1. History
2. Money
3. Loneliness
History of Football (American) by Justin Beard
Once upon a time, there were a bunch of men who worked in a slaughterhouse in New Jersey. Their names were James, Billy, Mickey, and The Situation. They really hated working, so they decided one Saturday that they would meet in a park and beat the crap out of each other. Mickey, being the funny one, thought that I would be a great idea to bring a pig's head and throw it at the other men. So they all met up on Saturday and they started to fight. Mickey threw the pigs head at Billy, and then Billy threw it at James who threw it to The Situation. Soon enough, the boys had reinvented rugby, but had given it a much more confusing name-- football. It was ingenious, why try to limit the name football to something that would make sense like a sport where your foot is the ball? (new idea for an extreme sport; ESPN or FOX Reality Channel, here I come) The sport grew into an American... Sport. I guess you can't call it a past-time. So that is the history.
Ca-Ching!
Eventually football was so big, that people started to actually like the "sport". My guess is that American advertising started out when Budweiser's slogan was "The Beer that Will Eventually Make Milwaukee Moderately to Fashionably Famous, So Drink A Lot of It While Watching Football". The NFL decided that they wanted in and started to make a large franchise. Most people would buy a jersey or a cap, but then they decided, why would somebody just want a cap, when they can have a toilet seat that has their favorite player's face on it? And why can't we, the NFL, make it cost them $50.00 to sit on it? The funny thing about it is that people did pay for it. Almost screaming to the world,"I AM WHITE TRASH! I HAVE A TOILET BOWL CLEANER WITH DAN MARINO'S FACE ON IT!" My guess is that there is over 50 billion not spent on cancer research or removing Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt from the airwaves being spent on NFL merch. How sad is this?
I'm So Lonely...
Why is football so popular? It is because it alienates the losers and makes the losers that look cool look cooler. The NFL has brainwashed you to believe that if you like football, you are cool. And that is true, when you hear about somebody talking to somebody about football, you think that person is way awesome until you realize that eventually the players they are talking about will be gone next season. They simply have memorized facts about a game so that they can talk to somebody else about the facts of the game. It seems about as meaningless to me as somebody saying "Did you see that Monopoly game last night? Could you believe that Tracy McGrady had to pass go AND NOT receive 200 dollars?!" We force children to like the sport because we know that if they do not, then they won't be accepted (me being the case in point). We have parties centered around football games so we can drink beer and eat--two of the things that we would do alone, but if feels so much better to be with others. (Not that I have even come close to touching alcohol, I am just saying) We have force fed ourselves football to make ourselves feel like we aren't lonely, but the funny thing is that when we are watching football on TV, we are not meeting new friends, we simply are spending time in front of the TV, thus creating a vicious cycle that the NFL has created.
Well, that was long-winded. Spread the news about the evils of football to all of the corners of the Earth.
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3 comments:
Alright Justin, I love you to death but when you start sharing your closeminded views you should really do your research before posting these kinds of thoughts. I am not going to lie, you sound like an ignorant fool and its obvious you have no idea what you are talking about. Lets start off with your three simple points: history, money and loneliness.
The history of football yes originated from the sport rugby but in Europe not from pathetic workers of a slaughterhouse. There is also evidence that the Native Americans played a game similar to rugby. While in Europe, rugby was a school boy sport but evolved into a gentlemen's sport played between the Ivy league schools. Rutgers and Princeton played the very first game. Because the sport was very undeveloped, each school had their own rules of play, a combination from not only Princeton but Harvard, Yale and Columbia were used to change the game from rugby to American football. "So that is the history." All I can say to your "history" is what the hell. You have no idea what you are talking about.
Money. Alright, because cancer treatment is a global issue, lets take the sports industry to the same level. World wide the sports industry is worth about $410.6 billion. Lets also compare this to something similar, something that has the same psychological effects on the mind as sports. Media. Now if anything, there is so much more money wasted in media than in sports, and having been friends with you for the past 8 years of my life I happen to know you take quite a bit of interest in the media. Why? Because it is entertaining. No one judges you for this and you do not need to judge others for their interests as well. Both industries seem pointless from the outside but when you get into the psychology of both they are what help society continue at the rate of what it goes at now. You took AP US history right? Well the does the term escapism spark anything? During the great depression people used entertainment such as the radio, movies, sports and board games to escape the woes of reality. It was way for people to connect outside of work and family drama. Something that had no real importance but kept their mind occupied. Sports drama and media drama are simple. We place the rich, powerful and athletic on a pedestal and expect the impossible. Reference to Adidas, "Impossible is nothing." Reference to Nike "Everything is possible." Now if we were to take this $400 billion industry away and use this money towards cancer research may seem like a smart idea but it will cause economic imbalance. Take a business class seriously. What constitutes what is sad and what is not? What makes a blog not sad? A publicized journal, ok great for family interaction and news. But i just finished watching your videos and no offense it seems like a waste of time. Although I have no room to talk seeing as its summer and I have nothing better to do than read my friends' pointless blogs.
Ok on to your next 'simple' point. Loneliness. For real? Football is not cool because the NFL has brainwashed us into thinking that, it is cool because it is a common interest a way for families and friends to get together and have a good time. Take a look at a high school football game. Kids only attend the home games and 75% of those kids do not watch the game. They go for social side of it. Why? Because it's a common interest so let's have a good time together. Who goes to a football game alone? No one, this takes the loneliness point completely out of your argument. Now lets look at blogging....... You get my point. Sitting down with friends to watch a game of any sort is equivalent to going to the movies with friends. Both provide no productive use except entertainment. For every movie you see with a friend, you always some how critique it. Why? Because its something you both experienced, if its a good movie then great. If it was not then you have the opportunity of bagging on it for enjoyment with your friends. For example guys to Twilight is to Cleveland to Lebron James.
Get your facts straight, respect others interests, and if you feel like bashing on other people take a look and the mirror and look at your hypocrisy. You football is a waste of time, just think how much time you have put into this pathetic blog.
Love you to death by the way and it wouldn't let me post my little essay all in one comment so I did it in two. I am passionate about this and I just happen to have written a research paper on this exact topic. How convenient.
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