fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #6648 ]

[ SECRET POST #6648 ]

⌈ Secret Post #6648 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Abbott Elementary]

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[Black Sails / Billy Bones]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 16 secrets from Secret Submission Post #950.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
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here

As a non American I don't understand the central place "football" has in American high schools and university life. Or as one character in a certain fandom calls it fooball.

I certainly don't understand how you can get a scholarship to a university to play football for them. How does that work, do all universities offer this? How do you get one?

Edumacate me, please.

It is human sacrifice as mass entertainment. The capitalist football order pays a lot for the school to have a team, so the school has a team.

I'm probably not the best person to answer this but, for some reason people here love football. I don't get it, but they pay a LOT of money to watch the ball go. Universities make a lot of money charging people to come see the ball go, such that they offer full ride scholarships to students who make the ball go well. So high schools (which can also charge money, though lesser amounts) have a vested interest in getting their students to make the ball go, so the students can go to college even if they are poor. I think most, if not all universities have a football program, though I went to a college (we had a football team, but we didn't charge for any sports, it was more like a semi organized pick up game).

I read someone describe universities in the US as Football programs with a side hustle as educators.

It's basically watching a war game but with painted bellies and beer.

So football actually started as a college sport and spread from there. For a while, up until the 40s (50s?) it was specifically seen as a college thing. The first Super Bowl was only in '67. So it's always been tied to education, which kind of makes sense. It requires a large space and expensive equipment in ways that soccer/baseball/basketball/everything but hockey really just don't. You need an organization behind a football team.

Scholarships: not every college/university will have a football team. Again, they require huge spaces and expensive equipment to play. But also, football teams can bring in a *LOT* of money. Tickets and merchandise and concessions and tv rights and on and on. Some schools make a large part of their budget off of sports teams. (Also some schools spend a large part of their budget on sports teams so this isn't a totally positive thing.)

Schools with big programs will send out scouts to see high school students play, especially teams with big programs or winning records, and scope out potential recruits. (Yes this is kind of creepy when you consider the athletes in question are like 16-18) But a student might also send in their sports records with an application in hopes of getting a scholarship. IDK about this specifically, check out the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) for more information. Also you can try out for the team when you get into a college. You might not earn a scholarship right away (or at all) but it can be done.

Schools will also offer intramural teams which are more for fun. Usually not football though.

its a couple things:

athletics has always been seen as educational for the upper class, literally as a part of leadership training. there used to be a class status attached to being good at sports.

the association with masculinity has changed from "competitive athletically" to "competitive in causing or avoiding harm" of which football does better than most other american sports with the widest accessibility (hockey isn't financially accessible to a lot of places in the US)

in many places there are very few regular ways for a town to celebrate together and fewer ways to promote group cohesion, and sport games in general provide that.

high schools and universities make money from sports games (people buy tickets, gear, food at the stadium, etc) which often pays for other school expenses. however to keep making money you usually need to win, so they are incentivized to recruit good athletes. for secondary education specifically, many good athletes don't have the money to go school and wouldn't consider loans, so the scholarships, which are a mere fraction of the revenue from athletic departments, are a good investment. these players are found by recruiters who work for college athletic departments

most universities with wealthy interested alumni offer scholarships. you can also receive funds from the tv rights to your games which are negotiated on a league basis or from the ncaa which regulates college sports nationally. sports-focused towns have a diffused effect on the economy of that town and other businesses so businesses will also provide benefits in return for ad space.

teddy roosevelt, our 26th president, fucking loved it and encouraged its spread (and the ncaa because it was killing students and they had to make it "safer").

Edited 2025-03-20 15:36 (UTC)

Jumping off this question.

I've noticed that the medical studies on the effects of American football have had apparently negative repercussions onto the sports. That is, concussions, broken limbs, permanent damages, fractures, increased risk of Alzheimer's, broken spines, and so on. I read that supposedly less and less students have been joining them, and even one rich asshole at some point mentioned they wouldn't let their own kid play that sport.

How prominent is American Football nowadays in light of this? How many students are actually joining these teams in high school and the views of the parents? What effects has this had on the culture of the sport in the US?

Honestly it's turned on class once again. the only way to get into professional leagues, with professional pay (>$100k usd a year) is through aau play which starts in middle school, playing all through high school at a great school and going to a good (football) college. most if not all professional players have been playing all their lives. for people who don't have much hope of going to college anyway, and even less hope of getting into the middle class, it's a risk they're willing to take.

richer folks have always had other options, and oddly enough the commercialization of sports has made it less likely to indicate high class. children of professional players, and people in places where football have a deep hold on the culture and political structure will still risk it even if wealthy. but a lot of this is about people who come from lower-tier economic classes looking for a way to succeed that doesn't necessarily require academic or social skill.

Why Florida Man?

Florida law allows for more detail in crime reporting then most states. This allows for some incredible lurid headlines.

I saw a social media post somewhere that basically said you could summarize any Bible story and it would sound like a Florida Man headline.

Why not Florida Man???

Don't forget Florida Woman, she's definitely catching up in the news.

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