Mormonopia» Famous Mormons

Play ball! ‘Mormon Night’ is big in the big leagues

Graham — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:00:01 +0000

About a month ago Mormon Times had a nice article about “Mormon Night” at various Major League Baseball ball parks. I’m a huge baseball fan, and live close to Toronto, so it’d be great if the Blue Jays did that. A couple of years ago the missionaries sang the national anthems, and members could get some group tickets, but it wasn’t really “Mormon Night”.

Dale Murphy recognized the signs.

There was the late-arriving crowd, the national anthem singers wearing black name tags and the 0-for-4 in the box score next to his name.

Then there was this sign, held up by a fan in the center field stands before one game: “Hey Murph, no success can compensate for failure at home plate.”

It must be “Mormon Night.”

That sign held by the fan is classic!

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Donny Osmond was dropped off at Church a few weeks ago

Graham — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:00:57 +0000

No, not THAT Donny Osmond. On second thought, it was that Donny Osmond, but it wasn’t him in person. You see, a few weeks ago the Ward Mission Leader came up to me with a wet plastic grocery bag in his hands (it was raining) and said that someone had left this out front of the Church. Lo and behold, the bag contained a Donny Osmond CD and 3 albums. The wife of my 1st Counselor loves the Osmond’s (they saw some of the brothers perform recently), so we gave it all to her.

This just seemed so random to me… we’re Mormon, so if you want to get rid of something released by a Mormon performer you drop it off at their building? Should I be doing that with Catholic, Jewish, or other performers? I didn’t know

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“When choosing where to play, Mormon recruits face unique issues”

Graham — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:00:01 +0000

Andy Staples, a writer for Sports Illustrated (and one whom I’m not familiar with) posted an excellent article last week about the challenges that active LDS athletes face in choosing a school and the possibility that they may leave for 2 years for a mission. I was an average athlete in high scho0l, and never had any dreams of even playing in university/college. I can only imagine how exciting it must be to be that good, and also to worry about what might happen to your scholarship and your abilities if you leave for two years.

A few highlights from the article…

On dealing with a potential school:

“I basically told them, ‘This is me,’” said Te’o, from Laie, Hawaii. “I’m LDS. I’m thinking of serving a mission, and I want that to be available to me. If that’s not in the cards for your university, I have to respect that, but I have to consider others.”…

Considerations other than serving a mission:

LDS players also must consider how their faith will mesh with the campus environment at either a secular school or one run by a different faith, and they must prepare for a backlash from some in the LDS community should they choose a school other than Brigham Young, the Provo, Utah, university run by the Mormon church…

Pressure to stay:

“The pressure came more from just knowing that your team is counting on you. You are in the mix of things. You have been practicing with them every day. They know you. You know them. So to all of sudden say, ‘I’ve got to leave you for a couple of years’ gets really hard for the young man to do. … The pressure to stay once you’ve gone there is tremendous”…

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LDS Newsroom – Faith Matters to NBA Champions’ General Manager

Graham — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:19:17 +0000

I’m a big basketball fan. I don’t really have a favourite team, but I love playing, and I regularly listen to the Toronto Raptors games on the radio during the season. If you can combine basketball and Church, that’s even better

Well, it is fairly well known that Danny Ainge is a Mormon. He is also the General Manager of the Boston Celtics (as well as former Toronto Blue Jay baseball player). The LDS Newsroom has a nice article about him that includes a mention that he is in the bishopric in his ward. That would be something to sit down for a temple recommend interview and have him asking the questions!

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