A fight broke out during the half-time show. It should have been over when Andy Staples punched Brett Huckleberry in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. But then the teammates got into it. It quickly devolved into a savage free-for-all. Star Quarterback Thornton found the pyrotechnic controls and burned Diana Ross, who was immediately abandoned by her entourage when things got weird. He was expected to be the MVP of the game. In some way he still was. She died shortly thereafter.

The fighting stopped almost as quickly as it had started. The men organized loosely into groups, but not to strategize. They sat down and rocked back and forth on their asses. They ran in circles and cried together. From home it looked like a set of emotionally broken toys. This was terror. This was fear: things had gone wrong in a New way.

This had clearly been more than a fight; foul play was involved. But, because this was New, we could not conceive of any potential resolution, and that lack of foresight precluded any immediate inclination to get justice. On the bright side, people bought newspapers the next day.

We watched in fear as 22 men, 22 living symbols of Pure American Masculinity, were taken away in ambulances as caged animals and handcuffed children.

0 comments:

Post a Comment