Good old American football. My mind
couldn’t help but think of this first as the prime manifestation of “otherization”
that I continually partake in. Every Sunday (sometimes more than even just once
a week) I find the best TV, with equally boisterous and opinionated friends and
being the hour and a half berating session of anyone NOT going for my team. This
berating can be minor…in the event that I feel a bit conflicted over which team
to root for. Or this can be an all out verbal assault complete with
obscenities, name-calling and plenty of curse words. 
I’m not
sure what age this became protocol because I was born into a football fanatic
family. Since I can remember there have been football parties decked out with
buffets of delicious finger foods. How can you resist this awesome fanatic
otherizing that guarantees endless parties, cheese trays, buffalo wings and
once you’re 21 or sneaky, BEER?!Humans have competition rooted in their cores. Their desire to conquer obstacles and prevail in first place is at the center of this kind of sports driven otherization. Sometimes traditions and old habits die-hard…or rather die NEVER. Even instances such as last year’s LSU/Alabama fan tea bagging scandal don’t do much to quell the perpetual and sometimes vulgar rivalry. One thing is for sure, Americans love their football. New Orleans Saints fans remain loyal to their “Who Dat” Nation no matter who next Sunday’s “other” will be. ROLL TIDE.
I totally agree about how football tends to bring out the otherizing capabilities in people. I would also like to point out that otherizing at its core is ignorance, and, that being said, football fans take pride in being ignorant. Not that football fans are stupid it's just that when you take a step back and really look at what people get in fights over it is just ridiculous. The idea of rooting for your team to win should be the key to fandom, but for some reason being a fan also means hating every team your team happens to be playing. Also football fans do not come close to the real football fans of the world. Soccer fans, simply put, go too hard. Hooliganism is almost a legitimate career for many diehard soccer fans across Europe. They take idiocy to a whole new level, and are far more violent than the players on the pitch, unless you're Eric Cantona, The King.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnI3pP1QA7M&feature=related
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I wonder if this is truly otherizing or if it's just rooting for the home team. Trash talking another team or people who support another team is often in good fun (even if that "fun" gets out of hand), unlike the type of otherizing we've discussed in class. What do you think? Is there a difference? Does this situation meet our definition of "other"?
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