printHow did the noun “coach” ever come to be paired with the adjective “legendary”? To an outsider, the American football scene is obscene, starting with its incestuous fraternities, the rock-star status surrounding handlers and players, their pompom-waving, knickers-baring groupies, and the tantrum-prone fans who experience bare-fanged fury when their heroes let them down.
The problem with this freak show is that the participants have become pathologically invested in it.
Meanwhile, from NBC News’ vault comes this creepy footage of alleged pederast Jerry Sandusky:
“I must be a frustrated playground director. … I enjoy being around children. I enjoy their enthusiasm I just have a good time with them. Everybody needs people to care for them. Sometimes they don’t want it. Sometimes they don’t understand what you’re trying to do, but they want to be disciplined. Kids are growing up awfully fast today.”
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UPDATE (Nov. 15): As I said in an earlier post, I abhor the media-encouraged hysteria and hype over the Pen-State affair. “Let the man have his day in a court of law,” and all that stuff. But is this man helping his legal case?
In an “interview with Bob Costas, broadcast Wednesday night on NBC’s Rock Center,” the accused Jerry Sandusky manages to incriminate himself. I understand that Sandusky is here trying his best not to lie. Instead, he unintentionally injects a great deal of sensuality into talking about boys and what they mean to him.
Ah! What a mug! What a pig. I am sick to death of jock culture, I thought it would be behind me after college. Oh, no.
I find the glorification of leaders in any discipline or industry somewhat pathological. And just because one has an outsized talent in something does not mean it extends into other areas. On the contrary.
Obviously then, I have been told I have an issue with authority. And there is no doubt that I find society much too hierarchical; it assaults my sense of rationality and efficiency and creativity and innovation.
It was one of my first attractions to Rand; in Fountainhead she drew a picture of a man standing with his arms out stretched to his G~d, his eyes raised and proud. This was much more attractive to me than the kneeling, cowering deference with with we seem to approach all of life, from professors to sports heroes.
Certainly my respect for another does not require the loss of my own stewardship.
Let me preface this note by saying I’m a high school football coach of 19 years. I played collegiate football at Brigham Young University many moons ago. I must say that we have lost our sense of priority when it comes to our football players at the professional level, and are now losing it (or lost it) at the collegiate level. It can’t help but trickle down to the high school level now. Pro and college football has become an aberration not worthy of our dollar and support. I’d rather watch a Pee Wee game than any of these overindulged idiots any day.
Someone just sent me a youtube video of the 9-10-11 half time performance at West Virginia University; a very impressive show of marching on a football field to make outlines of war machines while waving a gigantic national flag. For some reason it kicked a memory of when I was nine, my dad and two uncles worked on the Los Alamos Project out of Espinosa, N.M. 1949. People around me spoke of building their lives in peace, establishing solid values. My uncles would tell me how common sense was more important than intellect. We didn’t think of the future, we thought of making what we had then, worthwhile. Nobody spoke of football and baseball was something people that didn’t have any purpose in life pursued. Man, do I miss that world.
C’mon guys, Capitalism is messy and a free society of individuals with inherent rights has the ability to be boorish as well as inspiring. It is an individual’s right to choose, i.e. discriminate, what entertainment form one desires to see and in which to participate.
That’s why TVs, Radios, Computers, etc. have ON-OFF BUTTONS!
Pom pom waving, knickers baring groupies need love too. I’m glad the tantrum prone fans of which you speak don’t act like soccer fans and start fires, kill people in stampedes and started wars over soccer matches.
Yes the football fandom culture is out of control and has been for a long time. But sports fandom around the world is the same. Especially here in the South where football is not a game but rather a noble crusade. But, even here the lengths that were reached in the Penn State scandal would not, in my opinion, happen. That was/is a sick situation and all involved should be required to answer for their part.
Casting aspersions on football! – Dem’s fightin’ woids!
I can never understand how those Yuro-Peons and other assorted “furriners” love some 0 – 0 World Cup Finale that ends in a retarded “penalty kick contest” – yet soccer is considered exciting to most non-Americans (yawn zzzzz).
Then there are those Americans who still prefer BASEBALL (or base-bore) which, on occasion, does have its moments. The funniest 5 minute talk about the glory of football (vs. baseball) is by George Carlin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIkqNiBASfI&feature=related
“I’d rather watch a Pee Wee game than any of these overindulged idiots any day.”
Yes, I quite agree. Coach Knight said towards the end of his career that if had the choice to watch an NBA game or grasshoppers mating on the Disccovery channel with poor reception, he would always prefer the grasshoppers and poor reception to the “overindulged idiots.”
Do I enjoy college football? Yes. Has it become an obsession for me? No. My father taught me at an early age to keep sports in perspective. In fact he had to embarass me to do it. It is one of the things I’m most thankful my Dad did for me.
As for the Sandusky scandal, if the stories are true it is awfully sickening. I don’t know if he is guilty or not but I have to admit he’s a pretty strange and creepy guy.