49ers...class organization

I just saw the infamous 49ers training video. Wow! I'm absolutely blown away. Then I decided to do a little searching of sports and NFL websites to see what people had to say about it. I used the search engines on ESPN and NFL.com and typed in, 49ers training video. Perhaps my search composition wasn't too good but I thought it basically said what I was looking for. ESPN carried this article which is from the AP. No ESPN writer had anything to say about it. NFL.com carried this article which was a short statement by the owners. No writers had anything to say about it. Then I went to Sports Illustrated. They had an article by Arash Markazi that essentially says that people need a sense of humor. CB Mike Rumph said that he thought it was one of the funniest things he ever saw. He said the locker room is like a fraternity and that the outside world can't really judge that.

Here are some things that bother me. First off, the Bay Area is one of the most diverse communities in the United States. People of all different racial, sexual, cultural, and political backgrounds are trying to co-exist with each other. To produce such a video shows that the 49ers are seriously out of step with the community.

Secondly, why haven't more national sports writers written about this? This reminds me of the virtual silence that surrounded Garrison Hearst's statement about not wanting to play with faggots. The only national sports writer that I did read was Arash Markazi and he said that it was just a joke.

I love football. I really do. I love the tactics and strategy involved. I love people coming together as a team and achieving an objective together. I love the deception involved in calling plays. Make the opponent think you are running one way and then run the counter. Make the opponent think you are going to run and then play action pass for the first down. Bizarre zone plays that blitz from unexpected places. Football is a strategophile's (I made up that word, but I mean someone who loves strategy) wet dream.

But jokes matter. Rather the intention of the jokes matter. Because it often reveals true feelings. Then the truth is masked behind a quick "it's just a joke." "Come on, get a sense of humor." I question the intent not the content. I use sarcasm a lot but it doesn't mean I'm not talking shit and possibly hurting someone's feelings. I remember reading about a NFL player who was homosexual and he recounts having to play along with all the anti-homosexual statements he would hear.

The 49ers made this video and I'm sure they meant it as a joke. But look at the jokes that they made and who the victims were. George Chung playing a stereotypical, glasses wearing, bucktoothed, heavily accented fresh off the boat Chinese. I've met George Chung. You of course realize that he is none of those things. He's just playing up the stereotype. Then there are the lesbians who get married and then promptly proceed to get down on the floor and get dirty. I guess lesbians are horny slutty girls who just can't wait to get it on. Julian Peterson playing a homeless person told to get a job. I guess homeless people are all just lazy people that need to straighten up and get a job. Jeff Ullrich put into jail and told not to pick up the soap. We all know what happens to people in jail, by the inmates not the prison guards I mean.

I've been working with my 3rd period class on the reading "nigger and caricature." This has really made me think about humor a lot. Where are all the jokes about the rich white guys. I mean the really hurtful-you-can't- make-that-joke-in-public joke. Language has power. Think of all the words to degrade black people. Then think of all the words to degrade rich white men. Which is longer? Which words are more charged and hurtful?

The 49ers were making a joke in their eyes. I'm sure in their eyes that it was funny. Why they thought it was funny is what I find interesting. How do they feel about the crude stereotypes that were made? That someone thought up the skit, wrote out the dialogue, people remembered the dialogue, acted it out, filmed it, then distributed it for viewing by team members; that's interesting. Humor is often used to dehumanize people. When people have been dehumanized then discriminatory actions can be taken against them in direct proportion to the level of dehumanization.

While I love football, the machismo, racist, and homophobic aspects of it I find incredibly disturbing. It's ridiculous that the players are so homophobic considering how homoerotic many aspects of the game are. The players in their skin hugging outfits slapping each other on the butt. A bunch of men hunched over with their asses in the air as the quarterback mounts the center.

Arash Markazi is Iranian. Just among the fraternity of bloggers and readers of blogs, he's a towelheaded Hadji sell out that's trying to shuffle, jive, and kow tow to the dominant white majority. He probably gave head to the editor of SI and that's how he got his job. But I'm only saying that to the small percentage that has internet access, reads English, and reads my blog. I shouldn't be judged by the vast world without the internet, that can't read English and doesn't read my blog.

Just kidding. It's just a fucking joke. Have a sense of humor.

Sim Sim Salabim!