Randall Cunningham Seizes The Means Of Production
September 28, 2017 3:04 PM Subscribe
In the latest installment of Pretty Good, Jon Bois discusses the Philadelphia Eagles, the 1987 NFL strike, and how to use a football play to metaphorically give owners the bird. (SLYT)
Previously.
Previously.
Just had to screenshot this for all your breakroom poster needs.
posted by jason_steakums at 4:53 PM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 4:53 PM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
OH MY GOD, his pro-union vs anti-union breakdown should be immortalized in gold.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 5:10 PM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 5:10 PM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
Some the visuals and music remind me of the show Seconds from Disaster.
posted by AFABulous at 5:14 PM on September 28, 2017
posted by AFABulous at 5:14 PM on September 28, 2017
Jon Bois is pretty good, and this reminds me that I really need to join the IWW as a symbol of personal solidarity in this dumb right-to-work state.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:11 PM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:11 PM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
Bringing the Heat, Mark Bowden's book on the Eagles of those years (and Cunningham) is his best work -- better than Blackhawk Down.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:37 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:37 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Goddamn, that was beautiful. Couldn't have happened to a better team, either.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:46 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:46 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
(the history was really interesting but can someone explain the football bit for a baffled Australian?)
posted by nickzoic at 9:27 PM on September 28, 2017
posted by nickzoic at 9:27 PM on September 28, 2017
(the history was really interesting but can someone explain the football bit for a baffled Australian?)
Usually in that sort of situation (team has a decisive lead, less than a minute to go, has possession), the team will take a knee on each play, as a sign of good sportsmanship. The Iggles, on the other hand, played the down when the 'Boys were (mostly) not expecting it, because of their owner's behavior during the strike, especially the drubbing they gave the scab team a few weeks prior.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:33 PM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Usually in that sort of situation (team has a decisive lead, less than a minute to go, has possession), the team will take a knee on each play, as a sign of good sportsmanship. The Iggles, on the other hand, played the down when the 'Boys were (mostly) not expecting it, because of their owner's behavior during the strike, especially the drubbing they gave the scab team a few weeks prior.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:33 PM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
(the history was really interesting but can someone explain the football bit for a baffled Australian?)
I've simplified a number of complicated rules for purposes of this explainer. Don't @ me sportsnerds.
At the end of a football game, the team that is in the lead has a strong incentive to not run a play. If they do, the losing team might take possession of the ball. They also, as NoxAeternum mentions, want to be seen as good sports, and do not want to score "unnecessary" points on the losing team.
Unfortunately for the leading team, football has a play clock. You must run a play within a certain amount of time from the end of the previous play (generally 35 seconds). If you do not, it is a penalty, and the clock stops and will not start up again until you run another play. That 35 second clock, combined with the fact that a football team automatically turns the ball over to the other team only after 4 failed attempts to advance the ball 10 yards, means that a team in the lead can essentially bleed the clock dry once there is less than about a minute and a half left in the game. The way you do this is to begin the play by snapping the ball to the quarterback and the quarterback kneels - a play is completed when any part of the ballcarrier's body other than their hands and feet touch the ground. The 35 second play clock begins, and the game clock keeps ticking down.
It's an unwritten rule of football that once this process has begun, it is allowed to play out to its conclusion. Any deviation is a huge breach of good sportsmanship. Sometimes, as Bois points out, it is well deserved.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:00 AM on September 29, 2017 [5 favorites]
I've simplified a number of complicated rules for purposes of this explainer. Don't @ me sportsnerds.
At the end of a football game, the team that is in the lead has a strong incentive to not run a play. If they do, the losing team might take possession of the ball. They also, as NoxAeternum mentions, want to be seen as good sports, and do not want to score "unnecessary" points on the losing team.
Unfortunately for the leading team, football has a play clock. You must run a play within a certain amount of time from the end of the previous play (generally 35 seconds). If you do not, it is a penalty, and the clock stops and will not start up again until you run another play. That 35 second clock, combined with the fact that a football team automatically turns the ball over to the other team only after 4 failed attempts to advance the ball 10 yards, means that a team in the lead can essentially bleed the clock dry once there is less than about a minute and a half left in the game. The way you do this is to begin the play by snapping the ball to the quarterback and the quarterback kneels - a play is completed when any part of the ballcarrier's body other than their hands and feet touch the ground. The 35 second play clock begins, and the game clock keeps ticking down.
