October 15, 2006

• there is an Episcopal seminary in Alexandria, Virgina aptly named Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS).  for a very very long time they have been our rivals, and within the past several decades, that has taken the form of FOOTBALL (American style, not soccer for those of you who prefer that other form)...

  now, there is no official proof that VTS offers its seminarians football scholarships, but there is much anecdotal support, since GTS (General Theological Seminary, my school) has NEVER won a game against them.  actually, we haven't won a game against any other seminary either, but that might be because we have only ever played VTS....

  well... the tradition has been for us to travel down to VTS in the beginning of October to face them on the field of battle... er.. football field of battle.  until last year, we had never even scored against them, let alone considered winning.  well, last year we managed to score 6 points!!! of course, they stopped counting how many touchdowns they scored against us once the score reached 56 to 6, but hey!!! at least we scored! it doesn't help that we have been barely able to field the 8 players it takes to make up one squad, let alone compete with a team that has 2 offensive lines & 2 defensive lines... last year, we had 11 people make the trip down to VTS, and were able to field a full team, plus have 2 substitute players and a person wielding a thurible (that is an incense burner on a chain, used in liturgical processions in some churches)... 

  this year, we vowed to surpass even our last year's performance... SO... we had 25 people going down.... there were 11 members of the cheering squad, 8 of which were on the Liturgical Team (more about that in a second), 1 cameraperson, 1 first-aid person, and 12 random players.  VTS did so not know what to do with all of us!!!  we drove down on Friday afternoon, but even tho' we did our best to avoid rush hour, it still took over 7 hours to make the drive down... the game was Saturday, and it was a beautiful day to die...

  the football squad ate an early breakfast (carb-loading at its finest), while the Liturgical Team prepared to do our part to aid in the effort... all of us were wearing black cassocks; one man donned a green and black chausible, another wore a red verger's robe, the rest of us wore white surplices over the cassocks with academic hoods borrowed from the faculty (they were with us in absentia).  one woman, instead of wearing the academic hood, wore a cope (big fancy cape) and a bishop's mitre, to be the Bishop of Europe (she's italian and apparently has ambitions....)  we processed from the refectory down to the field: first the verger wielding a huge wooden cross, then the chausible man and another man both wielding thuribles, then a woman carrying a homemade icon of St. Lawrence (martyred on a gridiron, pun really intended), myself and another woman carrying stuffed penguins (our mascot > we are the penguins, VTS are the friars), then the first-aid person with a woman who was engaged in a servant ministry (translation: she carried what we couldn't), with our "bishop" and her 4 year old daughter rounding out the procession...

  we processed onto the field where we proceeded to gather both teams together to sing a hymn (the tune was chelsea square (another pun since GTS is in the chelsea neighborhood of manhattan).  during the hymn, the thurifers censed the "bishop", then the center of the field, the football, the 'icon' of St. Lawrence, the penguins, and each team.  there was a real bishop supporting VTS, and he led us in prayer, and finally the mayhem commenced.

  we scored first, a touchdown and converted for 2 points (both were firsts for GTS), and all VTS could do was score 2 safeties.  at the end of the first quarter it was 8-0 GTS, and at the end of the half, it was 8-4 GTS. the thurifers were censing the line of scrimmage for each play, and i was running up and down the field, penguin held aloft, all of us cheering mightily.  we had even transliterated signs reading "penguins rule" and "fry the friars" into greek... it was some sight!!!!  unfortunately, we lost in the end, but only by a very respectable score of 28-8, the first time VTS had ever had to sweat, the first time they had ever trailed at the end of the first half, and the first time GTS had held them to only 3 touchdowns.... just wait 'til next year!! penguins rule!

  oh, and if anyone wondered... i was without internet connection for the past 2 weeks *sob, sniffle*

  • 7:15 pm
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