Penn State Students Riot after Paterno firing
Did Somebody Kill The District Attorney Investigating Sandusky's Rape Charges?
I have always detested "Jock Culture".
I never watch professional sports. The only time I ever see it is when it's on TV in a bar or tavern. In those cases, I take a look around the bar. The most rabid sports fans are completely out of shape, cigarette smoking lunkheads that can name every coach or player but don't know who their Congressman is.
When I was in High School I was on the gymnastic and wrestling teams. The football coaches hounded me for years to join the football team, and in my junior year I finally did. What I saw made me sick. The coaches insulted the kids, and I saw one beat a player down. Another coach offered to get a star player a car and a girlfriend. I had never seen that in little-league baseball or the other sports, and I grew to hate the culture that is represented by football.
But it's not just American football, it's European soccer, and in this case Canadian hockey:
Vancouver Hockey Riots
I was drawn to martial arts because of it's emphasis on self-defense and self-improvement, and I'm guessing most people choose this training for the same reason.
But something happens in violent team sports; a "hive mentality" with a top-down authority structure that I am completely opposed to.
Nowhere has this been so obvious as in the current case of coach Sandusky's child rape allegations at Penn State. "Joepa" Paterno, Coach Emeritus gets fired and the idiot fans go nuts and riot. Not because kids were abused, but because the golden idol Paterno was fired for ignoring the rape charges.
Punks, all of them.
What about the Dead D.A.?
What is clear in the Penn State Rape charges is that "Jock Culture" has the money and power to suppress, intimidate, and possibly kill to keep it's secrets.
Ray Gricar was the District Attorney who investigated the first allegations against Sandusky back in 1998. Yes, 1998.
Gricar unexplainably did not charge Sandusky at the time, even though the evidence was clear.
What happened in the next few years is up to speculation, but Gricar was missing and pronounced "Dead" by 2005.
Gricar's body was never found. His car was parked by a river, his ruined laptop computer was later found washed up against a bridge.
What could be a motive to make a District Attorney disappear from this case?
From CNN:
"How the NCAA answers these questions may affect the future of college football. As is the case with so many recent college sports scandals, the events at Penn State call into question the effects of big money on the inside workings of college sports. Penn State football is a business -- an enormously profitable one, raking in more than $70 million a year. Joe Paterno's salary alone was about $1 million annually. Penn State profits immensely from the success of its football program on the backs of unpaid amateur athletes. In many of these scandals, the players, often innocent and unprotected, are hurt the most, while the insulated, tight-lipped higher-ups of college boards and athletic programs fall back on their salaries and pensions."
There you go, a $70 million-dollar empire to protect.
--------
High-dollar athletes often behave like thugs. Often they are thugs. There is a "hive mentality" and mythology surrounding "Jock Culture", and I have never seen the likes of this in martial arts.
Martial arts have always had a "Bushido" or "warrior" code. While many traditional schools have a chain of command and ranks, each practitioner is expected to behave with honor.
Martial Culture is not Jock Culture.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I hear you, I see what you post on but I also see and hear this mentality in many facilities that promote their martial system in much the same light you present here.
I went to visit a BJJ club once, prior to my involvement with martial arts. I liked the techniques that they were practicing, but their attitude reminded me of a high school locker room. I just couldn't feel comfortable in that environment.
People might find some of the ritual in traditional martial arts to be outdated, but I think that some of it at least is necessary to maintain an atmosphere of respect and safety while humans practice potentially lethal techniques on one another.
Jock culture is part of it - 70 million is most of it. I have not heard about the dead DA. Good find - much watch news tonight!
Great article!
I remember in high school, a lot of people assumed I was a violent person because of my interest in martial arts. Truth is, the most violent people in my school were the football and hockey players. They got into and caused so many fights off the field and out of the rink, but because the powers-that-be cared more about winning teams than public safety, they got away with whatever trouble they started.
Personally, I never liked group-think. I've always been a proud invidualist, which is why I was attracted to martial arts, as well as solo sports, like boxing, track and field, gymnastics, swimming, weightlifting, etc. I'd also rather watch those sports on TV. I've always preferred watching the Olympics to professional sports.
Post a Comment