We went to the Army game on Saturday, guests of friends. As we were leaving the house, my wife said to me, "I don’t want you getting in fights with anyone in the stands." That had upset her the last time we went, two years ago.
An Army kick receiver had failed to call for a fair catch and a special-teams player from UMass had cut him down like a tree just as he caught the ball. I said it was legal. At least I think I was on that side of the argument, I can’t remember now. The guy next to me disagreed, that a player is allowed to catch the ball, and we got into it heatedly. Then the rest of the game we didn’t talk, and my wife was mad at me for spoiling such a beautiful fall day.
But a couple days later my wife had come home from the city and said her therapist had said: "That’s what guys do at a football game, they get into fights! Haven’t you ever been to a football game?"
So on Saturday, I reminded my wife about that piece of wisdom. She shook her head. "He was wrong, he was stupid," she said, "that’s why I quit him."
My wife believes what Benjamin Franklin stated so strongly in his Autobiography, the goals of social interaction are entertainment and information, not contention, and so socializing should go smoothly, even if it’s with a stranger.
The last time Army lost. This time Army won, and sitting in the stands my friend pointed out to me in the next row a neighbor of his who taught at West Point and served in Afghanistan, an Army officer. "He told me, ‘they will never fight for us. Never.’" Afterward my friend introduced me, and I thanked him for his service. I wanted to ask him about Afghanistan, but I knew better than to bring it up then.
All sports were suppose to be for discipline, unity, exercise and fun – not for winning. However, the western culture, being based on Roman pagan culture, has turned sports into “everything is moral in love and war” – just like its colonization.
The Army has never one the hearts of the people. It’s the moral strength which has lasting affects on the people. This was the very reason that Arab Muslims with a small number of soldiers, conquered most of the known world within 100 years of the Dawn of Islam and created three great empires – which lasted longer with everlasting impression than any western colonial power.
Western fear of Islamic Faith
link to rehmat1.wordpress.com
Interesting insights, Rehmat. Thank you for sharing them with us.
I think the West also fears the hijacking of this religion of peace by extremists..
I think those fears are overplayed by Zionists (Jewish, Christian and secular) who wish to drive an artificial wedge between all three Abrahamic faiths.
Those ‘fears’ you speak of are actually struggles over market share, as it were.
Fundamentalist Zionist nationalists such as the radical colonialists in the West Bank settlements have already hijacked Judaism. Why aren’t you concerned about them?
Islamophobic propaganda has served Israel well; it diverts attention from Israel’s own crimes and at the same time facilitates more solidarity with Israel’s struggle against those “evil Muslims”.
“my friend pointed out to me in the next row a neighbor of his who taught at West Point and served in Afghanistan, an Army officer. “He told me, ‘they will never fight for us. Never.”
He had to join the Army, become an officer and go all the way to Afghanistan to figure that one out? He could’ve just taken a cab with a Pakistani driver to an Afghan restaurant in Queens to get the same answer.
And gotten a good meal to boot!
From Wikipeda, A fair catch is a feature of American football and several other codes of football. In rugby union and Australian rules football, a fair catch is called a mark; see mark (Australian football) and mark (rugby) for more information on fair catches in those games. Fair catches featured in some extinct forms of football, and they have been abolished in other modern codes.
The primary reason for the fair catch rule is to protect the receiver. A receiver directs his attention toward the incoming punt and cannot focus on the defenders running towards him. He is quite vulnerable to injury and is also at risk for fumbling the kick if the punter intentionally makes a high short kick to allow defenders time to hit the receiver. The XFL removed the fair catch rule in an effort to make the game more “extreme.” Canadian football and Arena football also do not have fair catch rules.
In American football, a member of the team receiving a punt or kick, may signal for a “fair catch”. To signal fair catch the receiver must raise one arm fully above his head and wave it side to side, while the ball is in flight. After the signal is made, no opponent may interfere with the fair catcher, the ball or his path to the ball and the receiver may not attempt to advance the ball. If the receiver fails to give a proper signal (arm not fully extended) the receiving team is penalized five yards for an invalid fair catch signal, marked from spot of the signal.
A player signaling for a fair catch is not required to catch the ball; however, after making the signal, he may not initiate contact with any member of the kicking team until the ball is touched by another player. If he does he will be penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. If the ball hits the ground or a member of the kicking team, the fair catch signal is off and rules for kicked balls apply. If the receiver “muffs” the ball (touches it, but then fails to field it cleanly), then the ball can be recovered by the kicking team.
A “personal foul” for kick catch interference and a 15 yard penalty is called against the kicking team if a member violates the fair catcher’s right to the ball. If the receiver attempts to advance the ball after signaling for a fair catch he is penalized five yards for “delay of game”. A fair catch may be followed by a snap or a type of free kick — the fair catch kick — at his team’s choice, and an expired playing period may be extended if the free kick is chosen. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (USA) abolished the fair catch from its version of American football in 1950, but restored it in 1951, minus the option of kicking from the mark of the catch, which is retained in rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations and of the National Football League.
The fair catch signal can be used as a legal form of deception in the following instance: If the receiver has no intention of actually fielding the ball, but wishes it to roll in the end zone for a touchback, he may signal for a fair catch in front of where the ball will land, making the kicking team think it will not reach the end zone.
So Phil, please apply these rules to what you observed, and tell us the results.
Your wife seems naive in that all sports involve competition and nobody likes to lose–even if the sport is one on one (e.g. boxing) or a team sport (football). Where would the cheerleaders be without a competitive team to cheer for?
“Just as” is a cop out. He is allowed to catch the ball and the next instant he can be cut down like a tree.
“Take, say, sports — that’s another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it — you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that’s of no importance. That keeps them from worrying about — keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it’s striking to see the intelligence that’s used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]. I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in — they have the most exotic information and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. And the press undoubtedly does a lot with this.
You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? I mean, I don’t know anybody on the team, you know? I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn’t mean any — it doesn’t make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it’s a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements — in fact, it’s training in irrational jingoism. That’s also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that’s why energy is devoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on.”
I read those words by Noam Chomsky (from a lecture) a few years ago and they’ve stuck with me ever since. Although I still enjoy the games and “root” for the Mets and Cowboys, it’s not with the same intensity that I used to have. I can’t help thinking how silly it is to sit passively in front of a TV and root for a bunch of people I have no ties to. It’s contrived emotion – which all entertainment is, I guess. Not good. But hard to release oneself from.
The time spent watching competitive sprts would be better spent practicing an instrument. Don’t knock it.
“The guy next to me disagreed, that a player is allowed to catch the ball, and we got into it heatedly.”
You are one brave macher, Phil! I would be too afraid to do that, ever, in case the other guy looks at me and says: “And what the hell does a JEW know about football?” I mean, what can one say after that?
RE: “He was wrong, he was stupid,” she said, “that’s why I quit him.”
MY COMMENT: “Quit him?” In the “Brokeback Mountain” sense of quitting him? ‘You people’ are an existential threat to the institution of marriage. (lol) Double entendre lovers unite!