Hope Solo, DWTS, and soccer officiating, part three

Arguing or fighting, from the point of view of the ancient rhetoricians or sophists, is all we do. Here is Gorgias, perhaps the greatest of the Sophists.

The philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, who suggest we find truth have it all wrong according to the sophists. There is no truth. There is no big Daddy. There is only argument. There is only competition -- often with a mask of "objective" truth.

All this academic stuff is actually what made Max's response so exciting (in a visceral way) for so many viewers.

Female viewers tend to like Max -- a lot. Monday's exchange only heightened his appeal. My wife, who has never particularly noticed Max before (like many female viewers she spends as much time looking at the female dancers as the men), responded quite positively to his defense of Hope.

I think the words were, "She [Hope] has got to feel something with a guy like that." And, in fact, even the striking and powerfully impressive Hope Solo seemed a bit more girly after this (something the judges intriguingly and disturbingly had been calling for! not sexy enough Carrie Anne keeps saying). "Max is my teammate," she crooned on last night's results show. Hope seemed downright submissive, something -- accustomed as she is to being the most dominant animal in the room -- she probably has never been in her life.

The judging, in other words, broke down to the most basic form of competition, a mano e mano dispute between two alpha males: Len and Max.

This is "my" show said Max at the end of the clip. For some this was arrogant. But what it revealed was the basic nature of singular combat laying hidden behind all the goofiness and silliness of reality TV. And it was from this "primitive" exchange that everyone quickly retreated: hosts, contestants, producers, etc. Len's co-hosts, "Carrie Anne" and the little guy, most of all. The recoil from authentic emotion -- mainly Max's -- was palpable. So was the feminine attraction -- at least for some.

Structures of refereeing, officiating, judging -- in sports and in other areas -- are set up to minimize or mask this root at all competition. Any competition can threaten to degenerate into its most basic form -- man on man battle -- at any point. And that is why respecting officials to a certain degree is important.

So: It is not that the referee or judge is perfect. Far from it. But having a referee or judge manage or limit violence is better than pure unfettered violence. Is it possible to explain all this to 11 year olds? Sure. They get it.