S03.E14: A Slump, a Cross and Roadside Gravel

[Bort]

Sheldon and Georgie mine for platinum in roadside gravel. Mary is concerned when Missy misuses religion to help with a batting slump.

Airdate: Thursday, February 6, 2020

As always, please do not discuss events of The Big Bang Theory that have not “happened” yet. 

[Browncoat]

It might help to take Missy to a batting cage for a little extra practice.  But I did laugh at her "DAD!" at the end.

[Katy M]

Oh, no.  Georgie passed up on inventing an iPod or something.

For a genius, Sheldon's pretty gullible.  

[Frost]

I had to laugh at Billy stating he "found" his dollar in the collection plate!   I've always been a little uncomfortable at athletes being so public about praying and thanking God for winning.  Faith is great but somehow I think the Lord Almighty has other things to deal with than who wins a basketball or football game.  Does God hate the SF 49ers because he "let" them lose the super bowl?  

I loved Georgie and Sheldon working together.  Georgie has no interest in academic topics, but he's a smarty about things he's interested in.  And he's definitely ambitious.

[jewel21]

I loved George trying to sneak the cross to Missy. And her “dad!” And his “I’m coming!” had me laughing.

[hoodooznoodooz]

The way Billy said “bye” to Missy as Mary’s dragging her away was so funny.

 

”I’m normal.”

”Are you?”

[hoodooznoodooz]

You fibber.... Oh, you also stole my Nutter Butter.

[hoodooznoodooz]

“You’re not a teenage girl, so Georgie doesn’t think about you at all.”

[hoodooznoodooz]

Why didn’t the experiment work? Too much rubber?

[Mystery]

The kids looked so young in that picture! 

I liked that Coach let Missy finish praying. You don't change what's working. 

[Katy M]

6 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

Why didn’t the experiment work? Too much rubber?

That was Sheldon's hypothesis, so probably.

[Dbolt]

As Crash Davis told Annie in “Bull Durham”, you don’t mess with a streak. If you think you are pitching well because you are wearing ladies underwear you keep wearing it. 
 

I was waiting for the reveal that the amount of platinum you can get that way was actually microscopic and not worth anything. 
 

there was a player for the Cincinnati Reds years ago who said when asked about prayer answered “what good would that do?  They can pray too. “

[mammaM]

"God, it's Missy. If you can hear me better it's because I'm wearing a cross now.  Please let me get lots of hits and if their star pitcher breaks his arm or gets run over by a truck I'd totally be ok with that"

So, a cross is an antenna😂, gotta love Missy. And Mary, so happy one of her children were praying. Now if she actually heard what Missy was praying...😂😂😂

[Frost]

10 minutes ago, mammaM said:

"God, it's Missy. If you can hear me better it's because I'm wearing a cross now.  Please let me get lots of hits and if their star pitcher breaks his arm or gets run over by a truck I'd totally be ok with that"

So, a cross is an antenna😂, gotta love Missy. And Mary, so happy one of her children were praying. Now if she actually heard what Missy was praying...😂😂😂

Poor Mary!  She was so thrilled to hand over her own childhood cross to Missy.  And then to find out Missy considered it a way to have her magical wishes come true!  I guess the theological differences between prayers and wishes are a little beyond Missy right now.

Mary actually did a pretty good job explaining to Missy that prayers to God were asking for something on behalf of others....but then she went ahead with her standard dinner grace of asking God to bless "the hands that made it."  Which always seemed a little self-serving to me 😉  I love this show!  There usually is a layer or two below the obvious.

[Katy M]

11 minutes ago, Frost said:

but then she went ahead with her standard dinner grace of asking God to bless "the hands that made it."  Which always seemed a little self-serving to me

I think that goes just beyond her hands, though.  It's for the farmers who grow the food, the grocers who sell it to them, George (and her) who work so they can buy the food, etc, etc.

[anna0852]

She always says 'bless the hands that prepared it' which to me has always seemed incredibly self serving. 

Mary is missing the point with Missy. Missy is praying and developing her own relationship with God. Missy believes in God. She believes He has power. Isn't that exactly what is supposed to happen if you take kids to church? Getting ticked cause Missy doesn't pray the way Mary *thinks* she should is a good way to turn her off religion altogether. I'd be interested in Pastor Jeff's opinion on the subject. 

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

She always says 'bless the hands that prepared it' which to me has always seemed incredibly self serving. 

There was one episode where she changed it and everyone complained. It always reminds me of the Big Bang episode where 

Spoiler

Sheldon point out that it is self serving and Mary responds, “You start changing the words to the prayers, next thing you know, you're in a church with a guitar”.

 

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, anna0852 said:

ary is missing the point with Missy. Missy is praying and developing her own relationship with God. Missy believes in God. She believes He has power. Isn't that exactly what is supposed to happen if you take kids to church?

Not exactly.  She was treating God as a vending machine.  And then she was about to take money to bless a bat.  That's pretty shady.

[Bobbin]

Many believers take comfort in rituals, in the predictability of sameness, "as it was in the beginning, and now and ever shall be...", although Jesus did speak against using prayer as a rote mantra or incantation. Many also think of prayer as making wishes on a star. And that God listens to some people's prayers and not others. And some, like Mary Cooper, get beside themselves if others "aren't doing it right!" Carrying a cross or other symbol is a reminder of faith for many -- and a good luck charm for others. Have fun figuring it out, Missy. Fortunately, the Almighty is said to have infinite patience. And a sense of humor.

