Week 5 Reflection (Najiah Hunter)

Najiah Hunter 

Week 5 Reflection 

Dr. Knabe Zoom Speech

19 September 20

Reflection 

Looking back on the lecture that Dr.Knabe gave on the sport Soccer and the political influence of the Berlin Wall really helped me understand more, not just this event in particular, of the political impact that sports have and how fans can be a part of that, not just the team. In particular the tension of the German people really fueled the fans especially at the games that took place and the gate that separated them was even torn down by the fans. An event that I can compare to this is when NFL player Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to peacefully protest against the unjust and corrupt America and the irony of the song and its lyrics. This struck an uproar with “ fans” of him and caused a media frenzy and political shock. Fans in the stands booed him during the game and a trend went around burning Nike merchandise since Nike was a sponsor to Colin. This event sort of reminded me about the event that Dr.Knabe talked about since the response from each of the set of fans caused issues.