I visited the library last semester with my girlfriend. When we entered I saw someone from my football team at a table with this little nerdy guy in glasses. When I pointed him out to her, she said �Boy I bet he must get tutoring everyday just to pass his classes, huh?� I looked at her and smiled. My teammate was the guy doing the tutoring. It�s a toss-up whether being an athlete or �Blonde� is more likely to inspire misconceptions about a person�s intelligence.
The word jock originally came from the word jockstrap. A jockstrap is a piece of athletic equipment that protects a mans lower parts. It was created by the Bike Company in 1874. It has evolved to mean much more, a jock is a person who is involved with sports. More specifically a jock is a member of an athletic team. As people now define the jock as a person involved with sports team they conclude that the jock spends all their time playing sports on the field and that they make no time for school work which ultimately leads to the assumption that jocks are stupid.
One reason that people see jocks as stupid guys who can�t do anything but play sports and who can�t complete a sentence, is the media. Hollywood has often portrayed the jocks to be the unintelligent bullies. An example is Ogre from �Revenge of the Nerds.� He was a big dumb football player who picked on nerds because they were smarter then him. Commercials as well often show the jocks sitting around a table drinking beer but almost never shown in intellectual situations. Jock�s hanging around the libraries won�t sell too much product. But on the contrary, there are many intelligent jocks, many who are respected public figures. Both President Bushes played baseball and one even owned the Texas Rangers. It should also be noted that President Nixon and Kennedy played football for their college teams. This is a counter argument to the concept dumb jock. Dumb jocks, I don�t think so.
A jock is really just a guy who is hard working, determined, team spirited, well built, kind and intelligent. A jock is that kid that decided to do something productive with their free time by playing sports. There are those people who hate jocks because of the idea that they have all of the friends and get all the girls. Most jocks do have a lot of friends because when you join a team you join a brotherhood of guys working together for the same goal. I think girls like the image of dating jocks as well as the challenge to get them perhaps they don�t think their so dumb after all.
The word jock came from the word jockstrap and over the years it has taken on new connotations. One common negative connotation is that jocks are stupid. I am a jock and I can tell you that we are not. It takes brains to play sports. Actually playing a team sport especially in the High School and College level requires a lot of intelligence. There are complicated plays of X�s and O�s that need to be learned and applied. The quarterback needs to know every play of his as well as everyone else�s. The linemen who are seen as the dumbest players on the field also need to be intelligent. As a lineman, you need to learn intricate footsteps so you can properly execute a play. And the concept of failure to execute a play and to lose is a concept hated by the jocks. There is nothing worse to the jock than to be the cause of losing a game and letting down your team.
The word jock brings up the image of a stupid football player with a cheerleader on his arm. In reality, the jock is a member of the team who is smart enough to learn to play difficult games. So whoever said that jocks are stupid, including my girlfriend in the library, need to go back and check their stats? I feel that to be a jock, you need to be intelligent.
