowed it, will Kurt go out there and win the game?”

Yes, says the Schnoz. Yes he will. Arizona 26, Pittsburgh 20.

Enjoy the game wherever you’re watching it…and check back on Saturday as PFB Members share their predictions on the big game.

Did you know prayers travel back and forth to God in tubes?

These tubes are different than the tubes that carry the internet. Internet Tubes are flexible and made from the plucked hairs of Al Gore’s wisdom. Prayer Tubes are rigid, vertical, and made from the sinews of angel’s wings.

Here at PFB, we have a giant stethoscope that we can stick on the prayer tubes to listen in on the requests being made to the Almighty. From time to time we’ll share some of those prayers with you. Now is one of those times.

Overheard in the Prayer Tubes

“Dear God, this is cool, huh?” – Kurt Warner

“Dear God, i hear that Roger Federer wants a guided tour of heaven. Can we make that happen soon?” – Andy Roddick

“Dear God, this isn’t really how you wanted my brother to handle this, was it?” - Mark McGwire

“Dear God, does coaching the Raiders for another year qualify as suffering?” – Tom Cable

“Dear God, milk coach win square black truman silver telegram.” – Al Davis

Feel free to add your own if you feel so inspired.

Fort-Worth Star Telegram Senior Writer (and PFB Reader!) David Thomas has written a follow-up piece this week on the Grapevine Faith High School Football team we highlighted last month. If you remember, they were the team who played against the Gainesville State prison team and had their fans cheer for and support their opponents.

According to Thomas, the team has actually been more impacted by the death of a player on an opposing team earlier in the season than they have by the Gainesville State game. It was one of the handful of memorable moments the team has experienced this year.

As for all the attention the team has been getting for what they did for Gainesville State back in November, Head Coach Kris Hogan says he still can’t believe it:

“At the beginning, I was really surprised because I feel like it shouldn’t be that big of a deal that Christians take action and do things like this,” Hogan said. ” I just don’t think it should be that big of a deal.”

The most unbelievable thing to happen so far, according to the story, was an invitation from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for Hogan and his wife to come to the Super Bowl as Goodell’s guests. Commenting on the story, Goodell said:

“Coach Hogan inspired an entire community in an extraordinary way and gave those young men on the Gainesville team a chance to believe in themselves,” Goodell said. “It’s a powerful message and shows how football can be such a positive force in shaping values and building communities.

Just when you feel like steroid scandals and online affair services are starting to choke your air supply, a story like this comes along and helps you to breathe some fresh air again. Hope the Hogan’s enjoy the Super Bowl!

(h/t: Faith Christian receives national attention for supporting Gainesville State)

Now that the Super Bowl is set and the Eagles are playing golf, it’s become clear who came through with the best preseason predictions of 2008. He’s the only guy with 3 check marks in his row of prognostication.

Let’s look at this busy graphic one last time…

By my calculations, our NFL King for 2008 is none other than singer/songwriter Andrew Osenga, who described football to us last week as “millionaires in tights playing games“.

I will now tie anchors to my legs and drown myself in the Kankakee River. (and if you don’t get that joke, go get yourself some free Andy Osenga music right now.)

Here he is ladies and gentlemen: praise him, congratulate him, or mock him. Your NFL King for 2008:

Oh wait,one last thought. I was walking out of the grocery store last weekend and I saw this display. Take a close look at which 2 teams they have playing in their Super Bowl advertisement:

Hmmm, could it be the Jaguars and Cowboys! The 2 teams that I predicted would be in the big game! You know what, maybe I need to take that crown off Andy’s head and stick it on The Schnoz. He might have bested me in the prediction game, but I had Frito-Lay and Pepsi craft a multi-million dollar advertising campaign around my picks!

Take that toothbrush boy!

The PFB Micro-Sermon: where we take a Bible verse, add a dash of sports, and whip up a sermon in 100 words or less.

“But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” – Isaiah 36:12

Are you on the wall today? Afraid to commit to one side or the other?

Well, it’s time to get off the wall and commit yourself to something.

Some athletes, like Najeh Davenport, have doomed themselves by dropping their dung where they should not have.

Others, like Jorge Posada, have doomed themselves by placing their urine where they should not have.

But thankfully, none of them are as doomed as the men sitting on the wall.

It’s time to be responsible with your bodily waste and more importantly, commit to something! Get Off The Wall!

The PFB Sports Survey is a feature here at Prayers For Blowouts where we throw a few sports related questions at some of the most notable voices among Christian authors, pastors, musicians, and astrologists to see if they like sports as much as we do.

Today’s spotlight is on Kent Shaffer, who ran exactly one pass pattern in his football career…and it didn’t turn out so well.

Kent Shaffer is the founder of ChurchRelevance.com, an online resource created to inspire and train ministers to be more relevant and effective. He also co-owns BombayCreative.com, a ministry-oriented design firm, and AcreScout.com, a commercial listings site.
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1. What number best describes the role sports play in your life on a scale of 1 to 10?

KS: These days it is a 4. I watch some on TV but not much. In high school, it was an 8 because I spent quite a bit of time playing soccer and football and running track.

2. Rank your 3 overall favorite sports, college or pro.

KS: A. Track & Field (particularly sprints and hurdles), B. Football, C. MMA – Honorable Mentions: Ultimate Frisbee and Disc Golf.

3. What is the one team that you root for more passionately than any other, and is there a team that you hate, maybe a little too much?

KS: I am a big Virginia Tech football fan (I used to live in VA), but a close second is the Cincinnati Bengals (my birth city). I have little patience for teams with overly obnoxious fans.

4. Do you play fantasy sports?

KS: No, because I live in reality.

