Sports: The Myth About the Upcoming Super Bowl
Who says gays can’t be sporty? This post was submitted by Arthur D. Hartnett.
The stage is set for one of the most viewed events in human history. In Miami, this year’s Super Bowl will feature the Saints of New Orleans playing the Colts of Indianapolis. You’ll see the highlight packages, you’ll hear the hype and watch the expensive, sexy commercials. But don’t be fooled. Just because the Saints are from New Orleans and just because people like football (a lot), the Super Bowl birth doesn’t help New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina in any real way.
I don’t mean to be some curmudgeon, kicking people when they are down; sports are entertainment and as such, can provide a much needed distraction from trying times and the stress of modern life. However, they can’t bring people back from the dead or replace lost homes and possessions. Just last week, while I was temping at Georgetown University, a young man came in who had lost his graduation photographs when the hurricane hit. He came into the yearbook office and spoke to the photographer about the possibility of taking replacement shots. The Saints were, by far, one of the last things on his mind. There is nothing wrong with people being able to root for a local franchise to succeed at the grandest level. But the players on the Saints aren’t from the city and nothing they do will bring back a job or a company to New Orleans.
The city, and the damage incurred, is so much bigger than one Super Bowl. Don’t let ESPN or the other broadcasting networks insult you by suggesting that somehow, New Orleans is now better off because of the success of their professional football franchise. Yes, players from all over the NFL have donated money and time to community projects in New Orleans, but what needs to be done in that city is so much larger. For that matter, the same is true for Haiti, and you’ll probably hear about how NFL players are doing their part to aid in that disaster relief as well.
Players are helping, as are ordinary people. But my point is not to suggest that there isn’t enough being done. My point is simply to keep things in perspective: This. Is. A. Football. Game. Nothing more, nothing less. A hugely enjoyable one, a national secular holiday, but a game. It does not bring New Orleans back.
And go Colts.
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They actually published this? Apparently you haven’t been to New Orleans recently to see how much this has energized the city. People are putting Saints memoriabilia on tombstones of loved ones. This is a huge confidence builder for the locals and if you don’t see that as helping a city after such a disaster, then you’re just another Colts fan that’s mad no one cares your team is playing this year.
And go Saints.
I’m from New Orleans. And I (and all of my friends and family) are perfectly aware that the Saints winning the Superbowl isn’t going to rebuild our houses or bring back so many of the things the city lost in Katrina. But you know what? It’s bringing more hope to the city and it’s residents than anything that’s happened since Katrina. The Saints have always meant an incredible amount to the city, and when they played their first games back in the Superdome after Katrina, I know for many people, that felt like the real first step back to the rebirth of this city.
I don’t expect everyone to understand what it’s like to have been through something like Katrina, or to understand how residents of New Orleans are feeling right now. But just because you don’t doesn’t mean that you should tell other people not to get behind a city–and a team–who have overcome major struggles to get to where they are right now.
Screw the Colts. WHO DAT.
At least the Saints didn’t abandon their city like the COLTS DID TO BALTIMORE.
Normally I would be a bit skeptical about the hype surrounding a Superbowl that has been touted as something more than just a flashy sporting event. However, in this I case I am going to have to disagree. While the success of the Saints may not bring back homes that have been destroyed or jobs that have been lost, it does incur a sense of hope and camaraderie amongst a community of people who have chosen cling onto one of the only positive things they could find in the wake of such a tragedy. I think this article is not only obnoxious, but an obvious example of someone who either doesn’t understand what it is like to experience such a tragic loss or doesn’t understand the courage it takes to find solace in a simplest of places.
I agree. The media is force feeding the citizen of the WORLD! to think that New Orleans is okay. If the Saints happen to win this game, it will allow THE WORLD to feel okay about forgetting the still struggling New Orleans. I do understand that the success of this team may provide some with a sense of happiness, but most likely that sum wasn’t effected by Katrina. They were displaced. That sum has probably adopted a Texas or maybe Floridian team, ya know States that somewhat care about there population. Basically, the Saints going to the Super Bowl will aventually do more harm than good. Whatever you do after the game, dont let the propaganda fool you! IT AINT AIGHT!
O yeah!…..what about the other 8 months of the year?
But it never is ‘just a game’, is it? All things in our lives, and in the lives of societies, are interconnected, and as much as we would like to do some misguided aristotelian compartmentalizing, life just doesn’t work that way. And in our country, as in much of the world, sporting events are part of a larger narrative. El Salvador and Honduras can go to war over a soccer match, while Pele playing an exhibition game in African brings on a cease fire in a civil war. We’ve all heard about Nelson Mandela and the South African rugby team, right? And the really awesome thing, in my opinion, is that South Africa will actually host the World Cup later this year. I started rooting for the Saints the moment I read about their outspoken and progressive linebacker, Scott Fujita (recently featured on the blog “Feministing”). My opinions about society and culture very much inform which sports and which teams I want to root for; for instance, the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team, who are (currently) the only Native national team eligible to compete against other sovreign nations (e.g., Canada, the US, Japan, etc.) in the Lacrosse World Cup. They certainly carry on their shoulders more than just padding and their lacrosse sticks.
Sometimes people get so rabid in their sports fanaticism, we would like to tell them to chill out and lighten up (like when my mom used to carry the portable tv in the car on the way to church so she could run out and catch the Cowboys game as soon as the last amen was uttered). But sometimes those who aren’t such big fans of sports need to lighten up, too, and let people have their fun. And we all—IMHO—need to take a deep breath and reflect on how sports intersect with other areas of life and society, and how they can not only be less detrimental toward life on this planet, but also a positive force.
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