In class, we watched the documentary, “Slaying the Badger.” Last time we had a football documentary. Next time it is basketball, so I wanted to make a point about how we might see things in a program featuring a sport with which we aren’t that familiar.
Plus, it’s one of the greatest races of all time. And the documentary, which is gripping, is based on a book that’s even better. And next Tuesday we’ll see what they have to say about it. Hopefully it will be a useful conversation.
In org comm we discussed negotiations. I asked them what they have negotiated about. No one really had much to offer. Finally, someone said something like ‘We’re young. We don’t get to negotiate. We just do what we’re told.’ And I suppose there’s some truth to that, but then we spent some time expanding our ideas about what negotiations are. Then we talked about different sorts. Next week they’ll do a little in-class negotiation.
And I guess that was the day. I spent some other time working on other things, some things which are coming due in the immediate future and, thus, require the incredible crush of clarity that means my words will get blurry almost immediately.
I will print things out and pore over them, word-by-word. Tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun.
So let me get to that. I would call it a head start, but that implies beginning. I am not beginning. I am months into this project. Eight, nine, maybe 10 months into this. That’s not a beginning. I’m well beyond a head start. Let me, then, get back to building up some momentum.
A breezy, chilly day. And, later, downright coolish. That’s the season, and that’s a point we must concede. This comes with this season.
In today’s Criticism in Sport Media, we watched “It’s Time.” Here’s a little clip where Billy Brewer talks about how Chucky Mullins got to Ole Miss.
The problem was that I was able to find nine minutes of the doc to skip, but we just couldn’t cut out anything else out and keep the story together. So it ran the whole class. But this will be an interesting experiment. What will the class say when we talk about it on Tuesday?
In my org comm class we talked about different types of conflict, the way behaviorists used to see it, the way we view it today, the structural and contextual factors that create it, and why it is sometimes good.
And then we played a bit of the prisoner’s dilemma. I broke the class into two groups and sent one of them outside. This group played as the Las Vegas Raiders. The other group played as the Los Angeles Chargers. I told them each the circumstance. Last game of the season, if you win, you make it to the NFL playoffs and the other team goes home. If the two teams tie you both make it to the playoffs. What do you do?
I made the groups argue this out separately amongst themselves. I brought them back together to reveal the choices they’d made. This scenario actually happened a few years ago, and some of them actually remembered it, which made the internal conflict a little more interesting. Ultimately, though, both sides decided to play for the win.
This is how it played out in real life.
So one group won, basically. One student rightly noticed that if both groups had been left in the room they could have figured this out. But that’s the prisoner’s dilemma for you.
It’s an applied approach to understanding people and groups, this class, you see.
I took a grad school class with a guy who literally wrote the book on game theory. (There are about 6,000 books on game theory, to be sure.) He talked about it for an entire semester. And so, today, I was laughing to myself about his many ridiculous stories.
After class we went over the river. Had dinner at McGillins the oldest Irish pub in the city. The food was not the best I’ve had at an Irish pub, but the experience was fine. It was just up the street from the venue where we saw.
He does laugh funny.
It’s all one-liners and bawdy dark comedy. He does a lot of good crowd work. And he laughs funny.
Then every now and again he’ll do something very thoughtful, almost philosophical, which gives away the other nonsense. The problem with one-liners, though, is that they’re almost immediately forgotten. But the laughs remain! Even the funny ones.
A full afternoon of classes. In my criticism class we watched three short pieces. Usually, on Thursdays, we settle in for a long documentary, but I wanted to try a few shorter packages. We talk about specific themes in all of these programs, but I wanted to hopefully make a point about how stories get necessarily compressed, and what might be accentuated, or omitted, in these shorter pieces.
So we started with Chris Nikic making history in Florida.
That one worked pretty well. And then we watched this NFL propaganda about new helmet technology, featuring former wide receiver Steve Smith Jr.
I thought that one was interesting because we spent a day earlier this term discussing the NFL’s CTE settlement, via a Washington Post story. It is interesting in a “how it’s done” way, but it is 100 percent a piece intended to make fans feel good about the what the league is doing for player safety. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not a subtle thing, either.
Then we ended with this public television package trying to understand and explain Philadelphia sports fans.
And that’s where I lost them. Not exactly sure how that happened.
But in org comm we continued our talk about ethics, which is always a really exciting time. Fortunately, we have a big gambling scandal in the NBA to talk about. I had them read this Joon Lee opinion column and we discussed several elements of that. I had them look up a few other interesting points for some more context. We talked about their own impressions about gambling in sport. And then we ran through some different sorts of hypotheticals. They were largely into it, which is a great result in a week when you’re talking about ethics.
In the office, way up high on the sixth floor, I noticed the trees were looking lovely.
