| January 27, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 
It’s been a super week here at Insurgent Headquarters.I have a confession to make. I love NFL football. Why do I feel dirty? It’s just football, after all, just sports ... just a game. Perhaps the reason is that I’m constantly surrounded by colleagues (fiercely independent-minded insurgents) who are of the opinion that professional sports, whether it’s football, basketball, hockey or ladies’ bowling, are little more than heavily commercialized Roman orgies designed to enslave the minds of the masses. And NFL football, they say, is the worst of them. It caters to the lowest common denominator in our society, turning ordinary working class Americans into mind-numbed TV zombies, drunk on violence and high on testosterone. Or so the argument goes. But ... but ... it’s the Super Bowl. Yeah, I know ... the Super Bowl is the very epitome of American over-indulgence, with it’s F-16 flyovers, half-nekkid cheerleaders and cheesy lip-synced halftime performances. It’s disgusting. It’s chauvinistic. I know, I know, I know ... But it’s the Super Bowl, man, the Super Bowl. It’s gonna be awesome, too. The Seattle Seahawks (who have never been there before) versus the Pittsburgh Steelers (who had no business beating Denver and Indianapolis on the way). Big Ben Roethlisberger versus Shaun Alexander. Bill Cowher versus Mike Holmgren. Jerome Bettis playing his last game in his hometown in the Super Bowl. Okay, I’m geeking out, aren’t I? Sorry. I just can’t help it. Maybe I have been conditioned. Maybe it was my childhood Sundays, which were spent with the Dallas Cowboys (my mother’s favorite team) instead of with Jesus. When I was a kid, Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach WAS Jesus. Is that sick? Did my parents commit child abuse by getting me hooked on football? Hmmm ... maybe I’m a victim here. Naah, that’s BS. Besides, I could stop watching football if I wanted to. Really. I swear. I do get it that professional sports have a dark side. I get sick of spoiled athletes just like everyone else. I’m aware that, throughout the course of a single football game, I’m subjected to a couple of hours worth of Bud Light and Viagra commercials. I know that the urethane smiles and silicone bodies of the cheerleaders are not a good example for young girls. And I’ve seen the way a sports franchise can hold a community hostage, forcing it to spend tax revenue on new stadiums and luxury skyboxes for the corporate elite. But I’ve also experienced the benefits of pro sports. I lived in Phoenix in 1993 when the Suns basketball team made it to the NBA Finals (only to lose to Michael Jordan’s Bulls ... damnit!). That single event did more to galvanize that city than any other in its history. In a city where people rarely make eye contact with one another, strangers were united in their excitement for the Suns. And it had a lasting effect, too. And then there’s my own ten year-old son. Last summer, he played his first season as a linebacker for the East Anchorage Eagles, in the local Pop Warner league. In the beginning of the year, he was ... well ... not very good. And neither was the team. As a matter of fact, the poor Eagles didn’t win a single game all year long. But Gabe and the rest of the team hung in there and fought together. By the end of the year, they had improved as a cohesive group, learning selflessness and sacrifice, as well as the game of football. And Gabe found his way into the starting lineup. It was just football ... but it was beautiful. Regards, Aaron Selbig Editor, Insurgent Media AK |
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All rights reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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