As the 2012 season is about to get under way tomorrow with a clash between the Giants and the Cowboys (America's Team?) I feel a bittersweet electricity rising up my gullett.
Growing up I was never much into watching organized athletics; I'd rather be running around and playing games myself. ADD being the wicked bitch it is, I couldn't sit still for 15 minutes much less the couple hours necessary to see a bunch of dudes throw balls past a certain line a greater number of times in that time limit.
Part of it also was the fact that Baltimore had no football team; the Redskins were in DC and most of the adults in our city still had a the bad taste of hucksterism and swindle in their mouths after the midnight theft of Baltimore's legendary Colts, to the point that we got a CFL team we called the Colts, same logo and all until we were told we couldn't use that name and as such called them the Baltimore CFL's.
When the Ravens landed it was in a crumbling stadium just around the corner from crumbling projects in a city staggering to move forward through the post-industrial decline plaguing it. Just the kind of place that needs a football team. And slowly the purple crept into my soul.
Long story short, last year I truly cemented myself as a football fan. Admittedly Kyle's the much stronger afficionado, able to rattle off most league starters, including strenghts and weaknesses and alma mater, while I'm still limited mostly to the Ravens and a few league standouts. But all week during the fall all I'm thinking about is Sunday. And Monday. Maybe Thursday. Football. The punishment, the conquest, the grace interposed with nothing but hard real American grit and toughness in a world growing incrteasingly softer. No other sport so perfectly mimics true battle - the brilliance of maneuvers executed in a series of simple tests of physical strength, coach as General and the line of scrimmage is the battle line. A representative of the fine line we try to creep between violence and sophistication. And the only television that can demand absurd advertiser fees and get 'em.
As such, Kyle and I were reminiscing about last year and a couple Man's Ambition posts from last NFL season came to mind. They're just the thing to get you fully fired up and ready for the beginning of this intense test of our livers and nerves we call football season. But seriously, in a world growing increasingly harsh and insecure and a country growing increasingly divided and hateful, what else do we have to provide the stability, the unison, the all-encompassing American spirit than football?
"What It Means to Be a Fan"
"T.O. No Mo"
Kyle's weekly and insightful analyses of the NFL games you're betting on, his award-winning series "Lock-Street" - Here's his Thanksgiving rundown
Kyle's Mid-November Recap
"Is Tim Tebow Worthy of Tebow-mania?"
"A True Man Is A Born Loser" written after a soul-crushing Ravens playoff loss
Hot Read- If a QB was an actor
The NFL Draft: Changes are Needed
So there you have it, a little sampling of the super dynamic, sometimes angry, often rambling, occasionally insightful, always entertaining football coverage on Man's Ambition last year. Now all that's left is for the games to finally begin again.
- Ryan
Growing up I was never much into watching organized athletics; I'd rather be running around and playing games myself. ADD being the wicked bitch it is, I couldn't sit still for 15 minutes much less the couple hours necessary to see a bunch of dudes throw balls past a certain line a greater number of times in that time limit.
Part of it also was the fact that Baltimore had no football team; the Redskins were in DC and most of the adults in our city still had a the bad taste of hucksterism and swindle in their mouths after the midnight theft of Baltimore's legendary Colts, to the point that we got a CFL team we called the Colts, same logo and all until we were told we couldn't use that name and as such called them the Baltimore CFL's.
When the Ravens landed it was in a crumbling stadium just around the corner from crumbling projects in a city staggering to move forward through the post-industrial decline plaguing it. Just the kind of place that needs a football team. And slowly the purple crept into my soul.
Long story short, last year I truly cemented myself as a football fan. Admittedly Kyle's the much stronger afficionado, able to rattle off most league starters, including strenghts and weaknesses and alma mater, while I'm still limited mostly to the Ravens and a few league standouts. But all week during the fall all I'm thinking about is Sunday. And Monday. Maybe Thursday. Football. The punishment, the conquest, the grace interposed with nothing but hard real American grit and toughness in a world growing incrteasingly softer. No other sport so perfectly mimics true battle - the brilliance of maneuvers executed in a series of simple tests of physical strength, coach as General and the line of scrimmage is the battle line. A representative of the fine line we try to creep between violence and sophistication. And the only television that can demand absurd advertiser fees and get 'em.
As such, Kyle and I were reminiscing about last year and a couple Man's Ambition posts from last NFL season came to mind. They're just the thing to get you fully fired up and ready for the beginning of this intense test of our livers and nerves we call football season. But seriously, in a world growing increasingly harsh and insecure and a country growing increasingly divided and hateful, what else do we have to provide the stability, the unison, the all-encompassing American spirit than football?
"T.O. No Mo"
The NFL Draft: Changes are Needed
So there you have it, a little sampling of the super dynamic, sometimes angry, often rambling, occasionally insightful, always entertaining football coverage on Man's Ambition last year. Now all that's left is for the games to finally begin again.
- Ryan
Really will the game be arranged! I am felling well by thinking it.Good wishes for you.
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