When God Calls the Plays

Kurt Warner in one of his humbler moments. Or perhaps he's envisioning what the rush would have been like with the 49ers porous offensive line. (Illustration by Janine Kahn at SF Weekly)

At St. Mary's, the basketball players had a pre-game ritual; the coach would yell "Holy Mary mother of god!" and we'd shout back "Pray for us!" We also paid a visit to the grotto before every football game. Sure, we were calling on a higher power for a little help, but we never claimed to actually talk to god like Cardinals QB Kurt Warner.

Rooting for the Competition

Not only does God favor a loan for the Big Three, but the Japanese automakers are praying that none of the American companies folds.

Yuri Kageyama of The Associated Press reports:

"But now as GM and the entire U.S. auto industry teeter on the brink of collapse, Toyota and other Japanese carmakers are hardly rejoicing. They say the bankruptcy of any of Detroit's Big Three would spell serious trouble for them as well.

"Should that happen, 'the damage to our business is certain to be tremendous,' Toyota Motor Corp. spokesman Hideaki Homma told The Associated Press on Monday. 'The conditions for the U.S. auto market are extremely tough right now, and any additional negative is sure to make things worse.'

"One major problem is that Japanese carmakers in the U.S. share many of the same parts suppliers. If a Detroit automaker were to collapse, suppliers would likely follow, setting off a chain reaction that could would wreak havoc for Japanese production in the U.S., a vital market."

Republican Senators from the South, are you listening? Probably not.

Thanks to Jim Holbel for finding this one.

A Divine Bridge Loan

In Detroit, it appears that God favors a bailout for the Big Three.