Rooney shoots

[angliholic]

"Some of the puns really make you smile and we've seen some great examples of creative copywriting too," she added.
Among the classics she cited were "Chxxch -- Have you guessed what's missing.UR!" and "God, you're great!"
The World Cup last year offered the perfect chance to cheer on striker Wayne Rooney and make some converts too: "Rooney shoots but Jesus saves."


What is the pun of the underlined part? Thanks.

[Anglika]

Not a pun, but a play on concept.

Rooney (shoots) scores the goals in football
But
Jesus saves souls.

Personally I feel these kind of slogans look cleverer than they really are.

[BobK]

I don't see why 'Jesus saves', in the context of football, shouldn't be seen as a pun. In that context it's the goalie who saves. I regard this as another meaning of 'save', though I suppose in 'Jesus saves souls from eternal damnation' and 'The goalie saves the ball from going into the net' the use of save could be said to be similar - not the same though, as the beneficiary in each case is different (a soul in one case, and a football team in the other).



b