Friday, December 13, 2013
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Rather than wear No. 666, Kentucky high school athlete quits race - Los Angeles Times
Rather than wear No. 666, Kentucky high school athlete quits race – latimes.com
Rather than wear No. 666, Kentucky high school athlete quits race
By Amy Hubbard
10:52 AM PST, November 6, 2013
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Kentucky cross-country athlete Codie Thacker was told at a recent meet she had to wear bib number 666. So, she decided not to race.
And that gives her something in common with Ronald Reagan (see below).
Thacker told local NBC affiliate LEX 18 she had trained for Saturday’s race for months. But she could not bring herself to put on that number. She felt it put her relationship with God at risk.
Some background: The number 666 is the biblical mark of the beast. In the book of Revelation, two beasts arise — the first a seven-headed beast from the sea. It’s this monster whose number must be imprinted on everyone’s right hand or forehead.
Revelation 13:18: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”
The teenager and her coach asked that the number be changed, but race officials said no. Later, a representative with the athletic association told LEX 18 if officials had known it was because of religion, they would have consented to the change.
There are plenty of people who avoid the number 666. There’s even a phobia associated with it: hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. Seriously. (Fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia, and fear of numbers in general is arithmophobia.)
But you don’t have to be phobic to want to distance yourself. There was the guy named Ken who received a license plate in the mail: 666-KEN. He returned it.
And the Los Angeles Times reported years ago about the Reagans changing their house number:
“When President Reagan left office, he and Nancy took up residence at 666 St. Cloud Road in Bel-Air but had the address changed to 668 to avoid the ‘number of the beast.’ “
Like stories about hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia? Follow me at @AmyTheHub
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Rather than wear No. 666, Kentucky high school athlete quits race - Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
How number of the beast stopped teenage cross country star realizing her ... - Daily Mail
- Kentucky race officials refused to give Codie Thacker a new number
- High School coach praised athlete for standing up for her principles
By
Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED:
17:35 EST, 5 November 2013
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UPDATED:
17:58 EST, 5 November 2013
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A Christian teenager refused to compete in a regional cross country trial on Saturday after being issued with a bib marked 666.
Codie Thacker had been training since June for the race but said seeing the bib with ‘the mark of the beast’ made her sick.
Her Whitley County high school coach tried to get race organizers to issue her with a new number, but when they refused Codie put faith before her desire to win and pulled out of the race.
Beliefs: Codie, pictured center preparing for a race, says she had no choice but to withdraw from the contest
Faith: Codie Thacker refused to compete in a regional cross country race after being issued with a 666 bib
‘I just don’t believe that 666 should be
a number that’s anywhere on your body and I did not want that number
associated with me. It kind of made me sick,’ Codie told WKYT.
‘I’ve been training since June for this race, and it’s kind of like the climax of my season to run regionals and to see how well I do,’ she added.
The numbers used to identify competitors are computer generated, and Codie’s coach Gina Croley was surprised when race organizers refused to change it.
‘I don’t think it was any type of you
know let’s give somebody this number, but when it was brought to their
attention, I feel like if it were possible, it could have been changed,’ she said.
But when the Kentucky High School Athletic Association refused to swap the bib, Codie decided her faith was more important than the chance to win a medal.
‘I was upset, because I’d trained all season for it. But in another sense I stood up for my beliefs and I stood up for God,’ she said.
Joe Angolia, a spokesman for the athletic association, said officials did not know the teenager had objected to the number for religious reasons.
Principles: Kentucky teenager Codie says the thought of wearing the number of the beast makes her sick
Marked: Race officials refused to issue Codie with another bib after she raised concerns about the one, pictured above
Mr Angolia said: ‘We’ve made adjustments to uniform
codes and things like that in the past when it’s known that religious
reasons are in play.’
Despite her refusal to race, Codie’s decision was supported by her coach who praised her for standing up for her beliefs.
Ms Croley said, ‘I wouldn’t have been
more proud of her if she won the entire meet. She stood on her
principles.’
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How number of the beast stopped teenage cross country star realizing her ... - Daily Mail
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Beast wins second consecutive on the road - Brampton Guardian
ANDREW FOURNIER
Brampton Guardian
BRAMPTON- The long trip home will seem a lot shorter for the Brampton Beast after finishing its first Central Hockey League road trip with a pair of wins.
On Saturday Brampton defeated the Quad City Mallards 4-3 before 3.057. The previous night Brampton won in Wichita 3-2. Brampton picked up five points from its five road games. The Beast has nine points with a 4-3-1 mark.
Andrew Fournier scored twice as Brampton outscored Quad City 3-2 in the third period. Michael MacIsaac had a first-period power-play goal at 10:38 to put the Beast up 1-0.
