Thomas Lake has an excellent feature in Sports Illustrated detailing the drive-by murder of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. It’s as much a cultural study as a news story, showing how Williams and his killer were shaped by—and reflected—their upbringings.
It’s also brutally senseless. The whole thing centered around the kind stupid machismo that most young men would recognize, one that usually ends in shouts and shoves but here was twisted into murder.
As someone overly dedicated to cardboard foldouts and little plastic pieces, I’m thrilled to read in Scientific American that ancient peoples were similarly consumed. As “Ancient People Played Lots of Games” shares, a recent excavation in Pakistan revealed “almost every tenth find was related to leisure—dice or gaming pieces.”
S.L. Price has an excellent, heartrending article in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated highlighting the abandoned American communities whose only product seems to be the athletes lucky enough to make it out. “The Heart of Football Beats in Aliquippa” details a football-mad Pittsburgh suburb that continues to embrace the game even as it population crumbles.
The home of Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett and Darelle Revis, Aliquippa has replaced lost steel mill jobs with the violence of the drug trade. Shootings are commonplace and high school players turn to dealing in the face of absentee parents. It’s an honest portrait of a community beset by joblessness and squandered potential. At the same time, it’s community that continues to exert a hold on those lucky enough to have left.
Michael Rosenberg has a thought-provoking article in Sports Illustrated describing the dilemma of being a football fan given what we know know about the game’s violent, lingering impact, as seen in concussions and debilitation. I’ve struggled with the issue myself, but I’m still watching. I’m not sure it’s the right moral choice, though.
A great free, Flash browser-based game, Tower of Heaven is a brutal little platformer that would have found a nifty home on the original Game Boy. Your little sprite is subject to shifting rules and gory eight-bit endings as he tries to climb the eponymous tower. It’s tough stuff, but great for a 20-minute diversion.