It's an unwritten rule of football that once this process has begun, it is allowed to play out to its conclusion. Any deviation is a huge breach of good sportsmanship. Sometimes, as Bois points out, it is well deserved.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:00 AM on September 29, 2017 [5 favorites]
Excellent explanation Rock Steady. There's also a racial undertone to one of the first black quarterbacks doing this to the team that most represents The South and "traditionalism." At the time there were serious debates about if a black man could have the intelligence required to read defenses and execute a complex passing check-down process. Which is why Bois threw in the tidbit about Randall being first the best "running quarterback" which is considered a physical gift, and then becoming the best "passing quarterback" which is considered a more cerebral talent. See Cam Newton in the NFL today to illustrate where some of this prejudice still exists.
Further, Dallas is sometimes referred to as "America's Team" due to their perceived countrified, hard working, "real American," Southern fanbase. And presumably the big star on their helmet. This is galling to almost everyone who isn't a Cowboy's fan.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:15 AM on September 29, 2017 [5 favorites]
Further, Dallas is sometimes referred to as "America's Team" due to their perceived countrified, hard working, "real American," Southern fanbase. And presumably the big star on their helmet. This is galling to almost everyone who isn't a Cowboy's fan.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:15 AM on September 29, 2017 [5 favorites]
My nickname for the Cowboys is "the Football Yankees".
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:23 PM on September 29, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:23 PM on September 29, 2017 [10 favorites]
So, this made me go back and reward he all the Pretty Good episodes, and a few of the better Chart Party eps. I mean I wasn't really going to get anything done anyway, but now I feel that much smarter about minutiae, which is really apparently what I needed to deal with the world. Thank you.
An aside: I helped my wife write one of her lesson plans, and in the part of the coursework discussing animation, I referenced both Chart Party and Pretty Good as different ways to look at telling a story via animation that are not traditional stop-motion, nor frame by frame animation. So Jon Bois is actively being taught to college students. I consider that my good deed for the semester.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 2:30 PM on September 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
An aside: I helped my wife write one of her lesson plans, and in the part of the coursework discussing animation, I referenced both Chart Party and Pretty Good as different ways to look at telling a story via animation that are not traditional stop-motion, nor frame by frame animation. So Jon Bois is actively being taught to college students. I consider that my good deed for the semester.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 2:30 PM on September 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
Much respect to QB Eagles.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 2:20 AM on October 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by the christopher hundreds at 2:20 AM on October 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
I finally found time to watch this, and really enjoyed it.
In addition to enjoying the nostalgia of growing up in Philly during the 1980s, this video really drove home the historical context of how the NFL has become so dominated by the interests of the owners, not the players who are the source of their immense wealth. As a kid, it was all about what was happening on the field, so I wasn't really following the off-the-field stuff about the union-busting. I knew what "scabs" were and I generally felt unions were good and what the owners were doing was bad, but I didn't really understand why. It's almost a sports movie cliche that something like this could happen, but it really did.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:26 AM on October 1, 2017
In addition to enjoying the nostalgia of growing up in Philly during the 1980s, this video really drove home the historical context of how the NFL has become so dominated by the interests of the owners, not the players who are the source of their immense wealth. As a kid, it was all about what was happening on the field, so I wasn't really following the off-the-field stuff about the union-busting. I knew what "scabs" were and I generally felt unions were good and what the owners were doing was bad, but I didn't really understand why. It's almost a sports movie cliche that something like this could happen, but it really did.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:26 AM on October 1, 2017
I'm working on a Jon Bois FPP and it's always interesting to see what he has to say about money and pricing, and about the noxious side effects of the NFL's capitalism (see the Denver game in 17776). And he has had a soft spot for trolling libertarians ("I hope my birthday party is going to be fun. I think that making sure my birthday party is fun is the responsibility of the government.") which to me lines up with the pro-union message of "Randall Cunningham Seizes The Means Of Production".
posted by brainwane at 7:56 AM on October 2, 2017
posted by brainwane at 7:56 AM on October 2, 2017
As a story about strikers who lose, this is a little like the excellent British film Pride. My spouse, reviewing Pride, made an analogy to sports movies, and talked about how sports movies are usually about winners, but Pride does a good job, "much better than a 'win' movie would of showing the virtues that can survive a loss: community, solidarity, tolerance and old-fashioned stubbornness." I think that pro-underdog bias in Bois's work is a key reason it holds up so well and appeals to people who don't find much sportsmanship in the places they've brushed up against sports culture.
I noticed there's a musical cue in the Randall Cunningham video that's the same as the ominous score in Chapter 17: "No no no no no no. (Video)" of 17776. Very effective!
posted by brainwane at 8:17 AM on October 2, 2017
I noticed there's a musical cue in the Randall Cunningham video that's the same as the ominous score in Chapter 17: "No no no no no no. (Video)" of 17776. Very effective!
posted by brainwane at 8:17 AM on October 2, 2017
« Older Tragedy is when I cut my finger | Rock Star Philosopher Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Sphinx at 4:26 PM on September 28, 2017 [7 favorites]