The Daily Nebraskan
Wednesday, April 3, 1968
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'Page 6
UoSo Football
egg of life
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A tongue-in-cheek look at the
grid sport, Freudian-style
(Editor's note These are
thn notes of the noted psycho
logist and flute player Thorn
as Hornsby Ferrll, In describ
ing the lines along which his
Investigation of American
Football will proceed. He has
assembled a distinguished ar
ray of experts from Vienna,
Heidelberg, Vassar and the
Trobriand Islands. Further
installments on the progress
of this undertaking may or
may not follow.)
"Obviously football is a syn
drome of religious rites sym
bolzing the struggle to pre
serve the egg of life through
the rigors of impending win
ter. The rites begin at the
autumn equinox and culmi
nate on the first day of the
New Year with great festi
vals Identified with bowls of
plenty; the festivals are assn
ciated with flowers such as
roses, fruits such as oranges,
farm crops such as cotton,
and even Sun-worship and ap
peasement of great reptiles
such as alligators.
"In these rites the egg of
life is symbolized by what is
called "the oval," an inflated
bladder covered with hog
skin. The convention of "the
oval" is repeated in the arch
itectural design of the vast
outdoor churches in which the
services are held every Sab
bath In every town and city;
also every Sunday in the
greater centers of population
where an advanced priesthood
performs. These enormous
roofless churches dominate
every college campus . . . and
bear witness to the high spir
itual development of the cul
ture that produced them. Li
terally millions of worship
pers attend.
Sexual outlet
"Subconsciously. t h e s
hordes of worshippers are
seeking an outlet from sex-
frustration in anticipation of
violent masochism and sad-
Ism about to be enacted by a
highly-trained priesthood of
young men. Football obvious
ly arises out of the Oedipus
complex. Love of mother
dominates the entire ritual.
The churches, without excep
tion, are dedicated to Alma
Mater.
"The rites are performed
on a rectangular area of
green grass oriented to the
four directions. The grass,
symbolizing summer, is strip
ed with ominous white lines
representing the knifing
snows of winter. The white
stripes are repeated in the
ceremonial costumes of the
four whistling moniters who
control the services through
a . time period divided into
four quarters symbolizing the
four seasons.
"The ceremony begins with
colorful processions of musi
cians and semi-nude virgins,
who move in and out of. rit
ualized patterns. This exictet
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the thousands of worshippers
who rise from their seats,
shout frenzied poetry in uni
son and chant ecstatic an
thems through which runs the
Oedipus theme of willingness
to die for love of mother.
Chaotic appearance
"The actual rites, per
formed by 22 young priests of
perfect physique, might ap
pear to the uninitiated as a
chaotic conflict concerned
only with hurting the oval by
kicking it, then endeavoring
to rescue and protect the egg.
However, the procedure is
highly stylized. The group in
so-called 'possession' of the
oval first arrange themselves
in an egg-shaped 'huddle,' si
it is called, for a moment of
prayerful mediation and whis
pering of secret numbers to
each other.
"Then they rearrange them
selves with relation to the pos
ition of the egg. In a typical
'formation' there are seven
priests 'on the line,' seven be
mg a mystical number asso
ciated not, as Jung purists
might contend, with the 'se
ven last words' but actually
with sublimation of the 'sev
en deadly sins' into the 'sev
en cardinal principals of edu
cation.
"The central priests crouch
es over the egg, protecting It
with his hands while over his
backquarters hovers t h
'quarterback.' The transposi
tion of 'back quarters' to
'quarterback' is easily ex
plained by the Adler school.
To the layman the curious
posture assumed by the
'quarterback' immediately
suggests the Cretin origins of
Mycenaean animal art, but
this popular view is unten
able. Actually, of course, the
'quarterback' symbolized libi
do, combining two instincts,
namely (a) Eros, which
strives ior even closer union
and (b) the instinct for de-
"These enormous roofless churches dominate every college campus . . . and bear witness to the high
spiritual development of the culture that produced them . . ."
r
ball to the Oedipus complex
struction of anything which
lies in the path of Eros. More
over, the 'pleasure-pain' ex
citement of the hysterical
worshippers focuses entirely
on the actions of the libido
quarterback. Behind him an
three priests representing th
male trial. .
Sleight of hand
"At a given signal, the egg
is passed by sleight-of-hand
to one of the members of the
triad, who endeavors to
move it by bodily force across
the white lines of winter. At
the end of the second quarter,
implying the summer solstice,
processions of musicians and
semi-nude virgins is resum
ed. The virgins perform a
most curious rite requiring
far more dexterity than the
earlier phallic Maypole rit
uals from which it seems to
be derived. Each carries a
wand of shiny metal which
she spins on her fingertips.
tosses playfully into the air
and with which she inter
weaves her body in most in
tricate gyrations.
"The foregoing, I confess,
"Subconsciously, these hordes of worshippers are seeking an outlet from
sex-frustration in anticipation of violent masochism and sadism about to be
enacted by a highly-trained priesthood of young men . . ."
