Game Changers Power Structure Human beings have been involved in power struggles since the beginning of time. This struggle for power can take place at work, school, home, or even in books. Game Changers, a fictional story written by Mike Lupica, is about a young boy named Ben McBain who dreams to become the starting quarterback of his local football team. In doing so, Ben must outplay Shawn, the top rated quarterback in the state, and impress Coach O`Brien. Although all his friends believe Ben can win the position, Ben is content with sitting on the bench while Shawn is the leader on the field. Eventually, Ben does get his chance to succeed when Shawn begins to struggle. Consequently, with the help of his friends, Ben is able to reverse the skill based power structure and become a football superstar. The main power structure throughout the book is based on skill level. Ben must outplay the top rated quarterback in the state in order to win the position. Once Shawn wins the job, Coach O’Brien tells Ben, “I’m just not giving him the starting job because he is bigger than you” (Lupica 21). In other words, Mr. O`Brien did not compare size or anything else except talent when choosing the quarterback. By only comparing the talent level of these two boys, it creates a power structure based only on skill. Coach O`Brien expresses this power structure again when he states, “The things he`s got, the size and arm strength, you can`t teach those things” (Lupica 21). When O’Brien says, “The things he`s got” he is referring to Shawn’s talent. He chooses Shawn to be the quarterback because of his ability to throw the ball farther compared to Sam. Somebody`s ability to throw the ball far is based on talent and muscles. Therefore, t... ... middle of paper ... ...ot only has the backup quarterback become and starter but Ben does not listen to the coach anymore. Consequently, the power structure is now Ben McBain on the top, then Mr. O’Brien, and Shawn at the bottom. Therefore, Ben succeeds in changing the power structure in the book. When succeeding to reverse the skill based power structure, Ben uses his friends for inspiration to win an unforgettable championship. Because the coach only compares talent when choosing the quarterback, it creates a skill based structure. In addition, Ben is able to outplay Shawn for the starting position. Even after, Ben ignores the power structure to he help his competition improve. In the end, Ben McBain’s skill emerges on top of the structure. Consequently, Ben shows that hard work and determination does pay off and he proves you have ti reverse power to get what you want in life.
Abstract: High school football in the state of Texas has become out of control. The sport is no longer played for the sake of the school but rather has become a Friday night ritual to these small towns in Texas. The players are no longer just high school kids inter acting in school sports but have now become heroes to these small town communities. Communities simply no longer support their local high school team but rally in pride of their hometown rivalry against another team. School administrators and coaches no longer are teachers and mentors for the kids but are the equivalent to what in professional football are team owners and "real coaches". Parents have become agents and sacrifice their jobs and homes so that their child may play for the right team. Finally the fans, the fans have lost the sense that it is just a high school sport and changed the game to a level of professional sports. I plan to prove and show that for all these reasons Texas high school football has become out of control. It is no longer the game that it was originally meant to be.
Bissinger creates empathy in the reader by narrating the lives of once Permian heros. Charlie Billingsley, a Permian football player, “was somewhere at the top” while he was playing. It was hard for the football town of Odessa to forget “how that son of a bitch played the game in the late sixties”(80). While in Odessa, Permian players receive praise unmatched by even professional football. This unmatchable praise becomes something Permian players like Billingsley become accustomed to, and when he “found out that...you were a lot more expendable in college(80). This lack of appreciation that is equivalent to the one that they have received their whole life makes them go from “a hero one day to a broken down nobody the next”(81). With the realization of this reality, Billingsley becomes one of the many to spend life as a wastrel, living in his memory of playing for the Permian Panthers. The reader becomes empathetic towards how the once likely to succeed Billingsley, becomes another Odessan wastrel due to the over emphasis and extreme praise the Odessan football team receives. Bissinger does not stop with a classic riches to rags story to spur the reader’s empathy but talks about the effect the Odessan attitude toward football has on the health of its players. Just like in many parts of the world, in Odessa, sports equates to manliness and manliness equates to not showing signs of pain. Philip, an eighth grade boy aspiring to one day be a Permian Panther is lauded by his stepfather as he “broke his arm during the first demonstrative series of a game ...[but] managed to set it back in” and continued playing for the rest of the game. It is noted that Philip’s arm “swelled considerably, to the point the forearm pads...had to be cut off”(43). By adding details such as these, Bissinger
Students should read this book in a high school English classroom because it demonstrates how relationships can be difficult, but teamwork can help to solve many issues. Hutch realized that it would not help his team to continue fighting with Darryl and by being mad at his father. He was able to take those difficult relationships and form them into positive outcomes and achieve his goal. After winning the championship game, “Hutch made his way through his teammates, and up through the stands and did something he had not done in a very long time: Hutch hugged his father. And his father hugged him back” (Lupica 243). This proves to students that if they continue to work hard and focus on a goal, they can achieve it by being a team player on and off the field.
