On the power of football jerseys, for good and for evil
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On the power of football jerseys, for good and for evil
As primarily a basketball fan, there's one aspect of football that I've always been extremely jealous of.
It has nothing to do with the players, the coaches or even the game itself. Thank goodness for that, because between the injuries and the politics it's becoming increasingly difficult to watch the sport at all. No, the thing I'm crazy jealous of is that every Sunday, everywhere I go, I see people wearing their favorite team's football jerseys.
Going to college in Indiana, it was all Colts. When the team was winning, you'd see dozens of people--men and women!--show up to church on Sunday morning wearing the blue and white over their dress clothes. With this past weekend being my first NFL Sunday since moving to Chicago, I found that the choices are more diverse. I saw people representing the hometown Bears, sure, but I saw jerseys supporting teams in far off places like Seattle and Miami and Baltimore as well.
The craziest and best part is how these jerseys bring otherwise strangers together. I saw one pack of Green Bay Packers fans, five-wide on the sidewalk all donning green and yellow jerseys, notice a lady walking on the sidewalk across the street in the same colors. "AYYY!" they all shouted in unison, arms extended in a point toward the sky as if they were meeting up with a lifelong friend they hadn't seen in years. "Go Pack!" she shouted back with a smile. Both parties continued on their way.
Growing up in Oklahoma, where I needn't remind you there are no NFL teams, this practice totally blows my mind. You simply don't see it in any other sport, nor in the college football ranks for just random people walking around town with no intention of actually going to the game.
The closest we come to this practice in Okieland, and actually in many ways it's the exact same, is when two people pass each other going opposite ways on the road when they're both driving Harley-Davidson motorcycles, though in that case it's far more of a cool-guy quick hand wave than an enthusiastic greeting.
Unfortunately this post has less to do with the shared communal moment of perfect strangers bonded by their football jerseys, and more to do with the actions of one jersey-clad fuddy-duddy I saw on Sunday (Dallas Cowboys, if you must know).
I was walking past a park when I noticed a group of young men, all gathered together wearing matching shirts and yelling about something. As I got closer, I could see that this was an ultimate frisbee team (anyone who plays ultimate frisbee would chastise me for even calling it "ultimate frisbee" and not just "ultimate," since frisbee is the true "F" word to these people...don't you know they're called "disks"!!). They were wearing matching jerseys of their own, more accurately plain cotton t-shirts with numbers on the back.
Let me tell you, these guys were into it. They had set up some little drill, and were rotating through the players firing disks low and fast towards each person to reach the front of the two lines. In some cases, diving catches were needed to snag the disk. For others, diving catches were performed whether they were needed or not. As they went, they called out the number of consecutive successful throw-and-catches, getting more and more excited as the number got higher.
In other words, they were having a hell of a time. I mean okay, it was all a little ridiculous to take in, this group of men wearing numbered shirts and headbands and wristbands and firing frisb--I mean disks at each other and yelling giddily. But they were having fun.
Then as I continue walking past the park, under a tree I saw our jersey-clad perpetrator. He was not looking ridiculous, he was sure of that, as evidenced by the backwards hat and faded slim-cut jeans above and below that football jersey. He was not calling out to fellow fans on the street or having a hell of a time.
He was filming. He had his phone out, capturing the ultimate frisbee practice with a sly grin. It doesn't take much creativity to predict that he was planning on sharing the video with friends not present, or more likely on social media, with a caption that would no doubt make fun of these people and almost certainly include one or more crying tears emojis.
I know that people don't like labels, and it's dumb to catagorize everyone into binary categories, but this is a perfect example of the two kinds of people right?
There are participators and there are spectators. The sincere and the sarcastic. The producers and the consumers. One group is doing the thing, the other group is on the outside commenting on the thing.
You see this sort of content on social media all the time. Candid videos taken of people who fail, or look embarrassing while working out at the gym, or make a move on a girl and get rejected. Those videos are played for laughs.
But the more I think about it, only one of those two people is really doing something. Going for it. Trying.
Not to get too dramatic, but the following is an excerpt from Teddy Roosevelt's iconic "The Man in the Arena" speech, and a quote that I absolutely love...err well loved until Lebron James ruined it by quoting it ad nauseam and writing it on his shoes and including it in his whole victim shtick. Gross. Anyways:
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
I guess the takeaway here, as if this silly newsletter actually requires a takeaway, is to use your NFL jersey for good. Use it to participate, to be a part of the team's community and yes, to yell at random strangers on the street.
Because frankly, football fans, it's the best thing you've got going for you right now. It makes me extremely jealous.
The Best Things I Found This Week:
Boom Town
Book
A book. Really, Matt? You're recommending a book?
Yes, I am recommending a book, knowing full well that almost none of you will go out and buy it and fewer still will actually read it. Regardless, I'm finishing up reading it this week and it's definitely "one of the best things I found this week." New York Times writer Sam Anderson chronicles the entire history of Oklahoma City, interspersed with stories of the dramatic 2013 Oklahoma City Thunder season. It's mandatory reading for anyone from the state, but I promise you will enjoy reading it even if you've never stepped foot in Oklahoma. The writing style is breezy and oftentimes truly funny, and you'll come away from it understanding an entire culture of people in a way that could never have been done if the book was written by a local.
Bojack Horseman, Season 5
Netflix
As if there weren't already too many shows filling up your queue, everyone's favorite animated horse show drops a new season on Friday, September 14th. But this show stands above the crowd. It's hilarious but also incredibly sharp, hitting home with tender emotional moments just as frequently as funny ones.
Plus, the true beauty of Netflix comes out in these half-hour shows, which you can put on and not even realize you've binged until the end of a season. This show is more than worth catching up on, and early reviews say the new batch is the best yet.
Ed Cooley, 9/11 and the recruit who saved his life
The Athletic
Tuesday marked the 17th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers, a date close enough in people's memories that they can still paint a vivid image of exactly where they were and what they were doing that fateful morning.
Even more so for Providence head basketball coach Ed Cooley, who were it not for a recruit deciding on another school would've been on the very flight that was hijacked. It's a pretty insane story, and it's had a profound impact on Cooley's life since.
improv4humans with Matt Besser
Podcast
It's really surprising that no one picked up on this simple premise before. Improvised scene comedy is funny and super entertaining, but if you don't live in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto or Chicago where do you go to access it? As it turns out, podcasting is a perfect form. And the comedy translates really well to audio.
Besser is great, and is almost always flanked by hilarious people whose voices you'd recognize like Jason Mantzoukas and Paul Scheer. If you're looking for pure escapism in your podcasts, few things pass the time easier than this podcast.
Tommy Wiseau's Joker Audition Tape
YouTube Video
Hopefully by now you've seen The Room, a.k.a. the worst movie ever made, or last year's movie about the making of it by the Franco brothers, The Disaster Artist. If so, you're well aware of the character that is Tommy Wiseau. Somehow, the YouTube creators at Nerdist were able to convince Wiseau to dress up like the joker, in full hair and makeup and costuming, and perform some of the most iconic lines from Heath Ledger's 2008 character. The results are as hilarious and you might expect, though just like The Room it still remains unclear how in on the joke Wiseau really is.