{"id":106216,"date":"2016-12-28T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=106216"},"modified":"2016-12-27T11:27:13","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T16:27:13","slug":"nauseating-violent-and-ours-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2016. Enjoy your holiday!<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_95591\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-95591\" class=\"wp-image-95591\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg 1403w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2-300x235.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2-768x602.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2-1024x803.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-95591\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration by Jason Novak for <i>The Paris Review<\/i>\u2019s serialized edition of <i>The Throwback Special<\/i>.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Why do we still watch sports?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When my ten-year-old daughter overheard me telling a friend that <em>The Throwback Special<\/em>\u00a0is about a group of men that convenes each November to reenact the play in which Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann suffered his gruesome leg injury, she had a question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDad,\u201d she said, looking serious and perplexed. \u201cI have a question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsn\u2019t that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/15\/nauseating-violent-and-ours\/\">Read More &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why do we still watch sports?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":947,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26379],"tags":[21530,8226,212,21529,21528,21527,12612,10447,21531,85,19524],"class_list":["post-106216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2016","tag-belonging","tag-family","tag-football","tag-injury","tag-joe-theismann","tag-lawrence-taylor","tag-masculinity","tag-ritual","tag-spectatorship","tag-sports","tag-the-throwback-special"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nauseating, Violent, and Ours: Chris Bachelder on Sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why bother to watch a gruesome spectacle? The author of The Throwback Special speculates.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours by Chris Bachelder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 28, 2016 \u2013 Why do we still watch sports?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-28T14:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1403\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Bachelder\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Bachelder\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Bachelder\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1fbcda86cc2be89bf915fd01b8737881\"},\"headline\":\"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-28T14:00:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":119,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"belonging\",\"family\",\"football\",\"injury\",\"Joe Theismann\",\"Lawrence Taylor\",\"masculinity\",\"ritual\",\"spectatorship\",\"sports\",\"the Throwback Special\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Best of 2016\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/\",\"name\":\"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours: Chris Bachelder on Sports\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-28T14:00:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Why bother to watch a gruesome spectacle? The author of The Throwback Special speculates.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1fbcda86cc2be89bf915fd01b8737881\",\"name\":\"Chris Bachelder\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5464d38dad82deacf294096e9c40ab5991a5b6a95a28af5dd0637e35d6fbc5a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5464d38dad82deacf294096e9c40ab5991a5b6a95a28af5dd0637e35d6fbc5a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Bachelder\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/cbachelder\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours: Chris Bachelder on Sports","description":"Why bother to watch a gruesome spectacle? The author of The Throwback Special speculates.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours by Chris Bachelder","og_description":"December 28, 2016 \u2013 Why do we still watch sports?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2016-12-28T14:00:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1403,"height":1100,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chris Bachelder","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Bachelder","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Bachelder","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1fbcda86cc2be89bf915fd01b8737881"},"headline":"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours","datePublished":"2016-12-28T14:00:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/"},"wordCount":119,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg","keywords":["belonging","family","football","injury","Joe Theismann","Lawrence Taylor","masculinity","ritual","spectatorship","sports","the Throwback Special"],"articleSection":["Best of 2016"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/","name":"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours: Chris Bachelder on Sports","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg","datePublished":"2016-12-28T14:00:42+00:00","description":"Why bother to watch a gruesome spectacle? The author of The Throwback Special speculates.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/throwbackspecial2.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/nauseating-violent-and-ours-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nauseating, Violent, and Ours"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1fbcda86cc2be89bf915fd01b8737881","name":"Chris Bachelder","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5464d38dad82deacf294096e9c40ab5991a5b6a95a28af5dd0637e35d6fbc5a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5464d38dad82deacf294096e9c40ab5991a5b6a95a28af5dd0637e35d6fbc5a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Bachelder"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/cbachelder\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/947"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106216"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106274,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106216\/revisions\/106274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}