#34319: — 08/08  at  04:17 PM
Shoot, this guy's ID bona fides are as good as anybody else's...I mean, when it comes to all that scientific knowledge involved, he knows as much as all the guys with degrees at the Discovery Institute.

So...when are you going to get into sports commentary?

#34325: — 08/08  at  04:36 PM
The original article that this quote was pulled from was in my local newspaper yesterday, so I sent a note to the author with a bit of background linkage about ID and DI and such. I just wish that the article had called a little more attention to the contrast between the leaders of the two groups at Stanford--on the side of evolution, we have an astrophysics graduate student; on the side of ID, we have...an ex-pro football quarterback. Talk about a difference in credibility...

The following morning, they had an anti-evolution piece by Pat Buchanan running counterpoint to a pro-evolution editorial by the paper, so I suppose things haven't gotten too bad--it just was a mistake to think that my hometown would be immune to this controversy simply because "it's California".

#34333: BadTux — 08/08  at  05:06 PM
What next, they're going to turn out the contents of the State Institution for the Criminally Insane to avow the merits of George W. Bush's strategy in Iraq? It's amazing that people who aren't scientists, who know nothing about science, who've never studied science, are suddenly "experts" when it comes to Intelligent Design. Me, I'm not a scientist, I barely know the difference between an oocyst and a blastocyst (which is more than these guys know but WTF), so I'm going to rely on the people who DO know science, the guys who spent 8 years in college getting a PhD, then upteen years of postdoc work, then got tenure at a university based upon their research and publication record... me commenting on what is science would be like me doing brain surgery. I'm not qualified, and I'm not going to do it. So I'm just going to accept the word of 99.99999% of scientists (the people actually doing the stuff) that evolution is science, and ID is not. When 51% of scientists say otherwise, get back with me...

- Badtux the Snarky Penguin. [PS: just gave you a hat tip on my own blog ]

#34334: Brad R. — 08/08  at  05:13 PM
Looks like they're going the Scientology route- get vacuous celebrities to endorse your ideas, watch the rubes write you checks...

#34335: Linkmeister — 08/08  at  05:14 PM
Judging from his stats, he needs another field to stand out in; clearly pro football wasn't the right one.

(I used to follow the NFL, and I've barely heard of this guy, so I looked him up.)

#34344: — 08/08  at  05:41 PM
Should Stanford University demand that Steve Stenstrom return his diploma as one who failed to learn, or should they refund his tuition for having failed to educate?

#34345: — 08/08  at  05:42 PM
"Steve Stenstrom, an intelligent-design backer"

Too funny.

Q: When does a quarterback become an "intelligent-design backer"?

A: When you pray to your creator that the ball won't be intercepted every time he throws it.

#34347: — 08/08  at  05:52 PM
Has anyone managed to find out if he actually has a degree, and, if so, in what? I couldn't find that information during a cursory search.

#34362: — 08/08  at  06:33 PM
You just know the ID crowd is going to use Stenstrom as a response to Project Steve. "We've got another one! Ha!"

#34364: — 08/08  at  06:41 PM
As a backup defensive back at a indescript college, I demand that my anti-ID pro-evolution views recieve equal time in the classroom. I mean, like I attended the BIO 101 lectures and read the text.

#34389: Alon Levy — 08/08  at  08:00 PM

You just know the ID crowd is going to use Stenstrom as a response to Project Steve. "We've got another one! Ha!"

That gets them up to what - 5?

#34392: decrepitoldfool — 08/08  at  08:11 PM
You have to be a scientist to distinguish between science and whatever, anymore than you need to be a porn star (or an accountant) to tell pornography from tax forms. Every citizen should be able to make at least the really obvious calls, and this one isn't even close.

I paid attention in science classes, and have been an avid science reader ever since. I'll never do original research and wouldn't presume to make a close call, but some things are just so damn obvious...

#34393: decrepitoldfool — 08/08  at  08:12 PM
Doh! Should be "you don't have to be a scientist..."

Cut-and-paste error. Kinda ruins the effect, doesn't it.

