Two narratives clash on Super Bowl Sunday: the return of the king vs. the aging king that must be overthrown. Is Peyton Manning Odysseus and the Panthers the suitors? Or is he the dragon who must yield to the next generation?
Tag Archives: Football
Peyton: Old Age Hath Yet His Honor
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Homer, Odyssey, Peyton Manning, Sports, Super Bowl, Ulysses Comments closed
The Real Victims of Deflategate
Two characters from “Hamlet” have been invoked in Tom Brady’s deflategate scandal. Can you guess which ones?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged deflategate, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Sports, Tom Brady, Tom Stoppard, William Shakespeare Comments closed
The Super Bowl, Comic & Tragic Versions
The Patriots miraculously escaped a hanging, the Seahawks did not. It’s the difference between Gay’s “Beggars Opera” and Bierce’s “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ambrose Bierce, Beggar's Opera, John Gay, New England Patriots, NFL sports, Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks, Super Bowl, Tom Brady Comments closed
The Miraculous Ride of Tom Brady
If they win the Super Bowl, Brady and Belichick will become as legendary in the sports world as that patriot of old, Paul Revere.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere", Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, New England Patriots, NFL, Seattle Seahawks, Sports Comments closed
Are the Gods Out to Destroy Manziel?
The epic fail in Johnny Manziel’s first NFL start invites Sophoclean analogies. Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus also comes to mind.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Johnny Manziel, NFL, Oedipus, Sophocles, Sports Comments closed
This Isn’t a Football, It’s a Shoe
In this surrealistic poem about football, a quarterback holds on to the ball too long but does so for understandable reasons.
A Poem for Monday Morning QB’s
Ogden Nash’s celebration of football also points to its violence.
Belichick Ranks with Lit’s Great Plotters
Coach Bill Belichick resembles the nefarious plotters in such works as “Portrait of a Lady” and “Liaisons Dangereuses.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aaron Rodgers, Bill Belichick, Choderlos de Laclos, Green Bay Packers, Henry James, Liaisons Dangereuses, New England Patriots, NFL, Portrait of a Lady, Sports Comments closed
Protecting Players in the NFL “Jungle”
Upton Sinclair uses a football analogy as he makes a case for workers needing workplace protections.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Jungle, NFL, NFL Players Union, Sports, unionization, Upton Sinclair Comments closed
