Dedication and commitment are great when it comes to becoming a successful football team. When it comes to becoming a "Raider" football player you are up for some extreme measures. Matt is a senior this year at Nearmont high school and is a captain on their Raider football team. He's their starting wide-out. Matt remembers what he had to do his first year at the end of football camp in order to become a "Raider", called "Raiders Night." They took a rag, blind folded him, and placed him on his back. Scared, in the background he could here sounds of belt buckles and pants dropping. "On your backs," a senior would say, "Open your mouths for the dipping of the tea bags." A few seniors would go around "tea bagging" the new kids using hot dogs and bagged rubber balls instead of the real things, but it sure scared them. Some would gag and others would throw up. This year as a senior, the same becoming a "Raider" ritual would take place. Ramp being the leader of the team. One of the new players lying on his back was some sort of threat and enemy to Ramp because they played the same position. Ramp was team contributor, but also a team bully. Ramp would go around doing the ritual, but when it came to Ramp's enemy Chris, something different happend. Something so vicious and cruel it would leave everyone in the room breathless and horrified. Knowing this could get into the public, the team kept it secret from everybody. Matt knew this wasn't right and fair. Chris was tortured with Ramps act upon him, leaving him scarred. Even though Ramp seems like a bad kid, it's only his decisions that hurt others. Like Matt's addicted to Vicodin, drinking, and steriods. Matt's drinking habbit caused a conflict over a girl he messed around under the influence with, and his preppy popular cheerleader girlfriend. That just adds on the stress for Matt. Who should he chose? Also with the whole Raider's Night putting extra heat in the air, his team is under the possibilty of losing it's popularty and royalty. It would break down the community if this got out in the open. The whole community is on crack down. No one cares about Chris, who had the potential to be a star athelete. All they want is for the football team to achieve their goal, winning state and earning scholarships for Matt and others. Will Matt play by Raiders rules, or do the right thing by telling what happend on Raiders Night? I thought this book was really good. It has real life examples of how teens react to certain things and how they go about their lives while committed to a team. This book may seem like the other one I read (Gym Candy), but it's totally different. Reading this book and Gym Candy can show how different other schools truly are and the hard hitting difficutlties a community have to go through. I give it a 4 out of 4.Link to Author; Robert Lipsyte
8 comments:
Great post! I read this book and was also horrified by some of the events. I hope that nothing like this ever happens to any of our students. What do you think prevents hazing?
I think something like a good team leader prevents hazing. A good team leader keeps his team together in hard times. He/She prevents the team from making bad decisions and knows right from wrong. I can be more than just one person being the leader. Also, hazing does not want to get publicity. Your team does not want the public to know the hazing that happens. So knowing that their cruel hazing could reach the public, they just won't do it. So it prevents it.
V!nny, Awesome job capturing the essence of Raider's Night. You hooked me with the first sentence of your book review. I agree with you that Raider's Night is not like any other book I have read. A must read for anybody interested in examining the negative consquences of competitive sports.
This book sounds like it would be a good book for a group read...because it has to deal with people in high school and what people have to go through...it sounds like a really good book...even though I dont really read books like this...I would like to read this one.
Hazzing is another way of a tradition and team bonding. I know that other points of view may be crossed at this point in some way it builds a team and in the end you become a family of respect and inegrity
This sounds like an interesting book even though i am not a fan of football. It has to do with high school and hazing which happens in every school.
You're a gifted writer Vinny. Just the way you explain things pulls me in and makes me want to pick up the book right away.
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