#34397: — 08/08  at  08:49 PM
I would think that now all those evolutionists who despise creationism and its spawn would now have to renounce football in order to remain true to their principles. Why do I doubt that?
I really have to wonder why the Great Goddess mutated the male. What was she thinking? Do they amuse her? Perhaps we are all just an experiment gone awry. Personally, I think she is in a galaxy far far away burning with disgust and wondering if it is time to end this nonsense. Whoops that recipe did not work. I just do not get this designer stuff. A pregnant woman never claims that she is the designer of the child she carries. Oh, maybe the sperm doner is the designer? While I do not believe as some scientists do that there was a design flaw with humans, I do think maybe the brain mutated with all those toxic chemicals it created. What is my point? There is no point. It's all process. duh. Is that the unfolding of evolution? We have come to this?

#34402: — 08/08  at  09:32 PM
GeorgeEliot: I have no idea what you're on, but it must have been a bitch to smuggle in.

Trackback: Role reversal Tracked on: Doing Things With Words (72.9.234.70) at 2005 08 08 21:36:48
The Eagles need to drop T.O. They could get a decent quarterback and pick up a star punter with the money they're spending on this showboat. —P.Z. Myers, University of Minnesota, Morris What's all this about? Why, the San Jose Mercury...

#34410: — 08/08  at  10:06 PM
Don't worry Patrick, I am just an old lady. Are you jealous?
I doubt it. Old ladies do not have much power and just why old ladies would have to smuggle it in, is beyond me. All you have to do is think about what you read and hear and question everything. It gets both the scientist and the religious nut wondering. Of course being totally dismissed is also part of the bargain. But, for the record, is there a relation between football and evolution besides the desire to win and asking god to facilitate it? I just don't get it.Why don't they just use chemicals? Maybe they are. Is that it? God is a chemical?
Are they invoking the god gene? Yes I am being factitious, but I sense a distress in men who see their idols embrace an ideology they do not agree with. How do you deal with that?

#34420: Raven — 08/08  at  11:06 PM
Cameron, I think you're onto something. PZ could create a wedge between American and National league creationists with a paper on how the designated hitter is "just a theory".

#34436: Timothy — 08/09  at  12:43 AM
After reading the above comments, cut to Steve Stenstrom gazing into the mirror, twirling around surveying his rocking "guns", his rock hard ass, and his righteous pecs. Then enter his brain to discover him thinking: "Holy Lord baby! Tell me that an Almighty God/Intelligent Designer didn't create this! It's a scientific fact baby!" Is that how he came to believe in ID?

#34443: Neil — 08/09  at  01:37 AM
Good theory! You are rite, its a scientific fact. Its really an interesting post.

#34458: RPM — 08/09  at  07:27 AM

When the pro wrestlers join the chorus, then it'll be time to panic.

The Ultimate Warrior is already a hardcore Republican. Don't know if he's an ID supporter, though.

#34478: — 08/09  at  09:53 AM
When interviewing someone on intellectual matters, shouldn't a responsible journalist report how many concussions that person has suffered?

#34483: — 08/09  at  10:11 AM

At a weeklong conference in May at Stanford University and at a seminar last month hosted by several South Bay <b>churches<b>
...
Stenstrom helped students organize the first conference on intelligent design last year while he was an adviser for Mosaic, a coalition of <b>Christian<b> groups at Stanford, and Cardinal Life, a <b>Christian<b> group for athletes in which he was an active member as a student 11 years ago
...

If Intelligent Design Creationism is science and not religion, as the Discover Institute would have us believe, why are all these events sponsored by rligious groups?

#34511: — 08/09  at  12:04 PM
When do you think they will ask the new GOP porn star Mary Carey to do a ID based porn movie as well?

#34552: — 08/09  at  03:23 PM
As much fun as these comments are to read, they really play right into conservatives' hands. The trend in the past decade or so has been to discredit your political opponents by calling them 'elitist.' We've all heard it. So every time we laugh at the expense of creationism, we take another hit from the religious right as being 'snobs' and 'elites.' I'd say, keep the ad hominem out of it, except the parts that directly pertain to the issue (concussion count = o.k., football record = off limits).

I really enjoy this blog, though.