Tater

July 28th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

I'm guessing his pay went down considerably since Lane Kiffin left.  After all, he did choose UT because the CFL didn't offer him enough money.  That should tell us something.

JeepinBen

July 28th, 2010 at 3:28 PM ^

Sorry... 

There are a pretty strict set of rules, but yeah, walking isn't one of them. If you're Shomer Shabbas (DONNY!) and you wanted to attend games, you could. You'd just walk and do the whole game day thing. You probably wouldn't eat (stadium food isn't kosher unless you find something vegetarian... and depending on when they started cooking it you wouldn't eat it for other reasons) 

Also, there would be an issue with the tickets - Traditionally you can't carry money, and for some, the ticket might qualify (like a credit card does). So I'm not sure how to find a ticket loophole... but yeah, as long as you "carry on shabbat" (yes that's what it's called, and it's not about drugs or guns) you should be fine

JeepinBen

July 28th, 2010 at 3:58 PM ^

hope my explanation helped some. 

TV would open up a whole other set of issues (if traditional Jews could watch it on TV) that I don't really want to take the time to get into, but the biggest issue I could see is with carrying a ticket.

In school a charity event I was involved with was partially sponsored by Hillel and on Saturday night. We were able to work it so that anyone who didn't want to carry a ticket but come (doors were before sundown, so it was technically still Shabbat) could get their name placed on a list. The idea being anyone religious enough to not want to carry a ticket isn't going to scam their way into a charity show. My guess is they could do the same type of thing for football, but they wouldn't carry  ID either, and M football is a bigger production than a 1 night show at the Michigan Theatre

Seth

July 28th, 2010 at 6:52 PM ^

My best friend through most of college was a really religious woman whom I don't talk to very often now (she got married right after graduation). She used to call me her "Shabbos Goy" since I'd follow her around on Saturdays and flip on lights, open the fridge, and generall do all of the things that Shomer Shabbos people can't do.

Among my duties: carrying her Michigan tickets to every home game, and giving them to the gate-guy. Part of the deal was I got her extra ticket when she couldn't make it, though I think I got this once.

So yes, the ticket thing does apparently count, but it's nothing a Shabbos Goy (or Shabbos Reformie) can't handle.

Seth

July 28th, 2010 at 6:45 PM ^

Obvs, since I just admitted to liveblogging on the holiest day of the year, I'm pretty un-offendable.

This year it's even worse: I'll be flying home from Germany on Yom Kippur. Couldn't be helped (it's for work and I'm not paying for the ticket) but I did talk to my rabbi about the potential six extra hours of sunlight to add to the fast day (and since that's also the start of Oktoberfest, if I can put off Kol Nidre)

Seth

July 29th, 2010 at 9:43 AM ^

In my defense, I was being dragged to services with Misopogal's family at their temple which is like the SEC of temples, complete with sponsorship on frickin' everything,* after we had already done the same service at 7 a.m. with my family, and it wasn't during the religious parts but when their asinine rabbi who is like the sworn enemy of my parents' synagouge was giving a 90-minute spiel about how we had to donate more money to the temple.

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* Not like "okay folks, we now invite Nancy Silvermanbergstein to join us on the the Belle Tire bimah; we rise as the we open the Pepsi Arc, and recite the She'mah, brought to you by Bud Light" but everything there has some sponsorship family name on it -- like you'll be sitting in the "Peterman" seats while they invite the three largest donors to take big comfy chairs in the front so we can worship them and their largesse (and I happen to know one of the guys in the big comfy chairs is one of Michigan State's biggest boosters). As such, the iPhone was kind of a protest, as much as a Michigan football problem, though I do have a Michigan football problem.

Blazefire

July 29th, 2010 at 10:27 AM ^

There ain't currently any Michigan football!

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Regarding Sponsorship: I have the same problem when I go to Mass with my wife (I'm Protestant, but her family is seriously Catholic). I get mad because all of the printed material is full of ads for businesses in the community. I always ask her, I say, "You know, Jesus went totally Hulk all over a synagogue once for having business in the place. How do you get away with this?" Apparently, you're supposed to read them "outside the Church", so it doesn't really count as ads inside.

Plegerize

July 28th, 2010 at 1:58 PM ^

From what I've read this is a family related decision in that he wants to go back to Kansas to be closer to home. Kind of a shitty way to leave, but the kid is still a kid and probably didn't know the best way to approach the right people. Regardless it is still unprofessional and hopefully he finds some maturity back home.

icefins26

July 28th, 2010 at 2:05 PM ^

See - I don't buy the "kid is a kid" thing about how he handled this.  It's ridiculous and shouldn't receive a free pass because he's a kid.  There have been many transfers throughout the text message era and while I don't have official knowledge on this, I'm pretty sure they didn't go out the way Brown did.

tn wolverine

July 28th, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^

Having lived in Tenn. for the past 28 years I can speak to this. After Kiffin left, Brown began to have 2nd thoughts on his future in Knoxville. He spoke about leaving but stayed around and even came to spring practice to watch. He talked to Dooley about possibly staying and was told he'd only be allowed to come back if his teamates voted to take him back (which most publicly stated they would). He kept putting off deciding what he was going to do. He then, showing the class of Lane Kiffin himself, snuck off without so much as a word to Dooley or any of the other coaches (except for the text). All the friends I have that are Tenn. fans were ready to be done with his crap, so they're just ready to move on.