The Yin and the Yang of Me
I love football.
I always have. Sometimes I ponder the reasons why this is so. My love of football seems to go against the grain of many of my other interests. I love to read. I love to write fiction and to write things like this blog. I enjoy listening to music and singing it as well, if the truth is known. I enjoy movies. Actually, more than enjoying movies, I like the whole idea of the art of film-making and want to learn more about it. I've never been an actor on any level, but whenever I hear actors talk about their craft, I'm completely fascinated. Almost anything that's artistic completely captivates me. It always has.
Is football artistic? On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much artistry in one team of eleven brawny guys trying to bash another team of eleven guys around in order to move a ball from one end of a field to another. One could probably successfully argue that there is a certain artistry in football and in all other sports as well. Well designed and successfully executed plays are works of art in their own way. Eleven men, all striving with all of their will and strength towards a common goal and working together with symmetry and precision certainly holds a strong artistic element. Besides this, a well-conditioned athlete is an artist of sort. He has honed his body through daily hours of training until it has become like a sleek, well-oiled machine capable of many physical feats that the average human can only dream of doing.
Having said this, I believe it would be disingenuous for me to claim my love of football stems from its creative attributes. I believe my reasons for enjoying the game are much more basic. It appeals to me on a very primal level. I'm drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I always have been and probably always will be. It is the sheer physicality that attracts me. Bodies crashing into bodies. Running, catching, dodging, or just plowing through someone. It just makes my blood flow hotter in my veins.
I believe there is a yin and a yang to my personality. The writing, reading, artistic interests appeal to one side of me while any very active activity appeals to me in a different way. Football is probably chief among these but it is true that almost any sport or activity that forces one to exert one's self and strive towards a goal excites me.
To be a whole person who is true to himself, I believe I need to pursue both of these sides to myself as fully as I'm capable of doing. I think of the ancient Greeks' philosophy that a man (or woman) should strive to develop both his body and mind to the fullest. Those who did this could truly call themselves renaissance men.
I would certainly love to be one of those!
I always have. Sometimes I ponder the reasons why this is so. My love of football seems to go against the grain of many of my other interests. I love to read. I love to write fiction and to write things like this blog. I enjoy listening to music and singing it as well, if the truth is known. I enjoy movies. Actually, more than enjoying movies, I like the whole idea of the art of film-making and want to learn more about it. I've never been an actor on any level, but whenever I hear actors talk about their craft, I'm completely fascinated. Almost anything that's artistic completely captivates me. It always has.
Is football artistic? On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much artistry in one team of eleven brawny guys trying to bash another team of eleven guys around in order to move a ball from one end of a field to another. One could probably successfully argue that there is a certain artistry in football and in all other sports as well. Well designed and successfully executed plays are works of art in their own way. Eleven men, all striving with all of their will and strength towards a common goal and working together with symmetry and precision certainly holds a strong artistic element. Besides this, a well-conditioned athlete is an artist of sort. He has honed his body through daily hours of training until it has become like a sleek, well-oiled machine capable of many physical feats that the average human can only dream of doing.
Having said this, I believe it would be disingenuous for me to claim my love of football stems from its creative attributes. I believe my reasons for enjoying the game are much more basic. It appeals to me on a very primal level. I'm drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I always have been and probably always will be. It is the sheer physicality that attracts me. Bodies crashing into bodies. Running, catching, dodging, or just plowing through someone. It just makes my blood flow hotter in my veins.
I believe there is a yin and a yang to my personality. The writing, reading, artistic interests appeal to one side of me while any very active activity appeals to me in a different way. Football is probably chief among these but it is true that almost any sport or activity that forces one to exert one's self and strive towards a goal excites me.
To be a whole person who is true to himself, I believe I need to pursue both of these sides to myself as fully as I'm capable of doing. I think of the ancient Greeks' philosophy that a man (or woman) should strive to develop both his body and mind to the fullest. Those who did this could truly call themselves renaissance men.
I would certainly love to be one of those!
posted by Charlie at 1:44 PM
1 Comments:
Nothing to add to this post as I have nothing to say about football, but I am saying hi. I thought you were going to partake in Tell It To Me Tuesday more often. Are you slacking already?
Hint- The more comments you leave on other blogs, the more bloggers that will come visit you!:)
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