They Must Draw 6,000 Fans, Or God Will Call Them Home

So we were watching the Illini's 89-64 victory over Southeast Missouri State last night — we have the ESPN Full Court package; you honestly do not want to know how much money we give that network — and when it was over, we flipped around the other games. It was a bad Full Court night; nothing but blowouts, except for channel 428. Oklahoma was barely beating Oral Roberts. This is a team, by the way; not Oral Roberts himself, though we hear his crossover would be killer were killing not a sin.

Oklahoma ended up winning, but Oral Roberts, off to a slower-than-expected 5-6 start, is still the favorite to win the Mid-Continent conference and make its first NCAA tournament. It would be the biggest event ever for the Golden Eagles to make the tournament; before now, the school's claim to fame was once having a pre-toupee Bill Self as coach and NBA journeyman Haywoode Workman.

But if Oral Roberts does win the Mid-Continent tournament this year and make the NCAAs, it will be important to remember what really got them there. Oral Roberts is, of course, more than a university; it's also the namesake of televangelist Oral Roberts. In case you have forgotten, Roberts is the very same man who, in 1987, told his faith that if they did not raise $8 million by March, God would "call him home." (They hit the number.) Roberts has claimed to have personally raised the dead and said last year that a vision of a "cloud over New York" has told him Christ is coming soon. (After he dies, Roberts has told followers that he plans to return and rule the world with Christ.)

So, yeah ... go Golden Eagles!

Oral Roberts Men's Basketball [ORU.com] Oral Roberts [Wikipedia]