Web Letters: We Might Be Giants

In his report on the National Football League's recent championship game, Dave Zirin claims his right to be a football fan, to enjoy the biggest game of the year and to revel in the Giants' win, much as he did when he was a kid. In making this claim he flaunts his ability to enjoy the emotional kick of sports and to marvel at the extraordinary talents of top athletes. It's an endearing performance, one that we might forgive. After all, didn't Lester Rodney, sports reporter for the Daily Worker, love baseball? Didn't Lester appreciate the beauty of the game despite the fact that major league baseball at the time was segregated and even most white players were little better than endentured servants? But the analogy to today's NFL isn't baseball before steroids and the designated hitter. The analog is the Coliseum. The entertainment provided by the NFL is the most primitive possible under the US legal code. Its violence coordinates well with the drone of environmental destruction, compulsive productivity and consumption, and self-willed ignorance that are the hallmarks of America today. Acts such as a man catching a projectile by trapping it with one hand against his helmet are absurd. Typically, shortly after such a catch several opponents use the receiver's helplessness as an opportunity to try to injure him seriously. As a sports fan I give the Super Bowl a wide berth.

Paul Abbott

Frankfurt am Main, Germany