by Christopher Brinckerhoff
Chicago – The city is abuzz with the recent injury of Bears starting quarterback Kyle Orton. The veteran football player turned his ankle this week playing against the Detroit Lions.
Rex Grossman, the quarterback who led our team to a Super Bowl two seasons ago, will likely play November 9 against the Tennessee Titans, according to reports.
This is a big deal to fans who watched their home team lose the Super Bowl, and falter last season with Grossman at the helm. Orton's selection over Grossman to start this season drew lots of attention.
For some fans, the quarterback selection of their team is something they can readily identify with because they follow sports every day.
Extensive media coverage of the Orton Grossman switch might've received even more prominent coverage if it weren't for the national and state election this week.
In fact, people more easily identify with sports teams than they do with politicians, according to experts.
Cultural anthropologist and professor at the Northern Illinois University’s Anthropology Department Kendall Thu said, “People really don’t know what politicians do, but they do know what sports teams do, and that seems to reflect what they aspire to in their own lives. So it’s easier to connect.”
Thu said one of the goals of cultural anthropologists is to determine whether or not there are learned traits present in all cultures around the world.
“There are actually very few, it turns out,” Thu said. “But oddly enough, sports, as broadly defined, is one of those universals. It doesn’t make any difference whether they’re hunters and gatherers or modern societies. All cultures have sports manifest in one way or the other.”
Harper College Sociology professor Patricia Hamlen said sports teams are a part of people’s identity because it’s a way to create solidarity without inflicting harm on each other.
“It’s a pretty safe way to create competition and solidarity within cities and between cities,” Hamlen said. “There can be competition without that competition being deadly.”
Social class and the way fans relate with their teams may correlate with each other, according to Hamlen. Working class towns may relate to their teams differently than other kinds of towns.
“I think Chicago is an excellent example of that,” Hamlen said. “We have many sports teams that don’t do well. But we show incredible loyalty to them. I’m wondering if part of that is because this is a working class town. And a working class town has an underdog mentality. That’s kind of projected in how we support our teams regardless of how well they do.”
“In my view, sports allow people to live out a life vicariously,” Thu said. “The sports arena is supposed to be an arena that reflects the ideal values in American culture."
"In sports, you’re supposed to abide by a certain set of rules, similar to the rules in American society as a whole, where, if you follow the rules and you work hard and you compete hard then you can be successful," Thu said.
"In sports the rules are set up at least ostensibly so that the winners express those that have the most talent, the hardest work, the best teamwork, the best individual effort," Thu said. "So in a sense, sports reflects American cultural values as a whole.”
Sports fan Raymundo Bazan has lived in the Chicago area since he was four months old. He works as a restaurant server. The 32 year old Berwynian said his favorite sports are baseball and basketball. The Cubs are his top team.
Bazan agreed that Chicagoans dote on their teams, in part, because they seek relief from their employment obligations.
“We are true fans,” Bazan said. “Everybody works hard and everybody waits for the beginning to get some stress out from work. When the Cubs play the stadium is full every time. No matter what, if they win or lose, we are still there.”
Thu said sports act as a representation of all the principles in a democratic society.
“If you play by the rules, if you work hard, if you learn the game, if you educate yourself, if you work together, work as a community, work as a team, if you commit yourself, all of those things that are in one way or the other manifest in American culture in general are acutely pronounced in the sports arena,” Thu said.
“It’s not as clear as life in general,” Thu said. “People are very cynical about people who succeed oftentimes because they think that American culture is corrupt, and they can succeed in backhanded ways. Well in sports, to a certain extent, there’s a clear picture of who is successful or not. Although, the picture gets clouded when you have the use of steroids, and NBA officials are gambling on the game.”
Copyright 2008
[this is good] cool story, I know of both those professors.
Posted by: skeely | 11/09/2008 at 01:25 PM