The irony of the age of technique is that technique only applies within a system with an extrinsically specified point. As more is converged to technique to optimize the outcome, the system comes to absorb more and more. But the system isn’t reality, and can never be, and that divergence only grows the more system grows. Reality is left behind. Yet that means the technique to which all is being converged to optimize the outcome is now optimizing for something that no longer serves its purpose. The system has become pointless, or at least semi-pointless. People start to wonder why they’re doing all this.
Why are we spending so much time and money and life on creating HS football teams that can crush any opposition? Is the point of a teenage boy’s life winning football? And what does it even mean to win an optimized game anymore? It used to be a way for ordinary people, especially ordinary men, to experience their own excellence for a moment. The point of the sport was the man. Now the point of the man is the sport.
Once the sport has become something people try to win for its own sake it has stopped being a sport; it now selects out those who are committed to the project of optimizing under the system’s rules and those who aren’t. Experts and plebs. Ordinary people by definition are always excluded. Once you are trying to win, meaning trying to perfect technique, you have become part of an elect. The realm of means for ordinary people to test themselves or each other has vanished; all tests are now tests of technique, tests of who is the better expert amongst a select group of experts committed to one sort of technique, separate from the masses.
Superb essay. As luck would have it, I’m currently putting together an article on sport and cultural identity. It primarily concerns European sports, which obviously have an entirely different structure. I was going to make a note on how I couldn’t really say how my thesis applies to the US, but instead, I think I’ll just link to this piece. Great work.
I boxed when I was young and it was a hard life as you constantly had to make weight and you travelled non stop. There also wasn’t really a season it mostly just went year round so it burns you out over time but it made me a much better man and able to weather a lot of tough times. Boxing helped form the grit you talk about I really rarely used it in an actual fight outside the ring probably because I had the confidence of knowing how to fight and knowing what it felt like to get socked in the face or gut all the time so I didn’t have a fear of it if I needed to fight. The training and lifestyle was tough so it hardened me and let me endure hardship in all walks of life. I never played football but I have a young son now that is starting to play and I have developed a lot of respect for the sport and its ability to impact young men and build character. Your essay just makes me think of the many news stories of coaches being fired on a constant basis and all the transfer portal shenanigans with college players and I constantly wonder how any of these organizations hope to build cohesion and culture over time. You can see the same mentality at the high school and lower levels and to me it defeats the purpose of the sport which is to prepare young men for life and build camaraderie. Organizers want to game out the system to manipulate outcomes that’s where all this “scientific” training and eternal recruitment comes from in order to side step the process of building a cohesive unit of young men that have all paid their dues together and will fight for each other to win on the field. I also think your right that players who have responsibilities outside of the sport are going to be tougher mentally and just more appreciative of the time that they get to play as they can put the sport into a proper context in the grand scheme of their lives.
the kids who AREN'T allowed phones are still normal and playing outside, I see this every day. The ones with phones are zombies.
Sure, the technology of the games is better, but the actual game is worse (see NFL current year) and even at HS, with all that training, those kids are SOFT. Sure, they can lift more weight, once. But not all day lifting hay bales. And the top guys are really fast but in the trenches? They might be bigger, but they are gonna wear down, they aren't going to go all day without their every 2 minute drink from the gatorade in 100 degrees. As long as the old style team keeps it close in the first, by the 2nd that team gonna be wearing down, by the 4th they are going to be exhausted. Sure, you need some kind of decent game plan, esp to stay with the speed of their star. (but face it, any HS team is dominated by that ONE GUY who is insanely talented).
Kids today don't know how to grind. You see it when they hit their first job (yes, i read your story about the dishwasher, was a line cook in HS, totally relates, and that was getting on 40 years ago now), they go for a while, then they need a break, then they slow down by the end of 8 hours they are just done. Wait, we have to come back tomorrow? yeppers, cheer up only 40 more years.......
They also don't know how to lose. Again, down in the trenches of your football game, that's where the game is won and lost and pretty soon those new kids are gonna be tired of getting pushed back and down and the old style guys never even breathing hard.
Speed kills and the newbs might still win, but they are gonna know they have been in a fight. Probably for the first time.
Fantastic! I hope all your readers that didn’t get to experience the right of passage that is small town HS Football can understand how profound an experience it can be! I played during the late aughts but was fortunate to have an old school coach as you described. We were still running the same playbook from my dad’s time at the same school some 30 years prior!
The irony of the age of technique is that technique only applies within a system with an extrinsically specified point. As more is converged to technique to optimize the outcome, the system comes to absorb more and more. But the system isn’t reality, and can never be, and that divergence only grows the more system grows. Reality is left behind. Yet that means the technique to which all is being converged to optimize the outcome is now optimizing for something that no longer serves its purpose. The system has become pointless, or at least semi-pointless. People start to wonder why they’re doing all this.
