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Alright so I've been doing this blog thing for a year now, and most of my posts have been an attempt to critically evaluate where sport fits in contemporary sport culture. In the past I've taken Michael Vick's side (future Dallas Cowboy QB/RB/WR circa 2011 running reverses with Pacman (Adam) Jones and an ageless TO I'm sure), and basically outlined how most rich, white people suck at life. This has even reached the point where I am going to run a Sport Administration course next year when I have my students manage a fantasy football team, and depending on the success of their team have to take more or less desirable sponsorship routes while attempting to turn a profit (ie. will they sponsor breast cancer awareness even if the manufacturer of their uniforms is linked to breast cancer?). Further they are going to have to help my team the Baltimore W.A.M.M.s (White American Mass Murderers), which feature the jesus christ chop as one of their prominent cheers, get more white people to attend their games. But enough about my poor students and controversial blogs, this post is about the most important thing to hit popular culture in the past 20 years - Pearl Jam.
While many of you may scoff and say " didn't they die with grunge in 1995?" , I would argue that they have become the Tim Duncan of popular music. To be sure Tim Duncan is the most boring, hatable (only because he's boringly good) sports star in recent history (right next to Pete Sampras, who, not surprisingly, is a big Pearl Jam fan), but at the same time when we look back at what he's done his career will be better than any of his contemporaries, and as good as many of his predecessors. No Duncan is not Bill Russell, but he's been the centerpiece of a team that has won 4 titles in 9 years. Moreover who has he had at his side? Larry had Kevin (HOF), Michael had Scotty (HOF), Kobe had Shaq (HOF) and is tasty ass, Dwayne had Shaq (HOF) and his vasectomy...Timmmay had...David Robinson (yes the one that folded to Hakeem), Tony Parker (yes the one that gave way many times to Speedy Claxton), and Manu " Obi Wan" Ginobli, yet he still won 4 times. Does Larry, Kobe, or Dwayne win in the same situation? HA! So, even if he never wins again, Timmy has done his piece without the help afforded to his other superstar contemporaries.
Pearl Jam is quite similar.
Hey my name is Ryan White, and I graduated from Ithaca College in upstate New York. I was born in Watertown , New York, the oldest of 8. Currently, I am working on my PhD in Kinesiology, and have been asked to write this blog, because of my (critical) love of sports. In studying for my PhD, I have been trained in a form of cultural studies that digs deeper into the meaning of sport in our personal/local/US/World society. Thus rather than engaging sports on a cursory level, my goal is to get everyone to dig a little deeper and get to the heart of what sport means to us and others in our lives. Hopefully through this training, and my personal political leanings I will be able to get others to critically evaluate sport as well.
On a professional level I have published articles on Korean Nationalism in "East Plays West" (Wagg and Andrews, eds. 2007), American nationalism through the Little League World Series in "Youth Culture and Sport" (Giardina and Donnely, eds. 2007/8), and the International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics (forthcoming, 2007). Currently I am finishing a paper on the corporate and mediated (mis)treatment of Danny Almonte, and writing my dissertation on Red Sox Nation (due around 2009). I have presented at several national and international conferences such as AAHPERD, NASSS, ISSA, Queen's Conference, and at the University of Toronto, and given invited lectures at Ithaca College, Towson University, and the University of Maryland - College Park.
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Talk About Your Teams
