Ah, homecoming week! Parades, pep rallies and, of course, good clean character-building athletic competition with victory wishes expressed in the spirit of good-natured dignified sportsmanship.
It still amazes me that the basic (straight) male instinct of soldier/warrior/killer has not evolved out of men.
Kill your enemies and worship your (male) heros/sports figures. How much do I laugh when men and teams pray to G-d to win a match and defeat their opponents. Uhm G-d is NOT in the business of feeding your ego or your need to win /comquor /maime /kill/ dominate.
Why do straight men need a ball or a puck to touch each other, get naked together, hug and kiss and otherwise meet their basic human needs of interpersonal interaction?
Straight women do it all the time, and no one raises an eyebrow!
sports (to me) = sublimated sex /intimacy drive.
Still, I heard a true story the other day of the utra college jock that wants nothing more than to rest his ankles on a guy's shoulders in his free time.
In High School, crushing, beating, killing the opponents whether Animal, Indian or Democratic names had nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with Spirit and fun. It's when you're 50, toting guns, slamming the arm chair, placing bets and drinking too much that it becomes dodgy thought.