negreanu religious view?
 

DanielNegreanu
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Sun, Jun 19th, 2005 9:57
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That list is defintely not accurate. As for Barry, he is a devoted atheist as is Chris Ferguson. Although Chris is an atheist he signs autographs by adding in quotes "Jesus."

I let him know one night that some people may find that offensive and he said he didn't promote the nickname. He then said that he wouldn't sign autographs like that anymore, but of course that was a lie. I've signed tons of hats and t-shirts since and have seen Chris "Jesus" Feguson on many of those hats. I can't say that I was surprised to see that's he'd lied, but it was a little disappointing. Why say you are going to stop when you had no intention to? Did he think I wouldn't find out? His word holds little weight with me.


The fact that he is a atheist just makes it even uglier. He tried to justify the nickname by saying that many Mexican families name their children Jesus. However, with Chris, his use of the nickname simply mocks the majority of this country who believe that Jesus was our saviour and died a brutal death for our sins.

I'm not as offended by that nickname however as I am of Phil Laak's use of the "Unabomber." What next? We have people parading around with nicknames like "Hitler" and "Bin Laden?"

What the Unabomber Ted Kisinski did wasn't funny. If I lost a loved one at the hands of the Unabomber I would be repulsed by the idea that people may be cheering "Go Unabomber." Imagine for a second a mother watching that on TV? How would she feel about it? Exactly.


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Re: negreanu religious view?
 

anyone else see a problem w/ ferguson's nickname?

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

Probably not.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

his got a point with the unabomber stuff.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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anyone else see a problem w/ ferguson's nickname?

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Jesus Christ NO!!!

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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I'm not as offended by that nickname however as I am of Phil Laak's use of the "Unabomber." What next? We have people parading around with nicknames like "Hitler" and "Bin Laden?

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Freddy "The Terrorist" Deeb.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

I am amused that this could offend anyone, I support his right to poke fun at religious nut-jobs. He has a good point about that Unibomber guy, thats just plain poor taste.

Mack

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

That is so childish... There are millions of things in the world which might offend someone if they chose to get offended by it...

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

I agree with Negreanu's points here, but why does it seem that Negreanu is always the first to judge other poker players (and I don't mean judge their playing ability)? I find that annoying. He needs to lay off a bit.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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I agree with Negreanu's points here, but why does it seem that Negreanu is always the first to judge other poker players (and I don't mean judge their playing ability)? I find that annoying. He needs to lay off a bit.

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Reading his blog, it seems to me that he doesn't self-censor very much. He seems to say or write whatever he's thinking. This is sometimes entertaining in the way that car crashes are entertaining (c.v troubled gay prostitute).

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

I find the unabomber nickname to be in poor taste and have no idea why someone would either go by that nickname or do anything that might make people continue to use it. I noticed on the train wreck celebrity poker show on the E! channel that Laak hosted he dropped the hooded sweatshirt. I think that was a good move.

I think Negreanu's problem with Ferguson is that he is an atheist. I don't think Fergunson was intentionally going for a "Jesus" look, but by gosh he looks kindof like movie/painting depictions of Jesus so people call him that. I don't know for sure how he got the nickname, but it was probably others who started using it first. I really don't see how he's mocking anything.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

As a Christian, I can say that I have no problem what-so-ever with Ferguson's nickname. As others have said, he does kind of look like Jesus. If it were something along the lines of Chris "Jesus sucks" Ferguson, then I'd find it offensive, but as it stands, it's no biggie really.

I do think Phil Laak's unabomber nickname is pretty classless. Even though he does resemble him, I fail to see why anyone would want to assume this nickname.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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I agree with Negreanu's points here, but why does it seem that Negreanu is always the first to judge other poker players (and I don't mean judge their playing ability)?

