The impression I got from the 9th grade texts is that they are not only focused on man vs. man, but also on the different ways of operationalizing men and how those categories affect the way men view each other. For some reason, I think people of the same sex feel a certain competitiveness with each other. With men, this competitiveness is more apparent than women. It is often manifested violently.
Football is one of the most physical sports that exists - and men love it. That's not to say women don't, but football is generally a sport that takes more interest among men than women. A lot of men like to play and watch football all throughout their lives. So what makes it so appealing? Well, it's an intelligent sport with a lot of thinking that goes into play-making that isn't necessarily always evident. But for those who don't really get the play-making, maybe part of the appeal is in the fact that it is so physical. Football fans love to watch hard hits; it's thrilling. Maybe part of the appeal of football is just to watch these extremely athletic men fight so hard to get the job done. Seahawks fans love Marshawn Lynch because he can fight through multiple defenders with simple brute force. If that's not a pure love of the physicality of the sport, I don't know what is.
So - this battle the New York Times article and the PBS visual essay highlight is a hard one to fight because part of what makes football football is the physical nature of the sport. Just like the Villapiano family, young boys are not going to stop playing football because of the possibility of head injuries, and parents are going to struggle to tell their children to give up on their dream. So, football is a success because it's a physical sport that showcases what is essentially an extremely organized battle between athletic men. Men especially love that, because of the competitiveness they feel toward each other. And to top it off, football is especially physical and violent. The NFL and NCAA have made rules and regulations to try and combat this issue - like if a player's helmet comes off, they have to sit out for one play. But football fans dislike these rules because it keeps their favorite players out of the game for a play that could be extremely important. I have trouble seeing this battle against brain injuries in football going very far very soon.
Chris Rock's "Chris Rock Tiger Woods" piece plays into the way men are operationalized and how that might affect the competitiveness that exist between men. Chris focuses on golf's popularity among African Americans. In general, the video showcases fantastically how unpopular golf is in communities with a high population of African Americans (Harlem). Chris is asking why - why is golf so unpopular among blacks? And, more specifically, black males? Well, golf is considered a "gentleman's sport"... and therefore is followed by a large population of wealthy white men. There's no wonder that blacks aren't drawn to golf. On top of that, golf is probably the least physical sport out there. It is mentally calculating and ensues very little physical competitiveness. Men in general are not as attracted to golf as football, possibly because it is less physical, and African Americans are not attracted to it because of the simple lack of African American golfers. The black bird-watching piece falls under a similar category as the golf video - bird-watching is considered a sport, and it is not physical at all. Also, like the article states, there are very few black birdwatchers. So again, no wonder black males are not attracted to bird-watching.
The news reports of racial targeting among young black males is another example of man vs. man and the way men are operationalized. It is possible that the later cases reported in the news article occurred not only because the teens were black, but also because of the competiveness that exists among men. Maybe the attacks were spurred by both competiveness and racism.
The Most Dangerous Game follows a similar theme, except without the racism attached. The game played here is completely based upon the competiveness of the commander; his sport would be entirely different if his victims were female. The commander was so attracted to hunting men because of the innate competitiveness he felt toward them.
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