Last week might have been the peak leaf turn here. Maybe it is this week. Probably it won’t be next week. Nothing about foliage fits into the old calendars anymore, but admire them when you can. And from above, if at all possible.
And admire Catober, while you’re at it. The month ends tomorrow. (But there will be some too-good-to-omit photos next week for a Catober bonus post.) You can see them all by clicking that link and scrolling through a month of cozy kitty photos.
Rowan / Thursday / video — Comments Off on Keep your eyes on the scenery and your hand upon the wheel 23 Oct 25
I got a great deal of work done in the office today. The key was I had a list. The other key was, no one was on our floor during most of the time I was there. The other key was that I had an extra 75 minutes in the office based on how my day was set up. What that really means is that I’m closing in on some of the work that should have been done days ago.
But other work keeps popping up. And student papers. And every other thing. Plus prepping for the next class. Plus remembering the things I’d forgotten.
Right now, at least two things may be considered permanent fixtures on that list.
It’s OK, though. I’m sure next week I’ll have the time to finish those items. This is a thing I’ve said for the last four weeks. Or 12 years, who can really say?
Anyway, in lieu of anything better, I’d like to share with you a few of the lovely views from my drive home from campus. It’s quite the bit of scenery.
Tomorrow, I’m getting these stitches removed from my back, and finding out how many more days I need to take it easy. (I’m pretty much over that, which is always how you know you’ve recovered nicely.) Join me tomorrow for a report from the doctor’s office, won’t you?
But before that, make sure you’re caught up on Catober. Today was Poseidon’s day to look handsome, and he pulled it off easily. But both kitties are giving vibes. Click that link and scroll back to make sure you’ve seen them all.
It was another afternoon in class today, which meant it was another night of doing slide deck prep and a morning of getting the final details in and then the afternoon in class. At least it was warm and sunny out, and so it didn’t feel like I should be somewhere else while sitting under florescent lights.
I’m kidding. There are giant windows in the classroom I’m in right now and the natural light is plenty. We don’t even turn on the lights some afternoons.
In my criticism class we talked about this episode of Bomani Jones’ podcast. If, for no other reason that everyone loves Deion Sanders and, Jones is right, Spencer Hall is one of the best writers going today. I’ve been reading him for decades. Had him on a podcast in 2006 or so. And look at him now.
So we’ve now heard two different styles of podcasts in the last week, a narrative-documentary hybrid and now an interview show. We’ll have another variation for their midterm next week. I will be asking them questions they should be used to by now. After that, it will be back to video products. We’re going to spend a day on short form packages. I’m waffling on what I want to use for that day.
In org comm I followed up the Tuesday conversation about social identity theory with a talk about Role Identity Theory. These two approaches complement one another, and they cover a lot of ground about
Social identity theory gives us the in-group and out-group concepts, and tries to explain how we define ourselves based on their group memberships, like religion, nationality, or, in our case, fandom. In SIT identities come from difference based on the activities in which we partake. Role identity theory concerns itself with the meanings and expectations associated with various roles we play in our lives. This is all shaped by social and contextual factors and, interestingly, acknowledges the conflict that comes within our many roles, because of those expectations. These two ideas, SIT and RIT, work nicely together, but it’s all about cognitiion; they don’t get to emotion.
Which allowed me to talk about identity fusion theory. It has become an important psychological theory in the last few decades, and tries to explain how we develop these profound senses of alignment and unity with a group. It’s an interesting area because it gets into the extreme pro-group behaviors, including self-sacrifice that people make. The theory goes through the deep emotional investments that motivate action, while allowing people to maintain their personal agency. The general idea, in a sports context, is that we see these personal connections and interactions in shared spaces.
It’s an interesting approach, because what is fandom but a huge expression of emotion?
Identity fusion is currently the leader for a class I’m teaching in the spring, too.
The view from our office. If you look closely enough, you’ll see my lovely bride, who is walking back from a class in another building.
And now the rest of the week will just be computer work. There will be plenty. I have a great deal of grading to do. I am already plotting out how the next three days will go, based on meetings and batches of grading. I think I can get it all in over the wekend, without going too crazy, and just in time to start the cycle over again next week.
Sometimes it is difficult to see how you can get all of your work done when so much of your time is spent on part of your work.
I took this photo of the honeysuckle last week and never got around to sharing it. Safe to say that the radical pruning we did on the thing in the spring has been overcome. It has grown a bunch over the summer and fall, and is still flowering a great deal.
This variety has no nectar in it, however, and that’s a shortcoming. It’s a disappointing under-performing, over-performing, bush vine. But it has covered much of the new garden trellis in just six months, so there’s that.
Are you all caught up on Catober? It always over-performs. Click the link, and see them all. And come back tomorrow for more.
