[Scene: Two old friends, Paul (of Berkeley) and Phil (of Boulder) reunited for the weekend as Colorado hosts Cal in a football match. Wanna-be intellectuals pretending not to be obsessed by football...]
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| Phil |
Phil: It's great to see you. I'm glad that you could break away from your philosophy PhD thesis work to come out for the weekend. As a fifth year graduate student, you must be pretty busy.
Paul: True that, friend. And I'm pleased to catch up with you, Mr Big Shot political journalist! Some would call you an "unpaid blogger" but we know who makes the real news in the world today!
Phil: I think it's wonderful that Colorado is now in the Pac12 so that we can play teams like Cal. The BigXII was soooo boorish.
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| Paul |
Paul: You know I've been thinking about the dissolution of the Big XII and the rise of the Pac12 (soon 16?). I can't help but draw parallels with the 19th century pioneering socialist thinkings of Marx and Engels.
Phil: You know, you've got a point, Paul. The the unequal distribution of wealth and the oppression of the masses of Europe in Marx's day closely mimic the recent history of the BigXII.
Paul: Exactly! The Big XII historical imbalance of power toward the Texas "bourgeoisie" manifested itself in inefficiencies and social contradictions in the greater conference society leading to the class struggle not unlike the one Marx depicted.
Phil: Yes, that's right. The oppressed majority in this case are exemplified by the "proletariat" Colorado Buffaloes. Though they were disaffected by the capitalist, self interested, ruling minority (Texas) Colorado realized their position of value in the production of wealth and rose up to promote social change, banding together with their "comrades" and sparking a conference realignment (a "revolution") that eventually, if not immediately may redraw the entire map of collegiate athletic conferences - ala European states.
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| Nicholas says "Hook 'em!" |
Paul: Hmmm. So then the Pac12 is the Soviet Union of the 21st Century, eh? Schools are the states, banding together in an egalitarian utopian society designed to share wealth equally. Colorado fled the oppressive Czar monarchy of Texas.
Phil: And we all know how the story ends for the Czar.
[Hilarious laughter ensues.]
Phil: Speaking of monarchies, the Hawkins era smacked of birth right entitlement - in which the son ascended to leadership and privilege based solely on paternity rather than competence and the will of the people.
Paul: Yes, Embree represents the rise of the common man, a patriot of the people, seizing control over the entrenched ruler (Hawkins) - not so much a tyrant as a complacent, entitled, incompetent monarch.
Phil: Embree swept in on a wave of populist sentiment - promising to give power to the people, where the common man, a worker, a mere position coach, could rise up and lead a previously depressed population with the promise of communal wealth and the elimination of previous class structures. Embree is our Lenin, if you will.
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| Goatie |
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| Goatie!! |
Paul: Further exploring the socialist historic parallels... Jeff Tedford at Cal has been a revolutionary of the first order. The Frederich Engels or quite possibly the Karl Marx of football philosophy. His pioneering spread offense with equal distribution of throws to all receivers, regardless of social status, birth-right or proximity to the line of scrimmage (ala the rural peasantry) - why it's practically the sports equivalent of the Communist Manifesto itself!
[Long period of stunned silence.]
Phil: Good weed, dude.
Paul: Humboldt.
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