TOW #17: "Loving and hating the superbowl"

"Loving and hating the superbowl"

What better time to bring up the morals surrounding football than the morning of Superbowl Sunday?

Source: http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2013/01/31/super-bowl-xlvii.jpg

Right after the Superbowl every year, everyone is eager to talk about the winner, the loser, the bets, and the advertisements, and this year was no exception. But who is going to talk about the mental, emotional, and physical toll the game takes on the players? That would be concerned spectators like the author of "Loving and Hating the Superbowl" Gene Seymour, a film critic who has written for publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Newsday about media and culture. By writing this opinion-based editorial just hours before the giant event, Seymour's purpose is to present the reader, presumably a football fan, with the more negative side of football and ultimately lead him or her to consider their own stance his ideas. To achieve his purpose, Seymour uses allusions, rhetorical questions, and comparisons. To begin his somewhat controversial article, the author makes an allusion to John Matuszak from "North Dallas Forty." This serves to softly introduce his idea in a non-offensive way. To transition into his main point, Seymour pulls from the movie, quoting,  "Every time I call it a game, you call it a business. Every time I call it a business, you call it a game." Seymour shows that just as there is blurring contrast between business and football, the line between cruelty and entertainment is blurred in the NFL. After Seymour delves into his main point regarding immoral excitement, he poses a question for his audience, asking, "How does one stay passionate about football in the face of the grim, steadily mounting number of cases involving ex-players undergoing physical and mental injury and anguish over the sport's long-term effects?" Seymour sympathizes with fellow fans by expressing his desire to be able to enjoy football while still conveying his message. Also, the question itself invites the reader to think about how they're participating in this potentially wrongful form of entertainment. Lastly, the author wraps his article up by tying back to his original allusion by comparing football to business. He says that business has a powerful edge over the game (implying further confusion between football-watching morals) and that soon, the game might loose (implying that the allure of immoral entertainment will win over the crowd). 

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/31/opinion/seymour-super-bowl/index.html?hpt=op_t1