A bit of redemption for Dale for letting Missy finish her prayer, whatever his motivation. I guess we're just walking away from the previous episode. That's fine with me.

We have heard Georgie's prayers in the past. Always about teenage girls, of course. LOL

An insightful episode with everyone getting equal time. Well done.

[BitterApple]

This was a great episode. The show is at its' strongest when it spreads the storylines evenly, and they did a good job with that last night.

I thought it was positively hilarious the way Georgie manipulated Sheldon to do the mining project. I'm not surprised he's so successful in business, he's one slick customer! Also, how Sheldon actually believed Georgie got permission to use the art room kiln. I like how they remind us Sheldon is still an impressionable kid, despite his intelligence.

Billy "finding" the dollar in the collection plate? Priceless, and so on point with his character. 

Missy's venture into prayer was adorable. I loved the end where she was determined to bat on her own, without the cross....and it lasted all of one pitch. 

I'm looking forward to next week!

[HurricaneVal]

I cracked up when Missy was praying in the car, and Mary told her she should also pray for the family and for others in need, and Missy rolled her eyes and said "But I already hung up!"

[SmithW6079]

20 hours ago, Frost said:

Does God hate the SF 49ers because he "let" them lose the super bowl?  

Yes. 😂

[Sarah 103]

On 2/6/2020 at 9:55 PM, Frost said:

I loved Georgie and Sheldon working together.  Georgie has no interest in academic topics, but he's a smarty about things he's interested in.  And he's definitely ambitious.

Under the right circumstances, Georgie and Sheldon could be an unbeatable combination. Georgie is a fantastic salesman, and Sheldon is great with logic, science and numbers. Also, it was great to see Georgie and Sheldon together, because that's not a pairing we see often. I hope we get to see it again. 

On 2/7/2020 at 11:01 AM, Katy M said:

She was treating God as a vending machine.  And then she was about to take money to bless a bat.  That's pretty shady.

I was surprised Missy didn't mention televangalists in her defense. It seems like a Missy thing to do, and we know she watches television so she could have stumbled across one at some point when trying to watch something else. 

[Quark]

Good episode.

Sheldon has been so great this season.

[sharifa70]

"God, cover your ears." (Pause) "Dammit."

I snort-laughed at that; I'm glad I had finished my soda.

[Bali]

On 2/7/2020 at 11:10 AM, Bobbin said:

 Fortunately, the Almighty is said to have infinite patience. And a sense of humor.

 

I've always thought that the platypus was proof of that sense of humor.

[sharifa70]

5 hours ago, Bali said:

I've always thought that the platypus was proof of that sense of humor.

Get out of my head! I've been saying the same thing since I was a kid!

[Gothish520]

I'm not religious in the least, but am I the only one who had an issue with Missy praying that a kid would get hit by a truck? I love this show and enjoyed this episode, but that was a bit disconcerting to me. 

[displayname]

3 hours ago, Gothish520 said:

I'm not religious in the least, but am I the only one who had an issue with Missy praying that a kid would get hit by a truck? I love this show and enjoyed this episode, but that was a bit disconcerting to me. 

I just think that the show offers rather nice commentary at times. We are supposed to just laugh this off as a kid being silly IMO, but it does also do something more subtle and show how silly praying to God as means to your own ends is. Going deeper, that even nasty people can be religious, or how religious principles are held upheld hypocritically by some.

Edited February 11, 2020 by displayname

[DoYouLikeMutton]

I like Dale much better as Missy's coach and not as MeeMaw's love interest.  He's too mean and nasty in the latter role. 

[Gothish520]

I like Dale in both roles. He is a good foil for John, lol. I like that Connie can handle him and takes no guff.

[John Potts]

Wow, Georgie really shows he knows how people tick in getting Sheldon to help him (and nice to see an unusual pairing really click).

Missy showed an interesting approach to prayer: "Pray now while he's not busy!" And Missy even realises that she's being selfish, but still shows her manners ("I just hung up, I don't wanna call him back")

Do Baptists (the Coopers are Baptists, I think) commonly wear crosses? In my experience it's more of a Catholic thing.

On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 2:55 AM, Frost said:

I think the Lord Almighty has other things to deal with than who wins a basketball or football game.  Does God hate the SF 49ers because he "let" them lose the super bowl?

Maybe God is a Pats fan?

[sharifa70]

4 hours ago, John Potts said:

Do Baptists (the Coopers are Baptists, I think) commonly wear crosses? In my experience it's more of a Catholic thing.

I’m pretty sure crosses are for any Christian denomination. My mom is Lutheran and she has cross necklaces, and I’ve seen them on Baptist and Presbyterian friends as well. The only type of cross I tend to associate specifically with Catholics is a crucifix, but I’ve also seen Catholics wearing plain crosses. 

[voiceover]

On 2/6/2020 at 7:55 PM, Frost said:

 I've always been a little uncomfortable at athletes being so public about praying and thanking God for winning.  Faith is great but somehow I think the Lord Almighty has other things to deal with than who wins a basketball or football game.  

Eh, there are those who say that they credit the Lord with the win, but if you listen to most of them, they refer to "giving God the glory" -- more in line with reflecting their joy to the Almighty, because "God first/others second/I am third".  You don't just bring Him your worries and pain.  

And everyone knows that after fifty years of lamentations, He was definitely a Chiefs fan.

[Samarah]

Does anyone know where to purchase the cross that Missy Cooper got?