Najiah Hunter UKC 114 Blog #2
The way that we now describe sports wouldn’t really include much comparisons to the gladiatorial games, but in my personal opinion, I believe that the games could be regarded as a sport. I believe this because most sports today have a motive behind the games, to win, they trained for these fights, people came to watch them etc. The only thing that people try to seperate from the games today is the “fighting for the death” part which makes sense. Back then in the greek times, anytime there was a fight or anything physical it was not for fun and was fought to end someone else and conqure. One sport that the gladiatorial games has been compared to is American Football which is very much tenable, pointing back to the class zoom Sophie said, “They are similar in that both train professionally. The graffito also resembles a team’s record” . Which is true, they both train for the games, they try to win, they get paid for it, tackle and they both dress to protect themselves from harm. However , even though they are very simular, they have many differences, some that Will pointed out in the chat during the zoom, “ I think a big difference between the two is the desired result. Gladiators are not only trying to defeat their opponent but they mostly are trying to appease the crowd. In football it doesn’t matter as much if your team plays a sloppy game as long as they get the win.” And also the consequences of losing a football game doesn’t result in death, the gladiatorial games did and the reason why they are in the games in the first place is way different from the reasons football players play. Most football players are recruited, play for money and choose. If you were put in the gladiatorial games you were most likely a prisoner and was forced to be entertainment for higher class people.
Gladiatorial games are hard to gauge. They are some of the most violent events that can be called a “sport”. However, they are sports in a way. There is plenty of physical activity that is seen in these games and it obviously involves much competition. The fighters would fight for their lives and neither one of them wanted to die because that would mean that they had either lost or died. Like Valerio said they would lift a thumb or a finger which meant that they would surrender. After surrender, they were either spared to fight another day or killed off if they were completely useless. In opposition, these games could not be considered a “sport”. Most people would just say that they were there to kill each other and that they weren’t playing an actual game like rugby or javelin or any olympic game. Valerio said in his lecture that these gladiators went to gladiator school called “Ludi”. They were trained by retired gladiators. This is interesting because there are plenty of schools or “camps” that athletes in american football or hockey can go to train with professional players in today’s time. The institution of these schools builds up the argument of how these games can definitely be considered as a sport. American football can definitely be compared to these games. Obviously the players do not try to kill each other, but over the past few decades football has been in controversy due to the danger of CTE, which stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This is a brain disease that players have developed and often leads to their deaths. The symptoms include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. These symptoms, however, do not start until years after they have been playing. This disease is caused by repeated head injuries and often stems from players feeling concussed and the player and coach simply not caring enough. The game could be very important and they need to play so they ignore the signs of serious concussions and play on, receiving more and more head injuries in the process. As time goes on, this disease turns into dementia and then turns into Alzheimer’s. I watched a really interesting documentary about this disease freshman year of high school called “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis”. It tells the stories of several football players who played in the 70s who played hard-hitting football and eventually had died. After the deaths of these players, the NFL started to receive questions. They had come under fire and the documentary takes you through most of that. I recommend a watch or two of this documentary. Getting back to the point, football isn’t a “killing sport” but if these players do not have regards for their safety and the safety of their fellow players, they can really hurt each other like these gladiators did before them.
ReplyDeleteCalling gladiatorial games a “cultural performance” means that these games were important to not only the people, but to the society as a whole. They are what made this culture so great and they are one of the most important aspects of this culture. Without these games their culture would not be regarded as important and strong as it is today. Most of the Greek philosophers at the time were not very happy with this Roman performance. The Greeks held themselves higher than the Romans and this was just not in their culture. We can look at American football as a cultural performance. We hold the sport of football as an American past time. Our society was essentially built on sports like baseball, football, and other big sports like these. Children are taught these sports at very young ages and most children go on to play these sports in the later years of their lives. The parents happily teach them in order for their children to stay active and possibly make friends. You could compare this to the gladiators going off to gladiator school but without all of the mutilation and gore.