Why are we spending so much time and money and life on creating HS football teams that can crush any opposition? Is the point of a teenage boy’s life winning football? And what does it even mean to win an optimized game anymore? It used to be a way for ordinary people, especially ordinary men, to experience their own excellence for a moment. The point of the sport was the man. Now the point of the man is the sport.
Once the sport has become something people try to win for its own sake it has stopped being a sport; it now selects out those who are committed to the project of optimizing under the system’s rules and those who aren’t. Experts and plebs. Ordinary people by definition are always excluded. Once you are trying to win, meaning trying to perfect technique, you have become part of an elect. The realm of means for ordinary people to test themselves or each other has vanished; all tests are now tests of technique, tests of who is the better expert amongst a select group of experts committed to one sort of technique, separate from the masses.
Superb essay. As luck would have it, I’m currently putting together an article on sport and cultural identity. It primarily concerns European sports, which obviously have an entirely different structure. I was going to make a note on how I couldn’t really say how my thesis applies to the US, but instead, I think I’ll just link to this piece. Great work.
I boxed when I was young and it was a hard life as you constantly had to make weight and you travelled non stop. There also wasn’t really a season it mostly just went year round so it burns you out over time but it made me a much better man and able to weather a lot of tough times. Boxing helped form the grit you talk about I really rarely used it in an actual fight outside the ring probably because I had the confidence of knowing how to fight and knowing what it felt like to get socked in the face or gut all the time so I didn’t have a fear of it if I needed to fight. The training and lifestyle was tough so it hardened me and let me endure hardship in all walks of life. I never played football but I have a young son now that is starting to play and I have developed a lot of respect for the sport and its ability to impact young men and build character. Your essay just makes me think of the many news stories of coaches being fired on a constant basis and all the transfer portal shenanigans with college players and I constantly wonder how any of these organizations hope to build cohesion and culture over time. You can see the same mentality at the high school and lower levels and to me it defeats the purpose of the sport which is to prepare young men for life and build camaraderie. Organizers want to game out the system to manipulate outcomes that’s where all this “scientific” training and eternal recruitment comes from in order to side step the process of building a cohesive unit of young men that have all paid their dues together and will fight for each other to win on the field. I also think your right that players who have responsibilities outside of the sport are going to be tougher mentally and just more appreciative of the time that they get to play as they can put the sport into a proper context in the grand scheme of their lives.
subscribed for smear the queer reference.
the kids who AREN'T allowed phones are still normal and playing outside, I see this every day. The ones with phones are zombies.
Sure, the technology of the games is better, but the actual game is worse (see NFL current year) and even at HS, with all that training, those kids are SOFT. Sure, they can lift more weight, once. But not all day lifting hay bales. And the top guys are really fast but in the trenches? They might be bigger, but they are gonna wear down, they aren't going to go all day without their every 2 minute drink from the gatorade in 100 degrees. As long as the old style team keeps it close in the first, by the 2nd that team gonna be wearing down, by the 4th they are going to be exhausted. Sure, you need some kind of decent game plan, esp to stay with the speed of their star. (but face it, any HS team is dominated by that ONE GUY who is insanely talented).
Kids today don't know how to grind. You see it when they hit their first job (yes, i read your story about the dishwasher, was a line cook in HS, totally relates, and that was getting on 40 years ago now), they go for a while, then they need a break, then they slow down by the end of 8 hours they are just done. Wait, we have to come back tomorrow? yeppers, cheer up only 40 more years.......
They also don't know how to lose. Again, down in the trenches of your football game, that's where the game is won and lost and pretty soon those new kids are gonna be tired of getting pushed back and down and the old style guys never even breathing hard.
Speed kills and the newbs might still win, but they are gonna know they have been in a fight. Probably for the first time.
Great comment. I have noticed more rotations in and out, likely due to being gassed like you said.
I suspect it’s truer to say that they don’t know how to grind for no good reward, but I suspect no people know how to do that.
Excellent article! I wrote this on high school heroes a few months back. You might enjoy.
https://open.substack.com/pub/therealafterglow/p/i-miss-hometown-heroes?r=5e6ax7&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for the restack man! Very much appreciated
Fantastic! I hope all your readers that didn’t get to experience the right of passage that is small town HS Football can understand how profound an experience it can be! I played during the late aughts but was fortunate to have an old school coach as you described. We were still running the same playbook from my dad’s time at the same school some 30 years prior!