Response to Blog Post #8 (Trace's SNL & "The Champions")

I hate to say this, but I think I have only maybe seen one episode of Saturday Night Live. However, I have heard about it many times and from what I hear it seems like I am missing out. I also have to admit I didn’t think I would enjoy watching “The Champions” skit because I am not really into watching/discussing sports, but I ended up thinking it was hilarious. After watching it I can agree with you about the superiority theory playing a role in the humor of this skit. The character D.C. just made me cringe at some of the things he said which reflects onto the real NFL football players. When you brought up the relief theory, it reminded me of a movie I watched one time called “Concussion” which was about how professional football players suffer brain degeneration. In the movie, Will Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu who is fighting against the National Football League because they are trying to suppress his research on brain degeneration in football players. He does research on a former Steelers player that died of a heart attack at age 50.  Bennet wants to find out why a young and healthy man died so early and determined that the repeated blows to his head during his football career are what lead to his death. At the same time, another character begins to lose his memory, say strange things to his children, and abuse his wife. So obviously this is a very serious topic, and the relief theory in the skit is used as a way to relieve some of the tension related to the topic by D.C. making jokes about losing his memory.