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Thou Shalt Not View The Super Bowl on a 56" Screen
theodp writes "For 200 members of the Immanuel Bible Church and their friends, the annual Super Bowl party is over thanks to the NFL, which explained that airing NFL games at churches on large-screen TV sets violates the NFL copyright. Federal copyright law includes an exemption for sports bars, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, but churches are out of luck. Churchgoers who aren't averse to a little drinking-and-driving still have the opportunity to see the game together in public on a screen bigger than 55 inches."
If I have a 60" TV, and no one is around to watch it, does it violate copyright?
Religion and football...two things that I couldn't possibly care less about. I hope they obliterate each other in a spectacular orgy of litigation.
I read Usenet for the articles.
All the churches need are liquor licenses. They can sell communion wine and hot wings. Insta-church-sports bar. Eat that NFL. No one fucks with the Jesus.
Someone hates these cans.
I'm glad I've never had an interest in organized sports. Such naked greed needs to be recognized by the medical profession as the mental illness that it is, and treated as such.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
The real WTF is, people in the USA watch football in churches? How the fuck is that not somehow blasphemous?
You just got troll'd!
I heard it's something about sports they're crazy about in the USA, even more than the world cup in soccer, believe it or not! It's supposedly about bowling. :-p
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
HAHAHA! Where is their God NOW?!
This is to keep church members from seeing 56 inch nipples.
God obviously endorses the NFL. Look how many players are praying to him before, during, and after every game. It's a poor move on the NFL's part to slight Jesus in this manner.
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Is it still a 56" TV if there is a 1/2 inch strip of tape or something around the edge of the screen?
God invented duct tape for a reason.
At a bar, watching the game. Why else would they want to show the Superbowl at church? To bring God back, obviously.
Be relentless!
Or in the case of a Patriots game, the whole thing is fixed! /cheap shot
Both of Britain's main sports (Football and Cricket) are played quite widely internationally, yet American football does not seem to have taken the world by storm. I suppose one consolation of this is that the US always wins, but wouldn't it make more sense to concentrate all those resources on games that are more popular internationally?
:)
Come to think of it, the other main US sport, Baseball, is not hugely popular around the world either. According to Wikipedia it is less popular than volleyball and table tennis. Maybe the US is onto something here. Perhaps we can copy this idea in Britain. We need to ditch the sports we keep losing at, like soccer, and invent a new one that nobody is interested in. Then we will finally be world champions
All the sports bars have multiple smaller TVs scattered throughout their premises. The churches should just borrow/rent/buy a few dozen 50" TVs and scatter them strategically throughout their halls. Maybe clergy can suggest that parishoners tithe their forthcoming Gommint "Save the Economy and Buy Stuff Now" checks to the task. In your face, NFL! Anyone know of a good dip recipe that goes with communion wafers?
All the really great sigs are already taken.
Would they prosecute, though? What are their damages? Would it be worth the negative PR?
It's easy for me to say this, but if I were one of the elders of that Church I would encourage the congregation to watch together anyway. I'd call the NFL's bluff. Jesus was a pretty rebellious and rock the boat sort of guy. He didn't back down from the Roman's or Pharisees, he told people how it was, associated with unwed women and whores, and scared those in power. It's hard to imagine that a guy who was so brazen to cost him his life would balk at the threat of a lawsuit. He'd watch the game with his brethren, dammit!
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
What!? As an american it is our duty to watch the super bowl. And as good god fearing men we are obligated to, that's why it's on Sunday. Now come on people let's follow the rules, there is nothing better than a day of bowling, especially super bowling... now when is it on?
And got crucified for it.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Sweet, maybe their God and mine will patch things up over a few drinks!
Church-going folks overwhelmingly voted for the corrupt Republicans that allowed copyright to take on these excessive forms in the first place. I say: throw the book at them. Sue them for criminal copyright infringement. Maybe once they get a taste of their own medicine, they'll think twice before voting another Bush into office.
Obviously, the NFL wants fewer people watching their game and the advertisements. I will help them out by not watching the game or the ads.
In local news, the Super Bowl party at Bill's house has also been canceled. Legal experts on the matter advise everyone watching the Super Bowl to do so in a room by themselves with the door locked to prevent any further violations.
Being mostly ads, the Super Bowl is an instruction manual for the "economic stimulus" handout we're all running up our credit cards in expectation of.
As an American it is my duty to watch the super bowl commercials. On Youtube.
... When is that? What sport is that? I just know it's a source of funny commercials that should show up sometime in February.
As for the event itself
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Do you go to the bathroom during commercials? Thief!
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.