Thanks for coming up with the Anderson et al article, Stephen. Stephen writes on soccer goals celebrations: >…I can't help but observe that the intensity of these >celebrations may be due to their scarcity. >Goal deprivation seems to be the norm in this strange >game, perhaps unique among sports in having nil-nil >outcomes (translation: nobody scores nuttin'). This >seems to be a frequent outcome.
It does help to know what you're talking about. :-) With the aid of a BBC website, I analysed the 38 matches played in February in the English Premiership (top league). The number of goals scored was 117. That makes an average of 3 per game. >…nil-nil outcomes (translation: nobody scores >nuttin'). This seems to be a frequent outcome. In the 38 matches, the number of 0-0 draws was 2, around 5%. What's missing in Stephen's viewpoint is an appreciation that a goalkeeper preventing a goal with great athleticism can be at least as exciting to watch as a goal being scored. Also implied is that the only really interesting thing is seeing goals scored, whereas appreciating individual skills at any point in a match is an important part of the enjoyment. Stephen is right on one thing, that the excessive celebrations are a consequence of the limited number of "scores" in soccer compared to other games, so each one is important. But I don't think that's by any means the only reason, or perhaps even the main reason. When I was a young lad, the goal scorer in the professional leagues was greeted by a handshake from one or two colleagues, and everyone just got on with the game. In more recent times people (I'm talking about the UK here) have expressed themselves much more freely in public, and celebrating goals has become more and more exuberant. Tongue in cheek, Stephen quotes: >"Mostly soccer is just guys in shorts running around >aimlessly, a metaphor for the meaninglessness of >life". (http://tinyurl.com/pxtn4 ) Of course it only appears aimless to those who don't know what's going on, especially tactically. Given that most of the rest of the world rates soccer as the number one game, the interesting question is why North America is almost the only exception. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org --------------------------------------------------- Re: [tips] You can't handle the smooch! sblack Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:19:10 -0800 On 2 Mar 2011 at 8:39, Allen Esterson wrote: > The article does not provide a link to the study. Nor is it cited on > Eric Anderson's University page: > http://www.bath.ac.uk/education/people/profiles/eanderson.htm > This is it: Anderson E, Adams A, Rivers I.Arch Sex Behav. 2010 Oct 22. [Epub ahead of print] "I Kiss Them Because I Love Them": The Emergence of Heterosexual Men Kissing in British Institutes of Education. . Abstract In this article, we combined data from 145 interviews and three ethnographic investigations of heterosexual male students in the U.K. from multiple educational settings. Our results indicate that 89% have, at some point, kissed another male on the lips which they reported as being non-sexual: a means of expressing platonic affection among heterosexual friends. Moreover, 37% also reported engaging in sustained same-sex kissing, something they construed as non-sexual and non-homosexual. Although the students in our study understood that this type of kissing remains somewhat culturally symbolized as a taboo sexual behavior, they nonetheless reconstructed it, making it compatible with heteromasculinity by recoding it as homosocial. We hypothesize that both these types of kissing behaviors are increasingly permissible due to rapidly decreasing levels of cultural homophobia. Furthermore, we argue that there has been a loosening of the restricted physical and emotional boundaries of traditional heteromasculinity in these educational settings, something which may also gradually assist in the erosion of prevailing heterosexual hegemony. -------------------------------------------- Allen also gave us a vivid image of celebrating a score in soccer: > The scorer's > antics and other colleagues' celebrations have become absurd, players > typically jumping on the scorer who goes to ground. Occasionally a > player may rush up to the scorer and kiss the top of his head as he > grabs hold of him, but that is the exception, not the rule. To say > "exuberant kisses" often occur is just plain nonsense. Although this has little to do with the topic, I can't help but observe that the intensity of these celebrations may be due to their scarcity. Goal deprivation seems to be the norm in this strange game, perhaps unique among sports in having nil-nil outcomes (translation: nobody scores nuttin'). This seems to be a frequent outcome. According to one source, "Mostly soccer is just guys in shorts running around aimlessly, a metaphor for the meaninglessness of life". (http://tinyurl.com/pxtn4 ) [If soccer fans want to reach me, I'm changing my name and entering witness protection]. -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=9150 or send a blank email to leave-9150-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
