Not Just a Game

The documentary “Not Just a Game” has brought up points that I had never considered.  “This critique of U.S. sports culture shows how 20th-century sports has consistently reflected the hegemonic political discourse of the day, specifically, elite narratives about nationalism, war, gender, race, homosexuality and capitalism.”  

We've been told again and again that sports and politics don't mix, that games are just games and athletes should just 'shut up and play.' But according to the film, this concept is wrong. In 'Not Just a Game', It argues that far from providing mere entertainment, American sports have long been at the center of some of the major political debates and struggles of our time.  This documentary is an alternative history of political struggle in the United States as seen through the games its people have played.  

When it was first brought up in the film that sports and politics ARE in fact mixed, I was not only skeptical, I was a little confused.  I’ve never been the biggest sports fan, but I do watch the Colts so it’s not like I’ve never seen a football game.  I appreciate the entertainment of a good football game, but I had not considered that there was something more going on.  After watching the documentary the fact that sports and politics are so tightly intertwined is something I will probably never be able to ignore again. 

It was so interesting to see the comedian use all of those war terms to describe football, but as well as being interesting, it was pretty concerning to me.  In the film they interviewed a football player who described the game as “going to war” I can’t help but feel that this takes away the realness of actual war and places way to high of an importance on the game of football.  Which might not be something that I would want to say to a lot of people, but when it comes down to it (in my mind at least) football is a game, and war is something that it shouldn’t be compared to.  

I am glad that we are watching this film in class.  It definitely is opening my eyes to numerous topics that I had never thought of.  One of my favorite parts of taking 322 is the fact that even though I have not agreed with every article that we have read, pretty much every article has opened my eyes to a subject or way of thinking that I had never heard of before that class.