intertribal | Wish I would've met you. Now it's a little late.

Q: Anyone know where the title of the post comes from?
A: "Hey Man, Nice Shot" by Filter. One of my favorite songs-I-don't-own, one I tracked down after I heard it in this awesome X-Files episode starring Giovanni Ribisi as a loser-mechanic who hangs out at the arcade with Jack Black, lusts after his jock-boss's wife, and has the power to control electricity, "D.P.O" (for Direct Power Outlet). He goes about killing the jocks that teased him in high school and trying to force the lady to love him back by giving her husband heart attacks. It's one of those Carrie-style episodes, you know, revenge of the magical nerds - always amusing. I've taken to saying that Carrie is my favorite teen movie. Maybe I should just buy the song. It's definitely about a newscaster who shot himself on the air (on a snow day, so all these children were home from school watching), but well. It's a good song. And I really fucking miss the X-Files. It's never on air anymore.

Man, I love how articulate NFL players are when they talk to the media. Courtesy of Adam "Pacman" Jones:
- "That's stupid. It's so stupid I have no more comments." (this reminds me of Homer Simpson: "Because they're stupid, that's why, that's the reason everybody does everything.")
- "If I beat myself up, who will take care of me?"
- "Football means a lot to me, but it's not everything."
- "It's not like I'm taking it pretty good."
- "I love me some me."
Granted, it's not just the NFL. A lot of athletes do not have verbal media savvy (can they pose for commercials? yes. but damn, the promo line better be short, and if it's a print commercial, even better). Obviously if English is a second language, that's another issue. But Roddick, for example, has no excuse. And the athletes that can compose sentences never tell reporters anything interesting. It's always, "well, they played a great game" and "we're gonna do our best" and "we want to get this win for coach" and the rest of that stiff, rehearsed, Remember-the-Titans drivel. They always look all shifty when they say it too, like little kid actors trying to remember their lines.

Which is why I appreciate:
- "I got one on. Don't worry about it. I'm not telling you how many times it took me, but I got one on." (on a particular hole at a golf course)
- "I won't let them take any reps away from me. I'm selfish."
- "It was a bad throw and it was a mistake but I didn’t want it to hurt us down the road so I pretty much forgot about it. I was more upset I didn’t make the tackle." (on an interception returned for a touchdown - I'm telling you, in this neck of the woods, quarterbacks are expected to tackle as well as pass, run, and receive. what's next? kicking duties?)
- "I'm going to have to take those guys out to dinner tomorrow night if my dad gives me the credit card."
- "We all had to come together and make sure that the same cancerous attitude didn’t eat our football team up again."
Seriously, he uses words like "cancerous." What athlete uses words like cancerous? Unless they're describing an actual tumor?

- Jason Mraz strikes me as a real douche. At least he does in this video. It's just like, take your whores and get out of the tropics. You're not cool. You're like millions of other consumerist assholes who think you're being unconventional and care-free. GTFO!!!!!!! Sorry, videos like that bring out the worst in me.

- Taylor Swift sucks. Her voice is wretched, even for country. "Love Story" is the most pathetic song and video I've ever had to hear. Ever. Yes, that's how bad it is: "Little did I know that you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles, and my Daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet" and I was crying on the staircase begging you "Please don't go." You'll be the prince, I'll be the princess, it's a love story, baby just say yes." Are you kidding me? That's what passes for country lyrics these days? Crazy politics aside, country used to have pretty good lyrics. Give me "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood any day: "Right now he's probably buying her some fruity little drink cuz she can't shoot whiskey, right now he's probably up behind her with a pool stick showing her how to shoot a combo... Right now she's probably up singing some white trash version of Shania karaoke... Right now he's probably dabbing on three-dollars worth of that bathroom cologne, oh and he don't know that I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four wheel drive, carved my name into his leather seat... maybe next time he'll think before he cheats."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I think I understand what you mean by strategies of condescension. I think that's a bit more applicable to politics than football, because good coaches do spent like 24/7 with the team, but yeah. I don't think that's what Pelini does. Of course, I'm biased, but I don't get that vibe from him. Callahan, on the other hand... boy.

BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Yeah, I think I see analogous processes to a 'strategy of condescension' in the proper, more narrow use or whatever...actually, those are more interesting to me because less overt. like how authority figures (profs, whoever) who downplay that get followings and adoration, but only because they're in that position of power. if they actually were just 'one of the guys' or somehow destroyed their authority, they'd lose it. but that's just me, not bourdieu. he coined the term to talk about like, lords who play cricket to keep up good relations, or politicians who give speeches in a folksy accent, or try to prove they can play ball and walk the dog and drink beer or whatever. the thing with politicians is it's usually a conscious strategy, but what i'm talking about more generally is often unconscious.

? sorry...

Yeah, that's definitely more politicky than I think football could ever be, unless you're talking about athletic directors... Anyway, part of that is definitely at work in Nebraska, even with Pelini, but it's sort of... I don't know, fucked up and probably not quite what you're talking about. Pelini basically has to say that he will give his children's lives for the football program, that he has no personal ambition other than vaulting Nebraska to a national championship, that he is essentially the servant of the people in this endeavor. And I'm not sure how much authority he really has, because he answers to Osborne, who is like God and who definitely listens to people's bitching and moaning, and if Osborne doesn't think he's coaching to satisfaction he will be fired. We definitely want Pelini to be a "regular guy", just like any other Nebraskan, not some NFL elitist-outsider like Callahan, but I honestly feel like the people have more authority over Pelini than the other way around.

No, you're fine. That's just me being stubborn.

I'm talking about their authority just in relation to the team. In relation to the fans and their boss and whoever else, it gets more complicated. But it's not as if professors don't have bosses, or if they teach badly, they won't get fired (even as a result of student reviews), or they don't have a mindset that they're really a small part of helping students approach the world more critically, all in service of the Good, without personal ambition. I'm just talking about how it relates to how well they're 'liked' and how much devotion they receive. The authority I'm talking about derives from their position (coach). It doesn't really matter how illusory it is, until the illusion is broken. But do players have more authority over Pelini than the other way around? The people, well...that's a weird relationship, because it's not as if he's their coach. Obviously he has some sort of power over them insofar as they care about football, but that's a different thing. So I think I'm disagreeing with you on that point.

er *So I don't think...

first i typed "So I think I'm not disagreeing..." then failed to change it appropriately. blah.

Yeah, obviously I have the best perspective on relationships with fans (and in some ways, with the boss), than with the players, because no one really knows what that relationship is like other than it seems to be functional, as far as those types of relationships go. I really don't think the players have more authority over him than the other way around, but I have no idea if he uses strategies of condescension with them.

i think i need to come up with another word for it, since it's somewhat different than bourdieu's idea. blah.

it can be your pet theory!

Wish I would've met you. Now it's a little late.

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