America's Team?

[The Prowler]

Here's the mind of a bammer....

*note: this isn't the same bammer that thinks Rivals should boost their recruit's ratings because of the Tornados.*

The media and "America's team." Perhaps jumping the gun here a little bit, but don't you think we can expect to hear the media and especially the sports networks referring to the University of Alabama as "America's team" this fall in light of the devastation experienced as a result of April 27 tornadoes? If memory serves me correctly, the media tagged the NFL Saints as America's team after the devastation of Katrina and success for them that year was attributed in part to their perseverance in the wakes of all that devastation. And don't forget, WE ARE MARSHALL and other examples. (I don't recall if the "media" propelled Marshall to any great feat after the crash other than establishing a team, a feat within itself).

[Townhallsavoy]

(I don't recall if the "media" propelled Marshall to any great feat after the crash other than establishing a team, a feat within itself).

I'll give them that.  America should celebrate if they can even field a team. 

[JR4AU]

 

[Snaggletiger]

Why the FUCK is anyone equating 400 people being mangled...tossed in trees...buried under tons of rubble and debris....with football?

[Townhallsavoy]

Why the FUCK is anyone equating 400 people being mangled...tossed in trees...buried under tons of rubble and debris....with football?

Because it worked for the Saints. 

But that was different.  An entire city was devastated, and they weren't sure if it would ever recover.  Also, the Saints were displaced in 2005, and the owner wanted to move them away.  The Saints coming back to the Superdome was symbolic of the city making its own comeback. 

[jmar]

Why the FUCK is anyone equating 400 people being mangled...tossed in trees...buried under tons of rubble and debris....with football?

NOTHING WHATSOEVER, but the telecasts can't just be about the game. The networks have to have a "theme." And we have to be subjected to whatever theme they choose.
Last season was all about hating a young black man.
The coming season, by contrast, will be about communities pulling together and overcoming hardships. 
So huddle up on the couch with your family, enjoy the experience and just breathe life in.




New York Times

Sports of The Times; Metaphors, Realities And Football
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: January 29, 2003Sign In to E-Mail
 
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DURING a conversation about the essence of football, Clemon Daniels, a running back for the Oakland Raiders in the early 1960's, described pro football as the closest thing we have in our society to hand-to-hand combat.

In all my years of being around football, I'd never thought of the game in those terms. But in fact, that's exactly what it is. Hand-to-hand combat is the metaphor for football, the new national pastime.

For the second time in 12 years the National Football League's centerpiece game, the Super Bowl, was played in the context of conflict. Super Bowl XXV, won by the Giants in 1991, was played in the shadow of the Persian Gulf war. Super Bowl XXXVII, won by Tampa Bay, was played under threat of impending war with Iraq. In each case, the war motif was embellished and shellacked with patriotic fervor, emotion, heightened security and, of course, the games themselves.

Football is a game of contact, collision and violence. But it is also a game of valor. You're taught from the time of Pop Warner football to sacrifice your ego -- but mostly your body -- for the team. Barret Robbins, the Pro Bowl center for the Raiders, violated the ultimate tenet of the sport. He reportedly missed a Friday evening team meeting and then missed all team activities on Saturday. He was ultimately sent home and missed the game. He was a deserter. More than one Raider used the imagery of being betrayed by a brother who left the foxhole.