Magic Will Beat the Lakers, For God Is on Their Side

Funny, wasn’t it only a few months ago we were going through this same spiel when Kurt Warner was playing in the Super Bowl? At that time their coach Ken Whisenhunt had said the Cardinals had an edge because of their religious beliefs. Well Dwight Howard’s not playing football but he’s in the basketball equivalent of the Super Bowl — the NBA Finals. While Howard’s been known to thank God following games, he’s never gone as far as he did with Chris Sheridan. Here’s how Sheridan described things after Orlando’s Game 6 clinching win over the Cavs:

Earlier, in the locker room, I had asked Howard to give me one or two reasons I should consider picking the Magic to defeat the Lakers.

“God” was his answer, which was met with the counterargument that the Lord probably has better things to worry about than who wins a basketball game, and besides, religion and politics are usually best kept out of sports stories.

“That’s the reason, I’m telling you,” Howard replied.

Mickael Pietrus apparently said that Rashard Lewis would be the key while Sheridan is of the belief that Alston will be the key. For Dwight, it’s the Lord. I still bring up the same argument — doesn’t that imply that God doesn’t like the Lakers as much? It just doesn’t make sense to me. I like what owner Rich DeVos said the most: “We’ll be the underdogs, but as long as we get a fair shake on the refereeing, we’ll be fine.” Amen to that.