tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573810854852444729.post8632490856401782968..comments2023-10-11T08:42:41.873-07:00Comments on The Diss.: Lusty Bodies.The Diss.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13257147531246635800noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573810854852444729.post-7861707889223427582012-06-30T22:11:40.626-07:002012-06-30T22:11:40.626-07:00Thanks for the comment, Symbol.
I could write ano...Thanks for the comment, Symbol.<br /><br />I could write another post entitled The Messiness of Slavery Comparisons in Sports Analysis (and perhaps I will) but suffice it to say, I don't use the slavery comparison lightly. In this case, slavery (more specifically, the transatlantic slave trade) happened to be the subject of the book I used to ground the analysis in this post. <br /><br />I probably should've made this clearer in the piece, but it was not really my intention to directly compare professional basketball to slavery. Obviously, the two are not alike for many reasons, the main one being that slaves, as you said, could not participate in wage labor. What I was trying to point out was the way we (and others, like the NBA, or those who analyze it) commodify the existences (the bodies) of these young men. This is a term that is used heavily in Smallwood's book (and probably others' books as well), and I felt it encapsulated the process of turning the physique, character, and potential labor of 19 year old men who are good at basketball into earned profit. I think both slavery and professional sports (which is, in its most basic (but unavoidably extreme) form, wage labor) commodify bodies, and I was attempting to point out that shared dynamic.<br /><br />I think the more interesting point is that people (including myself) have used slavery (with clear allusions to American Slavery) to describe the labor structures of American sports, especially the NBA. The biggest controversy occurred during the lockout, when HBO's Bryant Gumbel called David Stern a "plantation overseer" who saw his players "as boys working in the fields" when commenting on the prospects of an abbreviated (and faster paced) season. Most people wrote off the commentary as extreme, and accused Gumbel of using the race card, but I think he was trying to highlight a particular aspect of the the NBA that resembles a practice of slavery: overwork and disregard for health and safety. Perhaps it could have been expressed with more historical context, but Gumbel was making an apt, if decontextualized, example.<br /><br />So the distinction is real, and I definitely recognize that. I do not see absolute similarity in forced labor through violence and subjugation and well-compensated physical activity that entertains millions. But I think the commodification aspect is worth recognizing, both in professionalized sports, and really, in workplaces everywhere.<br /><br />See:<br /><br />http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/hbos-bryant-gumbel-calls-1205532.htmlJacob Greenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15572708978569132806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573810854852444729.post-78654679655168333072012-06-28T16:00:08.442-07:002012-06-28T16:00:08.442-07:00so this basketball and professional sports as neos...so this basketball and professional sports as neoslavery metaphor has been floating around in my head for some time now. i like the comparison but there is just one piece of the puzzle that doesn't seem to quite fit and i'd like to pose the question b/c i have no answer and maybe someone else does.<br /> <br />i see lot of unsettling similarities between professional sports and slavery, one of them being the commodification of bodies. i think the process that jacob's pointing out here is super gross and something that i try to avoid when fashioning my fandom.<br /> <br />however, the problem with this analogy (which i think is valid in many ways) is that many of these athletes are going to be paid an enormous sum of money. while it is true that many more basketball players won't make it professionally than the ones who will, it is still hard to ignore the difference between professional sports and slavery. that is, there is a singularity to slavery in that it exempts the enslaved from the ability to participate in wage labor.<br /><br />that, for me, is a big distinction and somewhat of a mindblock when i try validating this analogy that i think has a lot of merit.<br /><br />can someone else figure this out for me? b/c if they can, i think we will have a very complex, insightful picture on the table.symbolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289505794538485003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573810854852444729.post-82622161842918361422012-06-28T15:14:27.745-07:002012-06-28T15:14:27.745-07:00oofoofJacob Greenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15572708978569132806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573810854852444729.post-62705154585757841762012-06-28T15:09:49.367-07:002012-06-28T15:09:49.367-07:00Have you seen these?
http://www.northiowatoday.com...Have you seen these?<br />http://www.northiowatoday.com/?p=24960Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com