SPORTS

filipina wrestlers rhoan & silver

I have a strong cultural bias, which I recognize as such, but haven't been able to get over it entirely. I'm Palestinian and we have a long history of being highly literate and highly educated. Sports/games are for kids and after a certain age, there is a stigma of "the ball is for those who can't really handle the books." Athletic prowess is rather looked down on as something to occupy those who lack intellectual prowess. I know this attitude is wrong, but I haven't overcome it entirely, so stories like this one posted here are important to me.

As I understand it, sports/games have a long history in Native American cultures, but as I understand it, sports/games are not about competition and winning as much as they are about cooperation and fun/joy.
I thank you and Brother Gregory and everyone who helps me by challenging my own prejudices and making me work harder on myself. -Sadakne Baroudi

filipina wrestlers Rhoan & Lhet

“Sadakne, I own a particular bias around sports. There is a cultural joke among Americans about the 'dumb jock', or dumb athlete. Intellectual prowness, curiosity, and pride are taught out of most American students and ranks low among millions of sports fans here. There has been change in that paradigm over the last couple of decades, but it is prevalent, and evident in action.

I used to play a lot as a child. I still play but as a child I played a season of baseball. Loved it. But there is nothing as terrifying as seeing parents, and fans screaming not praise, but insults with demonic faces distorted and full of rage. As much as I enjoyed playing ball I swore to myself I would not develop into a college, or pro ball player because of the relationship between American sports, and violence.

In Maryland at our university violence accompanies important wins. Cars are overturned, vandalism runs rampant in the surrounding neighborhoods, and white boys, liquored up, feel powerful and unleash themselves into mob mindlessness. It is terrifying, and is often excused by saying, "Boys will be boys."

The few professional football games I have gone to I am armed for the possibility of having to physically defend myself, and my wife should there be a violent outburst which can easily be justified. Violence and sports go hand and hand. The spiritual basis of play, and war in the indigenous cultures of American Indians is not a part of the American lexicon.” –Gregory E. Woods