Football and Dog Fighting: A Similar Mindset

Gladwell, Malcolm. "Offensive Play: How different are dog fighting and football?" The New Yorker. The New Yorker, October 2009. Web. 3 February 2010.

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In October of 2009, Malcolm Gladwell published his feature article entitled, “Offensive play: How different are dog fighting and football “in The New Yorker. Throughout the informative, yet somewhat controversial article, the author discusses two primary problems with twenty-first century football. According to Gladwell, the mindset and determination of modern day football players and the dreadful activity of dog fighting are fundamentally not that much different from each other. He states that the “gameness” and willingness of both football players and dogs to continue to compete no matter what the case are exactly the same. His primary examples used in the article are Kyle Turley, who received a dangerous concussion yet persevered through the pain and continued to play at a high level, and Michael Vick’s dogs that battled for their lives every fight. The connection is clearly portrayed in this manner seeing that both the player and dog will do whatever it takes for their team, coach, or owner. According to the author, this dog mindset was instilled in the players due to the evolution of the game and the fans appreciation for certain aspects of the game, such as hard hits and dramatic injuries. He relates this troubling aspect of modern football to “Dogmen and Dogfights,” by Evans and Forsyth.

After reading and analyzing the article, Malcolm Gladwell’s purpose, point of view, and values are clearly perceptible. The author is desperately worried about the future of football and the health of the athletes. His point of view is clearly important seeing that he is considering the overall well being of athletes as a whole and sports as a whole. In order to illustrate his seriousness about the manner, he speaks in a worried, yet compassionate tone throughout the article. This tone emphasizes that the matter truly is a serious issue and the proper changes need to be made to the league. Gladwell’s effective use of transitions from a dog fighting incident to the compelling story of an injured player periodically throughout the article allows the reader to clearly see the similarities. His descriptive analysis and use of heavy details allows the reader to see how truly wrong dog fighting is, and relate the story to actual football injuries. By the conclusion of the article, the author hopes to have influenced not only the reader, but also the athletic world as a whole to change sports before the injuries get even more serious than they currently are.