It is a game

I took this on 8 July 2011
in Rocky Mountain National Park.
It seemed an incongruous place
to see a football.

Yet tonight, while looking through old pictures,
it seems a metaphor
for how tangled athletics can become,
particularly at major colleges.

Amidst a tangled, overgrown culture
that can emphasize winning
demand sports generate income, and
tolerate alcohol abuse, exploitation of women, homophobia;

amidst a tangled, overgrown culture
where athletes can receive preferential treatment
that may included academic assistance (and more) or
a bending of disciplinary processes;

amidst a tangled, overgrown culture
where athletes may receive scholarships and
leave school without actually learning anything;

amidst a tangled, overgrown culture,
it  becomes too easy to forget,
to fail to see,
that at its heart,

it is a game.

22 November 2011
Shire on the Hudson