5. What is the most memorable sporting event you have ever attended in person?

KS: During my senior year, I ran the 300m hurdles a track meet at Owasso High School (Owasso, OK). It was an especially surreal race. Coming off of the 200m turn into the final 100m, time seemed to slow down. The thuds of the track spikes were clear, and four of us were closely paced. It was intense and thrilling.

(and I won a medal)

6. What is the best highlight and/or worst lowlight of your sports playing career as a child or as an adult?

KS: The highlight of my sports career was my senior year of track and field running hurdles. The lowlight was when my football coach had me run a deep route during football practice and joked “Don’t let the ball hit you in the head.” As I ran, I thought… “Don’t let the ball hit you in the head.” “Don’t let the ball hit you in the head.” And then it hit me… in the head. It was a first and, fortunately, a last time.

7. If you could change one thing about sports, what would it be?

KS: Playoffs for college football.

8. Do you have an opinion on Christian athletes who, without being prompted, talk about their faith in post-game interviews?

KS: I think it is admirable if sincere.

9. High school gym class…your favorite 45 minutes of the day or the source of countless nightmares and embarrassments?

KS: I did not have high school gym class. But middle school was awesome. We played hockey on asphalt. It was rough, and one student even suffered nerve damage. But it was fun.

10. Sports are often the whipping boy of pastors and clergy because so much passion, money, time, and energy is poured into them. Do you think this criticism is valid, or are sports okay as a diversion from the stresses of life.

KS: It all comes down to the heart attitude and priorities of sports fans. If you make sports #1 in your life, you should be worried about what God thinks and not the pastor’s opinion.

11. If you had to compete against other designers/marketers, in which of these 5 competitions would you have the best chance of winning? 5-mile run, 18 holes of golf, free throw shooting contest, arm wrestling match, or a game of bowling.

KS: Can we make the 5-mile run a sprint?

12. What is your favorite sports movie of all-time?

KS: Prefontaine.

Thanks for playing along, Kent!

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You can click here for an exhaustive (but not exhausting) list of everyone who’s been featured as a PFB Sports Survey participant.

If you’d like to be considered for the PFB Sports Survey, or know someone who should be, send along a name and email address to prayersforblowouts(at)gmail(dot)com.

I’ve got a handful of questions for you, dear reader, so let’s jump right into this and save the smarmy jokes for another post.

I’m looking to make PFB T-shirts available for purchase in the next month or so. I have a bunch of reasons for doing this, but none of them have to do with me making money. Mostly I think it’s cool for your website to have a t-shirt, especially one you actually like to wear.

I have some photoshop skillz, but I’m not a designer. Some of you are designers. Some of you are friends with designers. You may be able to help. (more on that in a second)

I had one idea in my head for a t-shirt design. I designed it. It looks decent. Good enough (and clever enough) to make it worth printing up a few? Not sure. But it’s a starting point. Here’s what I had in mind (and yes, it’s a knock-off of the ‘Jesus is My Homeboy’ Tshirts).

So here’s the help I need from you guys:

1. You can weigh in on the Tebow design in the comments. Tell me if you like it, love it, hate it. Tell me if you might buy one. All that jazz.

2. If it would be illegal for me to print up these shirts for some reason (like Tebow owns the rights to caricatures of his own face – even though I wouldn’t be making a dime on them), please let me know in the comments or via email.

3. If you can design a better tshirt for PFB, or you have a friend who can, then go ahead and give it a shot. (Whether it’s a better version of the Tebow idea, or a completely different idea.) I will not be paying anyone to design this shirt, so don’t bother asking about that or referring me to a professional you know. If I was going to pay, I already know who I would pay to do it. Don’t email me to ask me for design ideas, or for permission to work something up. Just go for it if you feel inspired. (Email me a concept sketch or draft if you like). And yes, I know you are busy and putting something together in the next 2-3 weeks is not going to be easy.

4. I have some good suggestions for print shops and online stores to work with. If you have a STRONG opinion about why a certain print shop/store is AMAZING or AWFUL, then please email me to let me know about it and why. (Don’t email me to say you think you heard that Cafepress was “decent” or a similar uninspired suggestion.)

If you are going to send me an email regarding one of the above reasons, please send it to:

“prayersforblowouts(at)gmail.com” and use a subject line of “PFB Shirt”

My goal is to have a quality t-shirt with a cool design available for you guys and gals to purchase at a cheap price by this time next month. and I think I’m going to need some help to pull it off.

You all are awesome…so let’s see what we can do.

Thanks,

Bryan

We’ve added two more members to the world famous PFB Membership Ranks!

Say hello to Mike (a fan of the Arkansas Razorbacks) and Charity (a die-hard Oklahoma Sooner fan). Please join me in welcoming them. Or give them the business if you hate their favorite teams like hockey goalies hate the All-Star game.

PFB Members get to share their opinions and display their team pride for the entire free world to see. It’s kinda like the thrill of the last day of school, but better.

If you’d like to join, shoot me an email* with your name and favorite team. Also, attach a head shot to the email (that’s cool lingo for “photograph”). The cost is still free, as long as you are not a robot.

*The email address is prayersforblowouts@gmail(dot)com

The PFB Micro-Sermon: where we take a Bible verse, add a dash of sports, and whip up a sermon in 100 words or less.

“The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” – Psalm 9:9

If you’re feeling oppressed, God can be a refuge for you today.

Maybe you’re being oppressed by a bad relationship. God is a refuge for you.

Maybe you’re being oppressed by a ruthless boss or an abusive parent. God is a refuge for you.

Maybe your girls basketball team was beaten 100-0 by a Christian’s School’s girls basketball team. God is a refuge for you too. In fact, he may even help you turn that scoreless performance into a Win by Forfeit.

A stronghold in times of trouble, indeed.