Quad City tied on a Jeff Lee goal from Thomas Frazee and Michael Monfredo at 6:14 of the second.
Fournier got the third period scoring going with a goal at 1:07 from Rob Collins and Jeff Martens. Corbin Baldwin tied the contest from Vladimir Nikiforov and Nicholas Rioux at 4:30 of the second.
Brett Smith restored the Beast’s lead at 5:43 from Josh McQuade. The Mallards got the equalizer from Gergo Nagy on a power play, assisted by Nikiforov and Rioux at 11:46.
Fournier connected with the game winner at 12:58 from MacIsaaac and Tyler Matheson.
The Mallards had a 32-26 advantage in shots, including 17-6 in the third period as Kristofer Westblom picked up his second win of the season in the Beast goal.
Brampton was one-of-six on the power play while Quad City was one-of-eight.
The Beast returns home for the first of three contests against the defending league champion Allen Americans on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Americans sit in first place with a 7-0-1 record and 15 points.
Allen’s No. 1 goalie is Brampton native and former Brampton Battalion goalie Bryan Pitton. He has a 4-0-1 record with a 2.86 GAA and a saves percentage of .917. Older brother Jason is a forward with the Beast.
The series at the Powerade Centre concludes with games on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. After that the Beast has 11 consecutive road games.
Beast wins second consecutive on the road - Brampton Guardian
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Mean Joe vs. Double O - SI.com
By Gary M. Pomerantz
CHUCK NOLL HAD NO SENSE of theater, not an ounce of Olivier in him. He was more like his old coach Paul Brown, a frozen lake in winter. In the Steelers’ locker room before a game, the battle about to be waged, Noll was all focus and details. For him, emotion was anathema. It befogged the intellect, threatened a week’s preparation. It got in the way of execution. Sunday’s games, he said, were won on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, at practice. “Remember,” Noll said flatly in more than one pregame talk to his players, “let’s make Sunday Fun Day.” But when he heard what John Madden said on television after the Raiders rallied to defeat Don Shula’s Dolphins, 28–26, in the divisional round, purging the two-time defending Super Bowl champion from the playoffs, Noll felt nearly jilted. He heard Madden say that the NFL’s two best teams had just played—the Dolphins and the Raiders—and that comment struck Noll as unfathomably wrong. It stirred his inner Lombardi. And so on the Tuesday before the 1974 AFC title game, the Steelers’ 47 players sat in chairs attached to small writing tables in their usual meeting room, expecting the usual tepid gruel from Noll. But Noll surprised them. He took his best shot, figuring it was early enough in the week so that an emotional rush wouldn’t backfire. He told his Steelers what Madden had said, and then, his eyes tightening at the corners, Noll said that Madden was wrong. “The best team in the NFL,” Noll said, thumping his index finger on a table, “is sitting right here in this room.”
The normally stoic Chuck Noll fired up his troops in relaying John Madden’s claim that the NFL’s two best teams—Oakland and Miami—had played the previous week. (Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated)
It took his players a moment to react, to decide whether their coach had just said what he had just said. Then their reaction was like a small dam breaking, hoots and howls, broad smiles and hand slaps, and Franco Harris saying, “Yep!” No player reacted more demonstratively than Joe Greene. He stood so rapidly to pump his fist that his right thigh stuck in the small writing table attached to his chair, and the chair lifted from the floor and toppled.
Noll’s speech ignited Greene. It was like additional gunpowder for an already explosive weapon. Much as he respected Noll, Greene had long craved more emotion from his coach—for his teammates, not himself— and now he had gotten it. It wasn’t what Noll said in the meeting room, or how he said it. It was simply that he said it. It caught Greene, and the entire team, by surprise.
Mean Joe vs. Double O - SI.com
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Can biometric hand screening amount to religious bias? Mark-of-the-devil worry ... - ABA Journal
Religious Law
Religious bias complaints are a small percentage of workplace discrimination claims made at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but the numbers are increasing.
Some conflicts involve working on the Sabbath, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. Others protest workplace uniform requirements that don"t allow for religious dress such as hijabs worn by many Muslim women, Read more [...]
Can biometric hand screening amount to religious bias? Mark-of-the-devil worry ... - ABA Journal
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Obamacare Will Force "Mark Of The Beast" Microchips On You (Or So You"ve ... - Social News Daily
Apparently, there"s a conspiracy floating around Facebook that Obamacare will require the installation of a microchip of sinister design and purpose in every American. Some reward for braving the onerous signup process, don"t you think?
Of course it"s not true, and the viral post claiming it to be so is as sketchy and unfounded as anything we"ve debunked in the past.
As you see there (screencap Read more [...]
Obamacare Will Force "Mark Of The Beast" Microchips On You (Or So You"ve ... - Social News Daily