Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Politics of Football

Sooooooo....I guess it's time for something new, huh? Well, I read this exerpt from Chuck Klosterman's new book and and it seemed worthy enough to get things kicked off again, particularly this part:

My wife is awesome, but she hates football (as wives are wont to do). Every game seems the same to her. I will be watching a contest between Kent State and Eastern Michigan on a random Thursday night, and she will say, "Go ahead and watch that game. I will just sit here and read this magazine featuring a plus-sized black female TV personality from Chicago." Two days later, Georgia will be playing LSU for the SEC championship. Now she will want to rent Scenes from a Marriage. "You want to watch football again?" she will ask. "Didn't you already watch football on Thursday?" Every game seems the same to her. And I can't explain the difference, even though the differences feel so obvious. And I don't want to explain the difference, because I always want to watch Kent State and Eastern Michigan, too. They are as different to me as they are similar to her.

Before I get in trouble, let me say that my wife does NOT hate football and does understand the difference between a Kent State/Eastern Michigan game and the LSU/Georgia game (particularly since I am also a lifelong LSU fan). Nevertheless, I think she can empathize with Klosterman's wife in this situation.

BTW, Klosterman is a sort of "pop-culture" writer who is also a huge sports fan and likes to dip his toes in those waters every once in awhile. The rest is here.

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