I'm watching the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup, New Zealand vs Australia, and I'm just reminded of all the battle analogies, and even the Maori haka they used at the start of the match (this is from a previous match). Even this advert by Guiness boasts a war theme.
Anthropologically speaking, war games were used for just that, to prepare young men for battle. In America, the natives played what we now call Lacrosse, and across the globe, drills, matches, competitions, even faux battles and tournaments (in England and France especially), caused heroes to battle for real women locked in towers, etc.
I also know that National Sports Teams tend to be supported by the armed services, and in England especially the Army vs Navy rugby match is a classic sporting endeavor in the UK.
So are sport freaks just men who should have gone into the military? The feeling of belonging to something bigger, of fighting a historical battle, of being reliant on team members to achieve glory? All the best and worst moments of sporting mimic the metaphors of battle, but those in the armed forces would probably rarely compare war to a game.
In an episode of Bones, Brennan reminds Booth of this, that sport mad men are merely boys who haven't graduated to adulthood... they are stuck in the adolescence of war games instead of war.
Booth, however, is a Ranger and has seen war, but in a sense, is she correct? Do sport mad men just need to grow up a bit?
Anthropologically speaking, war games were used for just that, to prepare young men for battle. In America, the natives played what we now call Lacrosse, and across the globe, drills, matches, competitions, even faux battles and tournaments (in England and France especially), caused heroes to battle for real women locked in towers, etc.
I also know that National Sports Teams tend to be supported by the armed services, and in England especially the Army vs Navy rugby match is a classic sporting endeavor in the UK.
So are sport freaks just men who should have gone into the military? The feeling of belonging to something bigger, of fighting a historical battle, of being reliant on team members to achieve glory? All the best and worst moments of sporting mimic the metaphors of battle, but those in the armed forces would probably rarely compare war to a game.
In an episode of Bones, Brennan reminds Booth of this, that sport mad men are merely boys who haven't graduated to adulthood... they are stuck in the adolescence of war games instead of war.
Booth, however, is a Ranger and has seen war, but in a sense, is she correct? Do sport mad men just need to grow up a bit?
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