Modern day sports people and spectators might readily use the divine name, or Jesus Christ, as expletives of frustration or exclamations of triumph, but they would rarely make a connection between games and religion. Support for one's team might occasionally reach the heights of religious zeal, but associating athletic prowess with piety would be far from the thinking of most performers and onlookers. Yet, there are moments when even our modern sports spectaculars are conducted with quasi-religious rituals.