I'm not a sports-fan. I've tried, multiple times, to remember the "big names" being thrown around, names of teams, rules of play. I came to the conclusion about six months ago that this whole trying to be into it thing wasn't working out for me. It's easy enough to get into a game when it's down to two teams and the house is filled with salty carbs and high-fives. Daniel always saw through me. He always does. He knows the little secrets of mine that I'm embarrassed about. Books I've read, TV series I've watched. Don't tell anyone, I say.

After I decided not to try to make it look like I have interest in any professional sport, I've noticed a few things. The first is the sexist nature of sports. It's obvious that men's teams get all the press while the women's are ignored -- we all know that. But also that any male fan assumes that he and his sex are the only ones who truly get it (even educated males think this). Whether or not the ratio between male to female fans is really significant or not I couldn't tell you, but if it is, I would explain it by this: Children are fragile and are building their egos. When girls are praised and smiled at for being "nice," "quiet," and "studious," and boys are praised for "yelling about sports teams" and "kicking a ball around" it's pretty obvious who is going to make the effort to be in the know about sports. So, men, congratulations for simply being interested in what you're praised at being interested in.

Secondly, I've noticed just how into it fans are. Fans actually think that they're part of the team. They wear the jerseys and believe they have the right to yell at a player who messed something up. I know not just one but multiple people (adults) who've cried over a loss. This is true attachment.

I taught my students in my pre-internship a bit about psycho-aestheticism. Psycho-aestheticism is how a company establishes an emotional bond between the consumer and product/idea. This can be done in advertisements, campaigns, and propaganda -- as well as, and especially with, I argue, sports. How do the producers achieve this bond? They market to an audience. They make a two dollar coffee-cup worth eight because it has a saying on it that will appeal to you. Think of Apple. How many times have the consumers (who have NO idea how the product was made whatsoever) defended the product? You have a Blackberry? You should probably switch. Brand loyalty. We pay to broadcast brands that represent certain ideals. They make us think that we're on some kind of team. Because only the elitist buy coffee from places that use words like grande and no foam. Because then we'll have something to talk about besides the weather at get-togethers.

Number one rule: don't ever discuss how contact sports should change anything about contact just because we now have the research to prove just how damaging these plays are, because it's how we've always played the game, and they're being payed the big bucks for it.