My untested hypothesis, formed by scanning news headlines on this subject for
many years, is that agonistic team sports (x-ball, y-ball, z-ball) have long
been associated with heightened incidences of aggressive antisocial behavior
(thuggery, vandalism, gang rape, substance abuse, low academic achievement) in
young males. In young females, the identical sports generate reports of lowered
levels of antisocial behavior (teen unwed pregancy, low academic achievement).
I've never noticed any reports on studies of individualistic sports. Schools
dominate formation of young athletes in America and they massively favor team
sports, probably because of administrative convenience (1 team = 1 class = 1
time period = 1 block of student bodies accounted for = 1 instructor). So the
bulk of the data at hand is going to be on team sports.
Track and field makes an interesting case study. Academically it is organized
by "teams" and it may experience the same psychosocial "team dynamic" that
encourages "rape, loot and pillage" behavior by young males. But the structure
of its sporting events is highly individualistic and focuses on personal
discipline and focus that tune out competitive distractions. I predict
individualistic sports inhibit antisocial behavior among young males whereas
team-play sports encourage it. But I haven't done the research.
In any event, I deeply favor the idea that our neighborhood's biggest crime
problem is a regular incursion of spoiled jocks from the suburbs; that this is
the cross University City must bear. I recommend we all get behind this one and
push it in the media. It can only help us.
-- Tony West
----- Original Message -----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: UnivCity@list.purple.com
Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 3:33 PM
Subject: Fwd: [UC] plethora of smashed car windows this morning
Student athletes are the last group of young people I'd suspect to be
doing vandalism. You can probably find studies that confirm the impressions of
many that they are, as a whole, better students, more disciplined, more
supervised, less likely to be involved in crime, drugs, or even sexual
activity. I'd really be surprised if high school track kids were running the
streets - especially in a residential area - after midnight without any
supervision.
That's not to say that non-athletes who might be at the Relays would be
up to no good.
Paul U
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: UnivCity@list.purple.com
Sent: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 1:54 AM
Subject: Re: [UC] plethora of smashed car windows this morning
Some neighbors and I just witnessed an attempted act of vandalism at
45th and Larchwood at 12:49. We heard a loud pop, a car alarm and
smashed glass. We discovered that a neighbors car had been pelted with
a bottle. Fortunately the car looks undamaged.
I spoke with some neighbors about this and the story we pieced together was:
A neighbor had seen a group of teenage boys (one with a Coatesville
jersey) remove item(s) from the bed of a parked truck at the corner of
46th and Larchwood. They then attempted to throw a glass bottle
through the window of a Lexis SUV parked on Larchwood. Neighbors gave
chase but the kids ran off very quickly.
A neighbor asked me if this weekend was Penn Relays . He thought this
had happened before and his theory was that groups of young athletic
track kids have too much time on their hands and that they are fooling
around out of boredom and perceived anonymity. They also have the
ability to get away very quickly.
I called the cops and they showed up in a few minutes and took down
the relevant information.
Lowell
On 4/29/07, Brian Siano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Ross Bender wrote:
>
> > Spring 2007. University City Village lay in ruins. Teetotallers, many
> > of them AME deacons, wandered the streets harassing drunken yuppies,
> > weekend oenophiles, and smashed cars.
>
> (Soundtrack: Adagio by Samuel Barber)
>
> NARRATOR: Wounded dogs roamed at will, seeking out radioactive cats for
> automatic barbecues. The lavapit that was aonce Clark Park continued to
> host festivals, now known as Burning Man. The mutants-- the inheritors
> of this hell once called the Green Earth-- lived in the underground
> remnants of the Mill Creek, seeking out the pieces of shattered Penn
> students to cook in the ruins of Abbraccio. The weather itself had
> turned its terrible wrath upon Man, bringing down meteor storms. Then
> fireballs. Then rains of ice weasels, which fell into chimneys to feast
> on yummy radioactive soot that tasted, well, not really tasted _like_,
> but... well, you know those Lorna Doone crackers? Imagine if you took a
> handful of those, and ground them into a really fine powder, and you
> used _that_ instead of sugar on a big stack of purple Necco wafers,
> right? Okay, you got that? Well, that's what radioactive soot tasts like
> to ice weasels. So they're eating that after they get dropped out of the
> sky, and... Oh, yeah. It's snowing in April, too.
>
> (A shadow enters the screen; mutants look up in awe and fear.)
>
> NARRATOR: Into this hell has come a man. Born of ice and steel, he has
> come to... Uh, Frank?
>
> DIRECTOR: Uh.. yeah, Steve? Is there a problem?
>
> NARRATOR: Isn't this kind of... you know...
>
> DIRECTOR: Steve, just read the lines, okay?
>
> NARRATOR: No, really, Frank, I can't read this. It's fascist.
>
> DIRECTOR: Fascist? Whaddya mean fascist? You're the voice over guy. Just
> read the lines, and we can go eat lunch at noon like human beings do.
>
> NARRATOR: (Sigh) Into this hell has come a man. Born of ice and steel,
> he has come to wage war upon the mutant hordes. To retake power for the
> humans clean of mutation, To purge once and for all the scourge of
> degenerated oh dear Christ, Frank, I will NOT read any more of this
> Teutonic Superman Nazi BULLSHIT, I don't CARE how much the studio paid
> for that CGI work, I am NOT going to be PART of this... no, I'm not
> gonna shut up, Frank, I can egt on the phone and in _five minutes_ I can
> have the whole voiceover UNION on a picket line and you'll have to hire
> your scab brother with the stutter to sell your stupid movie to those
> goddamn comic book geeks
>
> (tape ends)
> ----
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>
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