I saw Russell Crowe at ‘The Coliseum’ in Oakland, California, U.S.A., sometime before the Raiders started playing. He was taking ‘snaps’ with Michael Vick, and screaming, “Strength and Honor!”
But as I stared at Russell Crowe in his Gladiator-garb, mere moments after a chariot pulled by some pugilistic dogs dropped Michael Vick off ---I felt the giant clock above move quickly in reverse.
The National Football League had now blurred with ‘Roman-Times’, a world lived thousands of years ago, and I thought, “As the N.F.L. moves into the twenty-first century, it actually seems to be regressing at a much quicker-clip.”
The evidence of this regression seems to be everywhere. It would appear that the Roman Gladiators and the players of the National Football League have a genealogy that can’t be denied. Is one epoch indiscernible from the other? Is it Blood and Guts, and bread and circuses: Then and now? Yes.
In the book, “Pros and Cons; the criminals who play in the N.F.L.”, Jeff Benedict and Don Yaeger suggest that 21% of the players in the N.F.L. have criminal backgrounds.
The Roman Gladiators also had a strict recruitment policy. For entrance onto the sands of The Coliseum, the gladiators had to be one of several things; a criminal, slave, a prisoner of war, a volunteer, and or, etcetera.
But mostly, their recruitment policies were rudimentary, just be cruel ruthless, and ---Cat people need not apply.
So, when Michael Vick admitted to being a criminal, specifically ---beating, electrocuting and drowning dogs, I was sure he had the psychological make-up to be a great player. Am I wrong?
Many people seemed to agree with me. For example, some thought Michael Vick’s punishment, “for playing with dogs” (their words), was beyond reason. Nonetheless, he was given a 23 month prison sentence.
Tampa bay cornerback, Ronde Barber, was beside himself. He said, “After all, I would bet you that every player in the NFL knows someone who has been to a dogfight.”
So …there you have it? I mean, who hasn’t seen two highly trained (and tortured) animals fight to the death?
And, if you have any other deviations from reality concerning this regression, remember the traditions and rituals that sowed the seed for the National Football League. It has a linear connection, linked either to an ancient Etruscan Funeral, where the kings gang wound fight to the death around his tomb to raise his spirits,
Or ---to a Ford White Bronco being driven down a Los Angeles freeway with an N.F.L. great (O.J. Simpson) hiding in the passenger seat, as he tried to clean his blood-stained hands.
The End
