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Thanks for posting this and
Thanks for posting this and thanks for the plug.
I was asked to share a few thoughts on how folks see and experience sports.
Football is more than just the game for ordinary folks which you have articulated exceptionally well (the Tom Benson disses, the hope of Reggie Bush, etc.). They invest all that is ugly and beautiful about them; all that is reactionary and all that is progressive.
I worked with a guy in Gretna who hung a Saints helmet pendant upside down in the shop we worked out of. He was a Saints fan for years, but after being defeated so many times he lost hope. So when I asked why the helmet was upside down, he replied, "So I can shit in it." That's not the reaction of a guy whose favorite team lost the game. That's a characterization of a people who have lost control and who have been beaten down by white supremacy and capitalism. People have to experience some wins to feel hopeful that they can go all the way. I once heard some lunatic Leftist say that you can turn out tens of thousands to a game, but only a handful to a protest. He couldn't see the forest for the trees. After Katrina, Bears fans told Saints fans to swim home. Raiders fans rioted after winning a game a few years back, setting off racial tensions long in development.
Football games are great cultural events that are completely intertwined with and expressed through the political contradictions of our time. When folks sit down to talk about football, they are talking about politics. This is one C.L.R.'s important contributions and it was a dynamic he saw in the game of Cricket (of which I know jack shit about--I think its like baseball). Football is a foil to discuss race, class, organization, strategy, and tactics.
I could go on about this, but I think I've said enough.