The Klosterman essay "33" looks at the deeper meaning of the rivalry of the Celtics and Lakers during the 1980s. It looks at the racial ties, the political ties, and the cultural patterns that the rivalry exhibits. It wasn't just because the celtics started 3 prominent white players but there was a deeper meaning behind the stereotypical rooting of white fans for the celtics and that of black fans rooting for the lakers. His essay really gets at the root of the way the culture of the U.S. during this time was set up perfectly for this rivalry to exist.
"The End of Practice" by Rodney Jones is a very moving poem which brings back many memories of myself being a former player. It is at its core a description of the events following a football practice but it tells the truth behind those actions. How youth sports are an assembly line which takes young boys and changes them through structure into men, and when this process is done those men move aside for the next generation of young boys to go through the transformation.
Klosterman appears to believe that we are all inherently racist whether we wish to admit it or not. I would have to agree with this assumption because as human beings it is in our nature to make decisions and judgments about everything. That is just the way our brains work and that is just natural. The conscious effort to fight this judgement is what makes us who we are. I relate this to the poem because the players in the poem are almost unconsciously going through the practice. "Fat boys like buffalo, lurching blindly." This line clearly shows how the kids going through the practice are being herded like buffalo to do the bidding of the coaches and the circle of life as they will eventually be the coaches or herders.
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