The NFL and Compulsory Patriotism
A piece of cloth is not being disrespected, but many black Americans are being disrespected, and killed.
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Posts Tagged: NFL
A Super Bowl Preview for People Who Don’t Know Football (2015 Edition)
Like an all-night rager in the apartment upstairs or a crying infant on a red-eye, the Super Bowl is one of those ineluctable public occurrences that’s seemingly impossible to stop and difficult to ignore.
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Fantasy Football for Poets: Dispatch #2
“You want your cup to overflow,” he said. “My cup is causing a flood.”
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Fantasy Football for Poets: Dispatch #1
I’m not supposed to be an NFL fan. I like writing, books, wine, condiments, ambient music, and US Presidents.
...moreRay Rice and Domestic Abuse: A Rumpus Roundup
In February, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice knocked out his fiancée at Atlantic City’s Revel Casino. He was caught dragging her limp body out of the elevator. They later married. Domestic violence is so common in the United States—every 9 seconds a woman is assaulted—it rarely makes headlines. But Ray Rice plays football.
...moreThe Bart Oates Sad Mall Nail Salon Shrine Mystery
In a nail salon tucked deep in a failing mall in South Jersey, there’s a small shrine to retired NFL player Bart Oates. The story behind it “is not the sexiest solution to the Bart Oates Sad Mall Nail Salon Shrine mystery, but it’s representative of how things are in South Jersey.” Fans of Fantasy […]
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Saturday Book Review: Slow Getting Up by Nate Jackson
Miles Wray reviews Nate Jackson’s SLOW GETTING UP today in The Rumpus Book Reviews.
...moreThe Guilt Behind Watching Football
In light of the upcoming season, Will Leitch writes about the well documented cruelty of the NFL for New York Magazine: Leitch, although unsure of how his fandom will be affected, makes valid points against watching a sport in which players risk their future health: “Baseball’s spring training is all about the smell of freshly cut […]
...moreA Super Bowl Preview For People Who Don’t Know Football (2012 Edition)
If Hollywood could cast the Super Bowl teams, it wouldn’t choose most of the guys who make up the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. It also couldn’t invent the stories of how these people got here any better.
...moreA FAN’S NOTES, The Rumpus Sports Column #32: The Quarterback Birthright
When you hear the word rivalry, do you think of old-fashioned sibling throat-grabbing? Are you reminded, for instance, of the moment in the Book of Genesis when Joseph’s brothers rip off his famous ornamented coat and sell their annoyingly prophetic sibling into slavery? Or do you think of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning?
...moreFourth Down and Longing
A memoir of life as a disappointed fan becomes a meditation on “isolation and the things we do to overcome our loneliness… emptiness, and not knowing how to fill it.”
...moreA FAN’S NOTES, The Rumpus Sports Column #20: Fumble Recovery
What was the best play made by a wide receiver during last weekend’s NFL playoff games? Hint: it wasn’t a touchdown catch. Last Saturday night, during the Indianapolis Colts-Baltimore Ravens matchup, Colts wide receiver Pierre Garçon showed amazing heart and hustle. Here’s what happened:
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