'" MM. KI'IIW HI My J II II Hll I "
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"The white stripes are repeated in the ceremonial costumes of the four
whistling monitors who control the services through a time period divided
into four quarters ..."
NlPs Whitaker is top steer wrestler
Wi Chip Whitaker became
the top steer wrestler in the
region after taking sixth place
in the event last weekend at
a rodeo at North Dakota State
in Fargo. .
By taking second last week
end John Fernett became
third in the region In steer
wrestling. The regional rat
ings are a total of the points
ACADEMY' AWARD
l!,fflTOtlTIft!ei
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- INCLUDING
2 "msi maim
CF THE YEAR!"
LAWRENCE HERMAN
!IEMS!Mi
earned at the different rodeos.
Other team members who
attended the rodeo in Fargo
were A. B. Cox, Larry Ra
dent, John Kitt and Linda
Edwards.
Sports
car meet
Members of the newly
founded University of Nebras
ka chapter of the Nebraska
Region, Sports Car Club of
America will meet tonight in
the Union at 9.
Anyone interested in join
ing or finding out about the
group is invited to the meet
ing, featuring a film entitled
"Return to LeMans", put out
by Ford Motor Company.
It is stressed that one need
not own a sports car in order
to join the club, but only be
Interested in rallying.
ISUfootballdrills
begin on April 16
Ames Iowa Johnny Majors
will start his first spring foot
ball drills at Iowa State on
April 16.
The spring game will take
place on Clyde Williams Field
May 11, Majors said.
Current Movies
a . a -
Timet Furnlihe by Theater.' Tuntftl
ja. UfM fa el m. kM Im
LINCOLN
Cooper Lincoln: 'Bonnie and
Clyde', 7:00, 9:00.
Varsity: 'The Shuttered
Room', 1:00. S:07, 5:H, 7:21,
9:28.
State: 'The Graduate, 1:00,
3-.W, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00.
Stuart: 'Guns For San Se
bastian", 1:00, 3:00, 4:55, 7:00,
9:00.
Joyo: 'Jungle Book. 7:00,
9:30. 'Charlie, The Lonesome
Cougar', 8:15.
Nebraska: 'To Sir With Love',
1:10, 3:10, 5:10, 7:05. 9:05.
84th & 0: 'The Good The Bad
and The Ugly', 7:30. 'How To
Succeed In Business', 10:15.
Starriew: Cartoon, 7:30. 'Tony
Rome', 7:37. 'St. Valentine'a
Day Massacre', 9:34. Last com
plete show 8:30.
OMAHA
Indian Hills: 'Gone With The
Wind', 2:00 and 9:00.
Dundee: 'Far From The Mad
ding Crowd', 2:00 and 8:00.
Cooper 70: 'Camelot', 2:00 and
8:00.
HI
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the closest thing to home . . . f 'cOord's
5J05'O'Jt , 8SNo.27thSt
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April
o
april 6, 3 p.m.
union ballroom
OOLISHNESS
scarcely scratches the lur
face. Space does not permit
interpretation of football as
related to dreams, or discus
sion of the great subconscious
of thwarted American energy
that weekly seek expression
through vicarious enjoyment
of ritualized violence and in
fliction of pain. To relate foot-
alone would require, as it well
deserves, years of patient
research by -scholarly men."
(If readers would care to
suggest possible alternative
explanations which deserve
scientific study, their memor
anda will be forwarded to Dr.
Ferrll.)
CONTINUOUS FROM 1 P.M.
STARTS TODAY
l2th&P Street
YES.'SIK'-EEE!
The motion picture that has set more all-time
records in more theatres than any other in
Columbia Pictures' history is held ever
at a theatre near you!
4th
RECORD
WEEK!
J
fir id
OUMMnCTWQPiMMll
OIUPJCY ia JAMES CIMLL'S
POITIERMTO SHlvOTII LOIH"
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iiii
thru SUNDAY
EVENINGS
Tonight thru Fri. 8 PM
Sat. 9 PM
MATINEES
Sat. 1 PM & 5 PM
SUN. 2 PM
GOOD SEATS STILL AVAILABLE
. . . EVEN AS LATE AS SHOW
TIME . . . COME DIRECT TO
THE AUDITORIUM. .
PRICES
$2.50 $3.00
$3.50 $4.00 ,
an ran rtstrvM
JUNIORS (16 yn. under)
Vi PRICE tonite &
Tomorrow t PM, Sat. 5 PM
TICKETS ON SALE
Ptrthlnt Auditorium li Noon
Nil ihowtimt
Miliar Point Dept. Stern
(ttore houri)
Downtown Gotaway Ctnttr
(And you can charge III)
PERSHING MUNICIPAL
AUDITORIUM
Here's -where the left wing
ti the right wing-
get togeti
er
BMm : wing it!
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