Football in America
This weekend I experienced my first football game, in the stands at the Ohio State-Indiana game. As I observed the sport I realized similarities between football and the Balinese Cockfight reading, which described a deeper meaning behind a 'sport' in society. The Cultural Anthropology text discusses how sports, "are both models of culture, depicting basic ideals, and models for a culture, that socialize people into certain values and beliefs" (pg.352). Just as the Balinese cockfight was an expression of Balinese culture and society, I began to relate the popular American sport of football to our society.
Football left room for analysis of about how it indirectly portrays aspects of American society, similar to the cockfights of the Balinese. The popular American sport of football holds a plethora of information about our American society that could go into pages of analysis. In our American society that stresses individualism, I pondered why a crowd would want to all wear one color and salute a certain way? In a way I realized that football is an outlet in American society to ignore the individual that is always stressed and form comradeship, which is often hard to do in the American society of differences. The same traits stressed by a football coach to win on the field are strikingly similar to those emphasized as keys to success in the professional world. to the fact that the most popular American sport is comprised of only males, lacking any female counterpart. The huge crowd movements reminded me of the WWII Nazi videos with the identical hand motions seen in a huge crowd. This is seen on the field, but also in the corporate world with the infamous glass ceiling for women. Is there an advantage to being a boy and playing sports at a young age, and later implementing these (possibly unconsciously) in his career, whereas a girl is never exposed to these ideals? As certain plays were preformed on the field a crowd of over 104,000 people would respond in distinct way: waving their hat around in a circle before kickoff, spelling out O-H-I-O after a penalty, and standing up when I touchdown occurred. This type of mass behavior is an effort to unite many behind one belief, which in the case of football meant one particular team winning. I realized as I sat in the stadium the opportunity to turn this American pastime to which I was unfamiliar, into a anthropological fieldwork study (like the elevator). This depicts the strong emphasis of the male in our society. The sport glorifies the stereotypical 'masculine' traits: strength, power, ruthlessness, and teamwork, as characteristics of success and winning.
Common topics in this essay:
Cultural Anthropology,
WWII Nazi,
Balinese Cockfight,
Ohio State-Indiana,
Football America,
american society,
popular american sport,
popular american,
american sport,
models culture,
sport football,
huge crowd,
american sport football,
balinese cockfight,
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Acceptance Essays
