American Football
Just to be up front and honest, I'm a geek. Maybe a super-geek. I like to think so.
In all the discussions about rape by football players, there hasn't been a discussion about football and America's love and/or obsession with it. At least, I haven't seen any. America and the world idolize athletes, to varying degrees depending on the sport. It sounds like football is down-right worshiped in Steubenville, hence the death threats against the victim, but even the national news (as noted here) had its collective head up the backside of football, to the point where they expressed great sorrow for the two boys whose lives would be utterly shattered, perhaps to the point where they would never be able to play football again.
It seems to me like football in America is a stand-in for bravery. The national anthem says this is the land of the free and the brave (or one of those patriotic songs - I'm too lazy to look it up), but we really aren't. At least not any more. What will people actually stand up for? Granted, occupy did its damndest to stand up to corporations, but they were far outnumbered by people mocking them. From the safety of their living rooms. What will those people stand up for? It seems like they will stand up for freedom, as long as it's a corporation's freedom to overcharge those people standing up for the corporations' rights. And somebody has to tell them to do so.
So football is what people (mostly men) can watch to satisfy their inner feeling that they have to be tough. When football players, even from highschool, are convicted of the rather major crime of rape, the chorus says, "Why are you picking on them? Just leave them alone, it's only a harmless rape." I bet the players soaked in the adoration of the town for a good long time, coming to the conclusion that it was ok for them to do what they were doing. Hell, it's almost an extension of the game. Score a touchdown, then just score.
I guess that answers an earlier question. What will people actually stand up for? Yup, you got it.
America, fuck yeah!
= new reply since forum marked as read
. . . as if sports are the only standard. So, we end up with the need for the book pictured below to be written.
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Last edited Thu Mar 21, 2013, 07:36 AM - Edit history (2)
This line is usually used in the situation of nonathletic boys being forced to participate in team sports in traditional mandatory P.E. classes. In the first place, they don't want to be there! Every school day they dread the period when they have P.E. These boys don't want to participate in these team games, which can lead to some of the worst physical bullying I've ever heard of. They have no choice! They are forced to take a class that is completely useless to them! I'm amazed how anyone who calls himself a progressive can support what really has been nothing less than a form of institutionalized bullying. Not to mention the fact that these boys don't get any exercise! I ought to know because I've experienced both in my life -- first, the "old P.E." of my boyhood and, secondly, my health club experience late in my life working with a personal trainer on a bodybuilding program. I love working out! I get more exercise in a single workout than I ever did in an entire year of mandatory P.E. Traditional P.E. is of no benefit to nonathletic boys, who could benefit from a choice of physical activities other than mandatory team sports. Bodybuilding, for example, is a great builder of self-confidence.
I dare say that those DU members who use this line as an insult are either guilty of incredibly boneheaded ignorance or stupidity (not to mention a complete lack of empathy for bullied kids) or outright cruelty. I suspect many of them were bullies themselves when they were kids. I have no respect for them. In fact, I hope one of them reads my post and has a fit. ("Hey, guys, the truth hurts, doesn't it?"
That's the way it goes. If you (editorial "you" here) don't have a sound argument to make, you resort to a personal insult such as the insult you (not editorial "you" here) have mentioned in your post. (What an awkward sentence that was!)
Fumesucker, I bet you're now thinking He sure sounds familiar. I think I've heard this rant before. Well, as a matter of fact, I'm bbdad ("bb" for "bodybuilder" under a new username. 
Remember me? Talk to you later, my friend.
Which I'm well into doing at the moment.
In a long-distance phone call, I recently told an acquaintance of our generation who had played football in high school that I had joined a health club and had hired a personal trainer to work with me on a bodybuilding program. I hadn't seen him in decades. He said he had become rather chubby over the years and wished that he had waited to take up bodybuilding much later in life.
You know what's funny? In 2003 I was diagnosed with late onset type II diabetes. Of course, this development was depressing. But today, since I've modified my diet and have dedicated myself to bodybuilding (as well as brisk hour-long walks on "off" days), my health seems to be quite good. In fact, I've never been healthier or physically stronger before in my life! My scrawny boyhood self would be surprised! When I was diagnosed, I soon read that many people who come down with diabetes end up becoming much healthier. Funny how that works!
I'm glad you're doing well and that you're outliving them. 
