And to all our international members, whom I'm sure have no idea what we find so fascinating about stuffing ourselves with turkey and then passing out in front of the football game..... we give thanks that you're here with us on the forum!
Tryptophan, Testosterone, Tradition
First, Turkey contains tryptophan, a compound found in amino acids that effect the human brain. It makes us humans sleepy and happy.
Second, football can be viewed as men physically overcoming other men to either defend or take territory. Gets right into the basic brain programming / instincts. Women also have territorial instincts, but it might be stronger in us guys. (unless shopping is involved)
Third, I refer to a book entitled "the american spititual culture - and the invention of jazz, football, and the movies" by William Dean. a very good, interesting book, but i cant find all my notes, so looks like i must summerize this without going into a long philosophical rant
(something you will be thankful for today
)
He mentions the football connection to instincts. But he also notes a difference between America and other countries. In America our ancestors (except for native Americans) came here in large part because things were bad at home. They wanted a better life. Think about the song
Isle of Hope (good CW connection here in the discussion!) , young lady is hungry, has a bad life, comes to the new and strange land in hope of a better life.
But being displaced, early Americans did not have traditions of their own that were "American". So some created tradition. And over time, others jumped on some of these traditions because they were pretty good. Yes they had traditions from their homelands, but each individual ethnic group had theirs, it wasn't common among the various groups that had to live and work near each other. Early Americans had no "American " culture at that point. But in Europe, people there had traditions going WAY back. Lots of history and culture. But that may be why we Americans differ from others on this.
