Physical Culture In American Football

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Sport as a whole has changed in relation to the contemporary American economy by its constant growth and push for revenue. It has become a sort of “you scratch my back, I scratch yours.” type of relationship. I say this because of the amount of time and attention invested into making sport something that appeals to all people of American society rather than just the fans of the action itself. The constant negotiations for television deals, sponsorships, competition with other TV shows, and programs for time slots available within a network all play a large factor.
One prime example that we are all familiar with is the super bowl and the astounding revenue it generates from a multitude of audience groups. Not only does the game bring thousands …show more content…

It has become less and less arguable that the American football is one of the most violent sports there is to play and it is by far the most violent out of the popular sports played today. When we speak of physical culture, our understanding is contextually bound. In other words, physical culture to one person may not be the same as the next, given different situations. This is why we have ongoing debates on which activities should be classified as a “sport” and which ones shouldn’t. However, it seems pretty unanimous that American football fits the stereotypical context of physical culture since the active body is constantly used in a way beyond average human ability. This all ties into the push of physical culture in American football because it is its largest selling point to the fans. Most fans come to the games and watch it on television for the bone chilling tackles and electrifying runs. If you were to turn on Sports Center during football season, the most played highlights of each game will be the biggest hits and longest runs. Further using the physical culture of football to draw more viewers, in hopes of them witnessing what will be a “top ten play” the following day. When I think of this as a large selling point, three examples come to …show more content…

Again, using Ray Lewis as an example, he is known to be one of the more passionate athletes of all time in all sports. His pleasure or plaisir for the sport was shown both on the field as a player, on the sideline as a teammate, and from the television set as an analyst/spectator. The pleasure for inflicting pain via tackles was evident in his play, however, the spectator Plaisir became apparent on November 17th of 2013 when he showed absolute disgust for a particular play that Sunday in which a game changing defensive hit was deemed a penalty. This stirred up plenty of media controversy since Lewis went as far as to say he’ll pay half of the defensive players’ fine due to the blasphemous call handed out by the referee (Chase, 2013). This action clearly shows Lewis’ personal love for the sport itself, although he was always a team oriented player, this action is highly relatable to fans that have favorite players and become highly emotional when something happens as if the action personally affected

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