Last year’s Superbowl between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers had one of the best endings of all-time. I don't know if I will ever forget Santonio Holmes beautiful toe drag catch in the final minutes to bring the Steelers a head. Directly after the touchdown, in the spirit of showmanship and with the pride of his accomplishment, Holmes had an awesome and unforgettable celebration. Holmes 'borrowed' Lebron James favourite pre-game ritual of tossing powder into the air; however in this case the powder was imaginary and the ball was used to represent the container holding the powder. I was cheering for the Cardinals in that game but I loved seeing the celebration. Shortly after the game Santonio Holmes was not so happy. The celebration caused him to be fined $10,000 (the amount I receive in OSAP to last me the whole year). $10,000 for celebrating!
At the beginning of the 2006 season the National Football League (NFL) amended their guidelines. After this change, touchdown celebrations were highly restricted creating a league where generic attributes of players, similar to that of an "Aryan race", were mandatory. The league was developed into one where creative thinking was replaced with a standardized way of handing a football to an official. The only words that come to mind when I think of this standardization are ‘shit’ and ‘bull’, put them in any order you like.
Some girls (maybe even some uptight dudes) might say that celebrating is too arrogant; however, I disagree. The so called arrogance on a larger scale has been present throughout history’s wealthiest and most powerful civilizations. Look at the Seven Wonders of the World!
Celebrating is far from a recent phenomenon. When a Greek military over two thousand years ago won a battle or founded a city they built large statues and temples to celebrate their success. This ideology did not vanish even after thousands of years. In today’s ancient Greece, the United States of America, there are many monuments that celebrate the nation’s success. The excessive creations on Mount Rushmore and the statue on Liberty Island both share many qualities with the football player who pretends to slam-dunk the football through the uprights. As the Statue of Liberty represents liberation from oppression, a football celebration represents the years of training and experience needed to get to that spot in the endzone. Until the majority of western society decides that excess, whether it is in music videos, popular media or even the government, is evil, please let it exist in my favourite sport.
Getting past a defense and putting up six points then celebrating in the method of one's choice is, in a way, the same as starting a business, becoming successful and then buying a very big house. This idea of celebrating a success is the main premise behind the expression “The American Dream.” The term refers to a life that every American wants. A life filled with success where material possessions and financial security and/or fame are present. This drive for material possessions and the parade of success is what football players are subconsciously promoting when they celebrate after a good play. The continuation of these guidelines may call for Arthur Miller's famous novel, Death of a Salesman, to be rewritten with Willy Loman (the main character) being replaced with Chad Ochocinco.
Regardless of what the famous fat documenter Michael Moore may think about it, our society is based on an economic ideology called capitalism. Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, believed that capitalism was based on competition. In a capitalist society competition is essential because it persuades companies to create products and/or services of high quality in order to make profit. It is this competition that we see every day in each organization’s marketing and advertising. Advertising is the celebration of a company’s product; it in many ways puts down another company. Representatives of the National Football League, who are opposed to touchdown celebrations, claim that the behavior is disrespectful towards the opposing team. This is the same group that says NFL players can only wear a certain brand of shoe because the National Football League gets paid for that shoes advertising. This means that these representatives are outlawing the very thing they are guilty of. By advertising one type of shoe, they are in many ways saying that it is better than other products. In professional sports such as the NFL, players are their own advertising. Kanye West once said that he is so arrogant because he is selling a brand, that brand is Kanye West. This is the same for most athletes. The better an athlete plays, the more money he or in some rare cases (exclusion of the William sisters) makes. After making a brilliant play, athletes should be able to advertise themselves. This is no different than Reebok being able to buy out the rights to players’ shoes because they are a wealthy company.
The NFL is a league that mirrors many of the values and characteristics of a wealthy and powerful society. It is a league where touchdown celebrations reflect many dimensions of success seen throughout history. Both the “American Dream” and such rituals attempt to flaunt personal success. Finally, the most important aspects of capitalism are expressed during a football celebration. This proves that such tactics in the National Football League are not immoral and excessive in other aspects of life. To some it may look like arrogance and showboating, but in all reality, it is the true essence of society.
“I showboat like I am selling a yacht.” - Drake
Written by: Aaron Bawn
0 comments:
Post a Comment