Soccer in Italy

Wow, its really crazy that violence related to sports can get to a leave where the Prime Minister / president or whatever has to shut down a sports league. What if George Bush had to cancel the NFL season cause the fans were out there opnely trying to engage in violence acts against police? Anyway, I think its ridiculous that the Prime Minister of Italy has to shut down the Italian Football League because fans are rioting. This, might not happen at that leave here in America but it happens and I thinks its stupid that fans riot after their team wins a big game. It's dangerous and causes so much unneccesary damage. It serves no purpose what so ever and contrary to what many may think they don't have any right to do it. It is one of those disturbing and utterly useless traditions/rituals/rights of passage that has to been done away but won't until some tradegy happens and then we all of a sudden think its wrong and condemn those who do it.

“He shoots, he scores…”: the art of metis

Summary:
The first extract begins with Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant describing the Greek word metis, a type of intelligence and thought which is applied to extraordinary situations. They remark that metis was never really defined by ancient Greek scholars and thus trying to delve into metis from their perspective only is foolish. Therefore, instead Detienne and Vernant try to discover the wonders of metis by analyzing relevant works of Plato and Aristotle work along with that of the sophists, who they believe bridge the gap between traditional Greek work on metis and that of Plato and Aristotle. In addition, the authors examine Greek Mythology and the goddess Athena (daughter of metis) to uncover other information on the art of metis. This extract does not mention sport at all but connections between the two can be made. One line in particular that illustrates this is, “the individual who is endowed with metis, be he god or man, is confronted with a multiple, changing reality [which]… he can only dominate. This line demonstrates how a sportsman (in our case) can own a moment and totally control a specific situation he faces.

Extract two by Detienne and Vernant begins by reintroducing us to the term agon (competition) and saying that in a struggle the ‘man of metis’ will prevail by using his experience and awareness. Immediately following this the authors go on to describe the many characteristics and traits a ‘man of metis’ possesses. The line, “the man of metis…knows how to wait patiently for the calculated moment to arrive” is a great line that emphasis the intangibles a man of metis possesses. The extract continues with examples from the Shield and the Lliad where the authors give references to where metis is used to describe someone. These references help to give readers a context of when and how metis can be used to describe someone and also serve to help the reader get a complete understand of the term.

Thesis: The thesis is that metis can be analyzed and defined and it is important.

Antithesis: The antithesis is that metis is unimportant or trivial.

Tools:
Mythological Allusion
Theoretical Concepts


Effectiveness of Tools: The tools used are relatively affected but the language used to present the argument can get confusing at times. It takes about 3 readings of the extract to really get a hold of all the main ideas and concepts. However on the first reading one can see how the art of metis can be applicable to sports and the sporting world.

Sports VS. Art

Last week we talked about Sports and Arts and the similarities and differences between the two. I thought that how we were comparing the two was kind of awkward, awkward in the sense that we didnt really draw a line or narrow what aspects of the two we were comparing. I believe the argument started with what in both art and sport could be classified as beautiful and then expanded to if art is compaable to sport and vice-versa. I just wanted to say on the later that I think everybody is entitled to their own opinion but I feel that sport is comparable to some forms of art in certain ways and other forms in other ways. For example Music is very comparable to football for they are both forms of entertainment and both have draw huge crowds (game or concert) however in football there is a great dealof contact between the participants and in music there is none. This is a very basic example but I think I made my point that sports and art are comparable but inorder to compare them you need to narrow down your variables so that you may be able to accurately gauge one versus the other.

The Superbowl : Afterthoughts

Peyton Manning and the Colts won the superbowl on Sunday but more than that Manning finalized his legacy and silenced all his doubters. They always questionned if he could win the big game or transfer his brialliance in the regular season to the playoffs. Well there will be no more of that now that Manning has won a superbowl and has been named Superbowl MVP. [sidenote] To win the superbowl how he won it this year most have been special too as they had to win against a run savvy Chiefs team, the colts supposed weakness. Then also having to win at Baltimore against the best defense in the league (win how they werent use too 15-6). Then again in the AFC championship against the rivaled Patriots and the 'most clutch' QB Tom Brady with Manning ending the game with a game winning Touchdown drive was classic. And ofcourse the Superbowl with Manning being the great QB he is adjusting successfully to the wet and sloppy conditions and taking what the defense gave him. IT WAS JUST MANNING'S YEAR!