I look from my eighth story window of Unit 2 down at the Underhill Field frequently. Each time I see a different sport being played, a different amount of people, and different formations of these people on the field. When people can get exercise elsewhere, why pay to have access to this field? I don’t believe it’s all about the exercise, but maybe more about some innate trait the Underhill Field allows people to eject.
A lone man jogs the perimeter of the field. It may be more accurate to call it speed walking then to call it jogging. His hair is gray and thinned and his back hunched, but healthy he seems as he goes along the large perimeter several times at a steady pace. Understandably, due to the field’s popularity, the older man is not alone on the field for long. Soon on the field with him is a group of five, three guys and two girls, who entered with a soccer ball through the main gate and who goes to the far end of the field and starts to stretch. They keep in a group congregating closely, clearly marking off the part of field they will be occupying. They throw down their belongings near their territory and begin to dribble around the ball. Two other guys have also entered the field with a football and begin to pass it back and forth near the right fence of the field. The old man continues walking the perimeter, but seems to take note of the new population on the field and becomes nervous. The separate activities persist without any interruption till a much larger group enters the field. Everyone takes notice. As this large group of about fifteen college-aged persons enter with their belongings and a few white Frisbees they look about and stalk out where they will play. Something interesting happens now. As the Frisbee players travel to the center of the field the others who were already engaged in their own activities, the old man, the group of soccer players, and the guys playing catch all shift to make room for an ultimate Frisbee practice to commence in the center. Their sheer number takes up a greater portion of the field then that of the other athletes, and their acclamations and hurrahs ring out louder then those of the smaller groups. The old man exits the field and walks home. The first competitor is overcome.
Although in different positions they started in, the activities continue. There is constant movement on the field, and the young, able bodies visibly flex and perspire in hopes of showing off and intimidating those around them. The gate opens again. Now enters another large group of eighteen or so, males and females. They come with equipment; a few of them carry footballs, one or two of them carry nets with flags in them, and they all carry their personal athletic bags. The field becomes quite crowded and as the large group divides into two and puts on their yellow or red flags, there is another shift and the other groups are pushed away, loosing some of the territory they were just playing on. The now comparatively small group of soccer players squeeze into one corner, the Frisbee players shift to the far half of the field that is shared with these soccer players, and the two who pass a football back and forth exit the field. Their strife to prolong their possession of territory on the field is ended by the other packs.
Another crew pushed out, old folks are done away with first, then the smallest least intimidating armies. But who will be ultimately victorious? Well it is the group that mostly resembles the victors in any war. The largest armies, dressed in uniform and overall intimidating. Characteristic of these armies are possession of many weapons and equipment and loud battle cries. And here now the absolute vanquisher arrives.
6:25 PM
You can hear the thousand clicks of their cleats against the pavement outside the field before you even see them, ringing out like a march to battle. It is a massive army of thirty. They carry with them nets of soccer balls, individual athletic bags, and even refs in black and white stripes to let everyone know they are official and serious about this competition for territory at Underhill Field. The small group of five soccer players in the corner sees them and leaves even before the large army comes through the gate onto the field. As the towering lights around the field slowly turn on at time of dusk, the new massive army of soccer players sets down their things and throws off their sweatshirts to reveal that they come in matching uniform, half in yello
w and half in blue. Matching uniform and collaboration within such a large group is an intimidating strategy, showing dedication and stance in times of war. As they begin to warm up in the middle of the field, the remaining activities on the field, the small Frisbee practice and the flag football game begin to get pushed to the edges of the field. It looks as though their time to exert their buried innate drive to claim territory is coming to an end. The army of thirty takes out their soccer balls to warm up with and some begin to drag the large goal nets to either side of the field, adding to their equipment of war and setting up what is to be their territory. And the other groups do not withstand it. They do not have the numbers or the intimidation to push back the goals and reclaim the space that was once theirs. The large soccer army’s shouts and exclamations drown out those of the other smaller groups. The Frisbee and flag football players have gotten their power and territory taken away from them. With no more purpose on this field they pack up their belongings and exit the arena.
When I read, “I look from my eighth story window of Unit 2 down at the Underhill Field frequently”, I was immediately reminded of Michel de Certeau’s “Walking in the City.” Brigitte seems to be a “voyeur” looking down on all the people on the field. De Certeau description, “looking down like a god” (92) is reminiscent of Brigitte’s point of view. This is extremely prevalent when she compares the “official” soccer team to an army conquering territory. She conjures up the image of a Roman army conquering smaller “tribes”, or in this case, the smaller groups on the soccer field. The phrase, “veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered) comes to mind. As this army is taking over the field, she is sitting and looking down from the eighth floor of Unit 2. Her description of the site makes Underhill sound like a war zone, in which men and women express “some innate trait.” They are letting their primitive instincts loose. Her style is completely different from Latour’s style in “Circulating Reference.” Latour speaks directly to his readers in the first person. However, Brigitte only uses the first person in the introduction. She primarily uses the third person to describe what she sees on the field. By doing this, she is more of a far away observer or “voyeur” as opposed to being in the site itself. I noticed that this is different from a lot of other students’ blog posts, my own included. Mostly, people used the first person and put themselves into their site. You feel like you are in the site itself. On the other hand, Brigitte puts herself apart from all the people and interactions on the field. Her text still puts you at the field, but not in the field. She observes the interactions from her bedroom window. However, only one of the pictures reflects this point of view. The other pictures are up close to the field. They put the reader in the field.
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