Is God really a Red Sox fan?

In "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington" (S3E3) Peter takes the whole family to a Baseball game where the Boston Red Sox play against the Yankees.

Chris made a sign to cheer them on which reads John 3:16. Puzzled by what this means, Brian looks up the according part in the bible and reads the verse.

Here is the excerpt from IMDB:

Chris Griffin: [the family is heading to a Boston Red Sox game] Look at what I made!
[Chris holds up a 'John 3:16' sign]
Meg Griffin: What does that mean?
Brian Griffin: [reading John 3:16 from the bible] And the Lord says, 'Go Sox.'

While I find this pretty funny, because it implies that God is a Red Sox fan, I don't really understand the joke.

I looked up the original verse, believing that maybe it was some sort of pun:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

If it is a pun, I don't see it.

Can somebody explain the joke to me? Why did they choose this specific verse?

The fact that many Family Guy jokes are references to pop culture makes me wonder if this really is just some arbitrary part of the bible that is altered for the laugh itself. Maybe I am overinterpreting it.

plot-explanation family-guy

Best Answer

I think the joke is about Rollen Stewart, the person who's famous for bringing the "John 3:16" signs to sporting events. He first appeared at sports games wearing rainbow-colored wigs and was frequently seen on Television, but then later started bringing the signs to promote Christianity.

Apparently at first just in it for the publicity, Stewart became a born-again Christian determined to "get the message out" via television.

I think Stewart might have been a Red Sox fan, but haven't been able to confirm it yet. He did appear in the 1986 World Series with his wife, though -- which was between the Mets and the Red Sox.

During the 1986 World Series, Hockridge said that Stewart tried to choke her for standing in the wrong spot with a John 3:16 sign.

So, based on this I'd say that the joke is that Rollen was, after all, just trying to cheer on the Red Sox.

It's a "What if the guy with the John 3:16 sign is really just trying to cheer his team on?" joke, so it doesn't necessarily have to be about Rollen Stewart, or the Red Sox for that matter. It also doesn't have anything to do with God, or the Bible itself, but for the joke to work the verse John 3:16 had to read how it read when Brian looked it up.