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Probably because he has a weblog and so his thoughts are saved and broadcast to a much wider audience than Pro XYZ sitting at the buffet being critical of other players where you can't hear it on your computer.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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why does it seem that Negreanu is always the first to judge other poker players (and I don't mean judge their playing ability)? I find that annoying. He needs to lay off a bit.

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I find the irony of this post pretty amusing.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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anyone else see a problem w/ ferguson's nickname?

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No. He looks like jesus and the religious world who is offended needs to realize that the bible still exists as a piece of literature. By simply not living in servitude and acceptance of god, we are offending them, so why should this matter?

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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As a Christian, I can say that I have no problem what-so-ever with Ferguson's nickname. As others have said, he does kind of look like Jesus.

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Well, he looks like PICTURES of Jesus. I don't think we know what Jesus really looked like.

That having been said, Chris is supposedly a nice guy as well, represents himself well and had the nickname given to him. He didn't create his own nickname, like "The Crew."

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

Danny Boy is starting to wear a little thin.
He probably needs to stick to poker.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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That is so childish... There are millions of things in the world which might offend someone if they chose to get offended by it...


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If you knew someone who was killed or maimed by the Unabomber, wouldn't you be offended that a poker player was cheered on by that name? I sure would.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

I actually do know what Jesus looks like.

This thread is pretty stupid. A blog is a diary other's are able to read. It's not a newspaper making claims of truth. A blog, by definition, is one person's opinion. D. is entitled to his.

Unibomber? Who cares? Should one of the Unibomber's victim's family members get upset when they see a news article on the same? Sure. But then, that's because something tragic happened to them. Stop coddling these people, they can take care of themselves. They certainly don't need some annonymous geek on the internet uselessly taking up their cause. Likely, if they did care to google the name "unibomber" they would be lead to this thread (among millions of others) and now you've contributed to their grief. Good job.

Here's more of my opinion: People need to spend more time judging their own actions rather than those of others. Myself included.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

This is among the goofiest things I've heard in a while. If you get offended, that's your deal. Get a freaking life. If a player looks like Hitler, nickname him Hitler...who gives a flying [censored]. If I look like Bin Laden, call me Bin Laden. People have too much time and too little going on in their lives if they can worry about such trite [censored] as this. I don't care if Chris Ferguson's nickname is Chris "Jesus sucks big donkey dicks" Ferguson, it's just a freaking nickname. If he shows up to your house and starts burning crosses, then you can whine. Otherwise, get a life and shut the hell up.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

Who give's a rats ass about this subject?

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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his got a point with the unabomber stuff.

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Actually, if you think about it, he doesn't. Phil Laak got that nickname because he, in his hooded sweatshirt, looked like the police sketch of the Unabomber suspect. The man who they eventually found looked nothing like that. Not to mention the much more obvious fact that the nickname was bestowed for a very benign reason - his appearance. This is why, despite his best efforts to draw an analogy that would express how offended he is by Phil Laak's nickname, a player nicknamed "Hitler" because he had a tiny upper-lip eyebrow of a moustache wouldn't be particularly offensive (as opposed to a player who got the nickname "Hitler" because he frequently busts Jewish players out of a tournament or something).

Ironically enough, in misinterpreting a symbol for something (Chris Ferguson's or Phil Laak's nicknames) as that something itself (Jesus or the terrorist Unabomber), he's committing the cardinal sin of religion (what Joseph Campbell once described as "going into a restaurant and eating the menu"). If you don't see the irony, I recommend you make every effort to try - it's quite delicious. :P

My initial hypothesis is that he's just looking for something to whine about.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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If you get offended, that's your deal. Get a freaking life.

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Hmmm.if you say it's their deal, then why do you care? Why don't you shut the hell up and get a life? Who are you to tell someone else they cannot get offended? None of your damn business.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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A player nicknamed "Hitler" because he had a tiny upper-lip eyebrow of a moustache wouldn't be particularly offensive (as opposed to a player who got the nickname "Hitler" because he frequently busts Jewish players out of a tournament or something).

