The American Journal of Sporting Opinion
4 April 2008
Vol. 1, pp. 212-223
"Why We Can't Do Without It"
by Daniel J. Friedman
As the Great Brendanian Friendout finds itself in troubled times, battered on the one side by countless, almost innumerable redos, on the other side by shakily-sourced allegations of match-fixing, and on yet a third, heretofore unknown front by concerns over a lack of racial heterogeneity, it rumbles on, never ceasing.
Why does the Friendout survive, even as other sports institutions mired in controversy have floundered and died? Remember the Xtreme Football League? The World Wrestling Federation? The National Hockey League? Those leagues, seemingly built on solid foundations that we thought would last forever, sputtered out and died. Yet the GBFT continues to thrive, fueled by an endless supply of paper slips in a hat, even as its very world seems to crumble around.
What is the Friendout's secret? How can it persevere even as the Commissioner's perpetual drunkenness and limitless supply of controversy continue to rule the print and the airwaves?
One word: tradition.
As much as the press may clamor for blood, and the public may wonder why there are no other Friendout options on their computer screens (isn't Congress' anti-trust exemption for the GBFT hopelessly outdated?), there is one straightforward fact that no amount of criminally intoxicated behavior could ever destroy: it is simply impossible to imagine a world without the GBFT.
What if you showed up to the living room one evening, and there were no tiny slips of paper to greet you? Would you cry? Would your capacity to stand leave you? Would you crumble into a helpless, quivering lump of jelly? Yes. You would.
Whatever has happened, whatever is now, whatever may be, the Great Brendanian Friendout will be there. Like it or not.
4 April 2008
Vol. 1, pp. 212-223
"Why We Can't Do Without It"
by Daniel J. Friedman
As the Great Brendanian Friendout finds itself in troubled times, battered on the one side by countless, almost innumerable redos, on the other side by shakily-sourced allegations of match-fixing, and on yet a third, heretofore unknown front by concerns over a lack of racial heterogeneity, it rumbles on, never ceasing.Why does the Friendout survive, even as other sports institutions mired in controversy have floundered and died? Remember the Xtreme Football League? The World Wrestling Federation? The National Hockey League? Those leagues, seemingly built on solid foundations that we thought would last forever, sputtered out and died. Yet the GBFT continues to thrive, fueled by an endless supply of paper slips in a hat, even as its very world seems to crumble around.
What is the Friendout's secret? How can it persevere even as the Commissioner's perpetual drunkenness and limitless supply of controversy continue to rule the print and the airwaves?
One word: tradition.
As much as the press may clamor for blood, and the public may wonder why there are no other Friendout options on their computer screens (isn't Congress' anti-trust exemption for the GBFT hopelessly outdated?), there is one straightforward fact that no amount of criminally intoxicated behavior could ever destroy: it is simply impossible to imagine a world without the GBFT.
What if you showed up to the living room one evening, and there were no tiny slips of paper to greet you? Would you cry? Would your capacity to stand leave you? Would you crumble into a helpless, quivering lump of jelly? Yes. You would.
Whatever has happened, whatever is now, whatever may be, the Great Brendanian Friendout will be there. Like it or not.
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