Comments on: Line in chalk http://snarkmarket.com/2010/6222 The stomping grounds of Tim Carmody, Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson. It's a long-running conversation about media, journalism, technology, cities, culture, design, books, music, movies, the future and the past. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:58:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: AVGW http://snarkmarket.com/2010/6222/comment-page-1#comment-13604 AVGW Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:57:12 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=6222#comment-13604 Thanks for the fine words, Robin -- truly honored. I just watched the video of Zumaya's injury again, and it struck me that these sort of sport injury highlights are like our generation's Zapruder films. We watch them over and over, slowing them down, skipping back, looking again for the nuances and semiotics we missed. Brandon Inge coming over, fatherly; the inexplicable jaunt to Cabrera's hat when he gathers near the mound; and the trotting of Justin Verlander, whose rookie year was as starstruck as Zumaya's, to comfort his friend. It is somehow akin to, perhaps, M*A*S*H or any other pop culture production meant to exploit and explain a band of brothers, warriors, etc. But since nearly a third of our lives now have been sublimated by very real, very terrible wars, it seems to me that sport has replaced war as the lens through which we investigate what binds a group together, makes them a tribe. Perhaps explains in part the bleeding of military jargon into sport, as well. Thanks for the fine words, Robin — truly honored. I just watched the video of Zumaya’s injury again, and it struck me that these sort of sport injury highlights are like our generation’s Zapruder films. We watch them over and over, slowing them down, skipping back, looking again for the nuances and semiotics we missed. Brandon Inge coming over, fatherly; the inexplicable jaunt to Cabrera’s hat when he gathers near the mound; and the trotting of Justin Verlander, whose rookie year was as starstruck as Zumaya’s, to comfort his friend.

It is somehow akin to, perhaps, M*A*S*H or any other pop culture production meant to exploit and explain a band of brothers, warriors, etc. But since nearly a third of our lives now have been sublimated by very real, very terrible wars, it seems to me that sport has replaced war as the lens through which we investigate what binds a group together, makes them a tribe. Perhaps explains in part the bleeding of military jargon into sport, as well.

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