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I can assume fairly certainly that we will never hear Mike Sexton say, "Hitler raises on a stone cold bluff!" There would be a (limited) public outcry if the WPT chose to nickname a player "Hitler" for any reason.

I'm sorry, but are you actually suggesting that there would be any circumstance in which people wouldn't get offended by a "character" nicknamed Hitler?

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

Yeah i think it is a bit blastphimus(sp?). It erks me when i here them call him "jesus". I mean i know he probably didn't invent the name it was given to him for his look. And he does look a bit like him. But its disrespectful and blastphimus.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

I agree. Daniel has a point with unibomber as well.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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Quote:
That is so childish... There are millions of things in the world which might offend someone if they chose to get offended by it...




If you knew someone who was killed or maimed by the Unabomber, wouldn't you be offended that a poker player was cheered on by that name? I sure would.

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Um....hmmmmm.....No. I live in a reality where I understand the difference between Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Ted "The Unabomber" Kaczynski.

I'll ask this question to those who find nicknames offensive. If a new player came onto the poker scene and his legal name was Adolf Hitler, would that offend you? Is that any different than an offensive nickname?

I say we all take a collective bong hit and relax a bit.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

That one was actually kinda funny. And those guys all know each other and it was all in fun. But if it was a knickname that stuck it would be offensive to many people probably.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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Actually, if you think about it, he doesn't. Phil Laak got that nickname because he, in his hooded sweatshirt, looked like the police sketch of the Unabomber suspect. The man who they eventually found looked nothing like that. Not to mention the much more obvious fact that the nickname was bestowed for a very benign reason - his appearance. This is why, despite his best efforts to draw an analogy that would express how offended he is by Phil Laak's nickname, a player nicknamed "Hitler" because he had a tiny upper-lip eyebrow of a moustache wouldn't be particularly offensive (as opposed to a player who got the nickname "Hitler" because he frequently busts Jewish players out of a tournament or something).


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I personally feel that people, in general, seem to get offended by stuff way too much. However, where I think Laak goes wrong is in perpetuating the nickname. Why would anyone want to be known as the unabomber? I can't understand it. Yet, he continued to wear that hooded sweatshirt which in turn seemed to imply he liked the nickname or at least encouraged it. I really can't think of many nicknames I rather not have than a crazy guy that blew up innocent people.

Again, with Ferguson, I really don't understand how it is disrespectful.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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However, where I think Laak goes wrong is in perpetuating the nickname. Why would anyone want to be known as the unabomber? I can't understand it. Yet, he continued to wear that hooded sweatshirt which in turn seemed to imply he liked the nickname or at least encouraged it.

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I don't know whether or not he goes around saying "Hey ladies, you might remember me from the world poker tour - I'm Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak", but if 'perpetuating his nickname' means that other people continue to call him that because he wears what he's most comfortable playing poker in (a hooded sweatshirt), then f- 'em. He's not responsible for what morons think.

Isn\'t the Bible anti-gambling?
 

This really does not make much sense to me. Considering that gambling is a vice and is something that a strict Christian would not participate in, I am sure they could find a whole lot to complain about in regards to Poker.
Besides, since when do Christians have the patent on the word "Jesus?"

Rock27 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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I'm sorry, but are you actually suggesting that there would be any circumstance in which people wouldn't get offended by a "character" nicknamed Hitler?

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They're not offended by a character named "Unabomber".

Are you actually implicitly suggesting that if a menacing looking asian player became a WPT staple that people would be offended if he had the nickname "Genghis Khan"? I can say with near certainty there would be no public outcry over that situation if it ever happened. Why not? Don't they have any idea how many people that guy killed?

I don't know about you, but my spidey-sense tends to go off whenever someone says something to the effect of "you people should be ashamed of yourself for not being offended by this".

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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I actually do know what Jesus looks like.