...as the Odessan’s education system, one can determine that football never ends for blacks athletes. Their dreams are regulated by the White society, and even if these athletes find ways to create new dreams, it will inevitably, find its trail back to football. As an offensive lineman, Ronnie Bevers said, “This is the last minute of your life” (Bissinger 326). This demonstrates that once the era of your football career is over, you have nothing to look forward to. Perhaps Blacks are exploited in a way to elongate this dream of football. Imaginably, these athletes of colors are put out to create a sense of greatness, with an essential goal to bring home victory. But as long as this succession of manipulation is put out into the Friday night lights, there will always be athletes like Boobie Miles or Ivory Christian, who struggle to find their own dream and aspirations.
Coach Herman Boone, who is played by Denzel Washington, is a very influential person. He is a perfect leader. While it cannot be found out for sure, Coach Boone can be classified under the trait theory of management, that “Leaders are Born”. The type of leadership he displays cannot be taught, he is able to bring together two different types of groups to act as one, to respect each other and play together. He shows power in the movie, he has a large capacity to influence others. Using his power, he gets the players to conform and forget how others think they are supposed to act towards each other. The goal specificity is also clear in the movie. Coach Boone expects his team to be ‘perfect’, he expects them to win the Virginia State Championship. Former head coach and now assistant coach Bill Yoast, played by Will Patton, is also a very influential person and good leader. He is in charge...
In the book entitled Out of Their League, David Meggyesy describes his life as a football player from high school through his days with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Born in 1941, Meggyesy was raised in a low-income household in Solon, Ohio. Like many athletes from impoverished backgrounds, he was able to use the game of football to better himself though both a full scholarship to Syracuse University and financial stability with the Cardinals. During his career, however, Meggyesy became increasingly disillusioned with the game of football and how its athletes were subject to tremendous physical and psychological turmoil from those in power—namely the coaches and the NFL team owners. He began to see the game of football from a conflict theorist point of view. This is the belief that sport is an opiate used to benefit those in power through the exploitation of athletes which enables those such as coaches and team owners to maintain their power and privilege in society. (Coakley, 1998) Meggyesy's growing disenchantment with football and adoption of a conflict theorist point of view led him to retire from the Cardinals in 1969.
Despite the influx of talent from across the world, Samoans and Tongans have begun to dominate football with superior speed and strength that allows them to play outside the boundaries of past players at their size. The film shows every aspect of the process from the players entering high school to being scouted by college and professional scouts as they capture four years of the four young men’s careers. The fact that the film puts so much emphasis on the process shows the importance of it for the players as well as their families. Though the players have strength and support in the form of mothers, siblings and friends, the film stresses the difficulties that the players face as they attempt to become professional football
Boone also uses both power and authority with his position as Head Coach to get his way. Since he is Black and has power, the white players do not immediately accept Boone's authority. Many threaten to quit the team if Boone remains as head coach, and their parent’s pressure to move their children to other schools. Boone must use power and mind-games to force the players to tolerate each other until he can help them look beyond the racial conflict. When training camp at the college ended, the players gradually respected his leadership more and more and no longer saw his power as unlawful or hurtful. The players thus agreed with Coach Boone’s philosophy and became friends with one another.
"Those of us in the first American generations have had to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fit in solid America." Maxine Hong Kingston is a native of Stockton, California, born in 1940. The essay, "No Name Woman", was taken from her book ,"The Woman Warrior" (1976). Kingston is , in her everyday life, surrounded by "ghosts" from her past cultural heritage. The role identity concept parallels Ms. Kingston's essay. In the role identity concept, factors surrounding us in our daily life are continuously shaping and reshaping who we are and what we will become. In this concept, taken from the structural school of symbolic interaction, we tend to conform our sense of self to adapt to individual social situations as we are exposed to them. The theory in the concept of role identity is that we all play different "roles" in society, on various levels , which can include our families, our workplaces, our peers, daily experiences, and even within ourselves. Therefore, we are continuously changing and evolving into our "sense of self". Kingston, born a Chinese-American, struggles with her sense of self as she attempts to balance her American lifestyle with that of her Chinese family's rich cultural beliefs; although, even as she begins to accept her "role identity" within her family structure, as an author, she realizes that she will be "haunted", merely by writing about it.
