The Efficacy of prayer

The Preposterous Universe blog notes that

the NBA's New Orleans Hornets begin each home game with a prayer. Not just the team, the whole arena — the prayer is read over the loudspeakers by someone standing at center court. Since the Hornets are not a government institution, they certainly have a right to hold a prayer, but it seems obnoxious, as there are certainly plenty of non-religious people, or devotees of different religions, in the crowd for each game.

Apparently New Orleans is the only NBA franchise to have a prayer before each game. Among other things, the prayers ask for success for the Hornets and the NFL's Saints. This gives us a nice chance to check on how useful it is to ask for divine intervention.

Apparently the New Orleans Hornets have the worst record in the NBA: 2 wins and 25 losses.