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Really? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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a player nicknamed "Hitler" because he had a tiny upper-lip eyebrow of a moustache wouldn't be particularly offensive (as opposed to a player who got the nickname "Hitler" because he frequently busts Jewish players out of a tournament or something).

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this, and the thought of mike sexton exclaiming about hitler raising on a stone cold bluff just made me shoot my coffee out my nose. i hope nobody's offended that i could laugh at that [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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[ QUOTE ]
However, where I think Laak goes wrong is in perpetuating the nickname. Why would anyone want to be known as the unabomber? I can't understand it. Yet, he continued to wear that hooded sweatshirt which in turn seemed to imply he liked the nickname or at least encouraged it.

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I don't know whether or not he goes around saying "Hey ladies, you might remember me from the world poker tour - I'm Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak", but if 'perpetuating his nickname' means that other people continue to call him that because he wears what he's most comfortable playing poker in (a hooded sweatshirt), then f- 'em. He's not responsible for what morons think.

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My feeling was the sweatshirt wasn't "the thing he's most comfortable playing in", but rather a gimmick. Did you see the episodes where he was tying it over his head?

If I'm wearing a clown suit in a tournament as a gimmick to get noticed and people start calling me "Gacy" you bet I'm going to stop wearing the clown suit. In fact, I might skip some hands to go change in the middle of play.

Re: Isn\'t the Bible anti-gambling?
 

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Considering that gambling is a vice and is something that a strict Christian would not participate in, I am sure they could find a whole lot to complain about in regards to Poker.

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Just curious where in the Bible do you find a prohibition against gambling?

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

Read my post more carefully. I didn't say what offends me personally (not much does). I said that people would be offended by a poker player nicknamed Hitler. Unfortunately, there's no anti-defamation league for victims of Ted Kascinzky (sp?). But regardless of your own morality, or of any hypocrisy involved in this argument, trivializing Hitler makes people angry.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

It is disrespectful because announcers on tv and fans make statement like. If he comes back from this short stack to win they will change his name to God instead of jesus. It like comparing him and his poker abilties in some way to comapare with what jesus was capable of in a way i think. That he is so good at poker he plays like jesus. I don't think jesus would apreciate haivng poker players comapre themsleves to him. Not that Chris is doing this, but announcers and fans do. Obviously they are not seriously doing it. But i don't think it is appropriate to alot of people for others to joke about a respected religous figure who some believe gave his life for us. Maybe like its in poor taste to bring jesus up when discussing sex or somthing like that. It is disrespectful to make jokes or compare someone with such an important and respected person in many peoples lives. It is taboo.

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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It is disrespectful because announcers on tv and fans make statement like. If he comes back from this short stack to win they will change his name to God instead of jesus.

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I don't see how this has anything to do with Ferguson or his acceptance of the nickname. People can say all kinds of wacky things about lots of different nicknames and bring God into it. How does this have anything to do with simply having the nickname Jesus being disrespectful?

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I don't think jesus would apreciate haivng poker players comapre themsleves to him.

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Would it be better if a plumber compared himself to Jesus? And, I don't think Ferguson is in any way making that comparison in any event.

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Maybe like its in poor taste to bring jesus up when discussing sex or somthing like that.

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Jesus not only sactions, but encourages sex between married couples doesn't he? So why is it in poor taste to bring up Jesus when talking about sex?

Re: negreanu religious view?
 

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trivializing Hitler makes people angry.

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as we can clearly see by the massive public outcry after the release of the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" episode. Or "Stalag 17". Or "The Producers". :P

...I agree with you to an extent, but if some poker player for god knows what reason decided to grow a little toothbrush-bristle moustache, anyone who says calling him "hitler" would be so offensive that it never crossed their tolerant and respectful mind is either a) full of sh*t, or b) if they are honest, they certainly aren't worth talking to or investing a lot of mental energy in in the first place.

But I agree that Sexton probably wouldn't be caught dead saying "Hitler's looking down at Big Slick!"