Social Security is a major social program that provides benefits to multiple groups of people within the United States. These benefits include payments for pensions, disability, and unemployment compensation just to name a few. The majority of social security beneficiaries are retired workers and the remaining are pension recipients, disabled workers, dependent spouses, and children of retired or deceased workers respectively (Hyman, 2011). Social Security is financed through a taxpayer payroll tax, in addition to an employer’s portion that is matched and paid directly to the government on a quarterly basis. The employer portion of Social Security is usually not transparent to employees, but is a requirement for companies by law. In addition, self-employed individuals are also required by law to pay their own portions of OASDI and Medicare. Overall, the eligibility requirements for Social Security benefits are based on paying a tax through a place of employment and can be collected once workers have reached their assigned retirement age or become disabled. The employee and employer contribution rate is 6.2% (7.65% include FICA), up to the maximum wage base of $113,700.
In the story Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger, a football team in Odessa Texas is held up to a standard of being basically kings in their town. The high school kids are judged on if they are able to win football games or not. The community makes it hard to fail and if they do then the players feel the struggle of their failure. In this journal I will be evaluating self to self, self to community and conflict of self to friend/teammate.
“Madness you see, is like gravity,” muttered a manic Joker as he hanged upside down from Gotham’s highest building after a violent encounter with the Batman, ”all it needs is a little push.” Of course, The Dark Knight is only a movie, a conceived world in which men walk around in costumes and people come back from the dead. One might think this film has nothing to do with reality but not many people realize the very real issue that Heath Ledger portrays so well in his character: lunacy. Could mental illness be accountable for a person’s crimes? Should an insane person receive necessary treatment before serving a prison sentence, or on the contrary, should he or she be absolved from a horrific crime just for the fact that this person wasn’t completely aware of his or her actions?
... within the community and learning what is expected of them as they grow up. We see this in Friday Night Lights as the team fights against all odds to bring home the state championship. The kids on this team grew up learning the importance of football in their community. They were surrounded by the symbols, such as the stadium, the games, and the talk of football. They took on these values and learned what was expected of them as they grew up and became old enough to play football. From there they learned to condition their bodies and minds in order to win football games. Parsons system levels exhibits the interdependence of each one in order for them to work. The systems create equilibrium and function and while in the end the Permian Panthers do not take home the state championship, they display how Parsons system’s theory took them as far as it did.
Coach Herman Boone is the main African-American character in this film. He is a football coach who is brought in by the newly diversified T.C. Williams High School as a form of affirmative action. This character struggles throughout the movie with dealing with the prejudices of his players, of other football coaches, of parents, and even of the school board who hired him in order to try to create a winning football team. Another key black character is Julius Campbell. He plays a linebacker who ends up becoming best friends with a white linebacker on the team. He, too, struggles with prejudices from some of his teammates and people in the town because of the new desegregation of the team. The remaining black players on the T.C. Williams High School had very similar roles in the film. Petey Jones, Jerry Williams (quarterback), and Blue Stanton all are shown facing racial inequality by players, citizens, and even other football coaches. The attitudes of ...
The movie I decided to analyze was Remember the Titans. I examined the dilemmas and ethical choices that were displayed throughout the story. In the early 1970s, two schools in Alexandria Virginia integrate forming T.C. Williams High School. The Caucasian head coach of the Titans is replaced by an African American coach (Denzel Washington) from North Carolina, which causes a fury among white parents and students. Tensions arise quickly among the players and throughout the community when players of different races are forced together on the same football team. Coach Boone is a great example of a leader. He knows he faces a tough year of teaching his hated team. But, instead of listening to the hating town or administrators, Boone pushes his team to their limits and forces good relationships between players, regardless of race. His vision for the team involves getting the players concerned in what the team needs to become, and not what it is supposed to be; a waste. Boone is a convincing leader with a brutal, boot camp approach to coaching. He believes in making the players re-build themselves as a team. When Boone says, You will wear a jacket, shirt, and tie. If you don't have one buy one, can't afford one then borrow one from your old man, if you don't have an old man, then find a drunk, trade him for his. It showed that he was a handy Craftsman and wanted done what he wanted done no matter what it took.During training camp, Boone pairs black players with white players and instructs them to learn about each other. This idea is met with a lot of fighting, but black linebacker Julius Campbell and stubborn white All-American Gerry Bertier. It was difficult for the players to cope with the fact they had to play with and compete with ...