Napoleon Chagnon and Real Yanomamo in the News: The First of Several Book "Reviews"

There is a new book out by former PSU Professor and somewhat-favorite of many in our group, Napoleon Chagnon.  He was the author of Yanomamo:The Fierce People and a subject of many tough courses in Anthropology at Dear Old State when he was a professor in the 70's. He is also the subject of an extensive article in the NYT.  Yes, I sometimes read "The Gray Lady"!

The new book is a reply to the withering criticism and accusations of malfeasance and worse leveled by others in the academic world in the book Darkness in El Dorado. He stood accused of fomenting the violence he reported and of fabricating data, among even worse things by journalist and author Patrick Tierney.  Chagnon has been mostly cleared of these things since the 2000 publication of Tierney's work.  He answers the criticisms well in his newest book Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes - The Yanomamo and the Anthropologists.   (NYT Review Here.)
It's worth a look, especially among those of us distance runners who mimicked the tribe's choice of clothing on many a long run through the woods in those carefree days before political correctness swallowed us whole. 

An Additional Food Review! 

The newest sauce at Burger King is Kung Pao, and you know how I feel about that.  It's waaaaay too sweet, but does provide a little bit of the flavor that rules the world for those who never venture into a Chinese Restaurant.

Some People Are in Need of Singlets!

Actually, not these people!  That's Owen Dawson, Kyle Dawson and Hunter Backenstose (possibly Yanomamo son of Tim Backenstose) celebrating some canoe race triumphs.  The Fierce People are noted for their aquatic skills.

But the people I'm talking about are the 4 Nittany Lion-related Olympians heading to London in 3 weeks.  Mark Hawkins seems to think we should get some Alumni Singlets made up for all of them as a way to promote our Group and spread the word on PSU Track, "The Beast of the East".  I'm in firm agreement with him and will gladly help fund some of them. 

If anyone out there has the will and the means to support our effort, send a little donation to help defray the costs.  I would even like to expand the scope to include past Olympians too, but let's just take one step at a time!

They Were Thwarted In Their Effort To Be Last

9)   Larry Mangan, Tim Backenstose, Hunter Backenstose, Mark Hawkins (+10)

Ten-over par should normally accomplish the goal of being last in the tournament, but the inability of the favorites to finish the round gave ninth place to this hopeful quartet.

Tim Backenstose brought his son Hunter Backenstose along to increase the average height of the golfers present.  It's good to have second generation Yanomamo present!

Mark Hawkins wowed the crowd before the start with his putting prowess, but apparently that didn't translate into the actual 18-hole round.

Group Officer Larry Mangan also braved the ideal golfing conditions to see if he could somehow finish in the back of the pack.  In our running days, Larry was never in the back of the pack at the end of a workout.  There were many duels on the last of 12 quarters between him and Gary Black. I got to watch a lot of them from near the rear!
 

A Day on the Bay with Captain Tim

Our international contingent of PSU Track Alumni Golfers spent the day in the capable hands of Captain Tim of the famed Yanomamo Tribe.  Cruising the northern reaches of the vast Chesapeake Bay in the renamed "Liberator" was remarkably enjoyable for even this landlubber.We lunched in Chesapeake City, noted for their intricate attention to the safety and well-being of all of their patrons!  "Slip into a slip, slip into the Tiki Bar, sip a few too many, slip onto the floor and get slipped back into your boat" seems to be the motto among the nautical set.  Not really much different from college, but the tuition must be far steeper!

Along for the ride with Tim Backenstose were "Ambassador" Jim Clelland, Cruise Comedian Larry Mangan, and  2 International Espionage Agents  (Gary "0013" Black and  Johannes "The Austrian").

We cruised back to home base at speeds exceeding 30 knots (or whatever Tim said!), so we could make it back to the Yanomamo Villiage Long House to view the PSU/Alabama Game.  We should have stayed at the Tiki Bar even though we were noted to be "older men" by the women still vertical at 3:00 PM. 

Here's two videos of our cruise:

Major Change in Results Noted!

An informal protest of the rules has been received at Headquarters of Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golf. An infraction involving the dress code has been made by those who normally wear none! The Fierce People have pointed out that by wearing the Official Group's t-shirt in the tourney, Brian Boyer violated the rules of The Elks Club! Collars are normally necessary.

In an emergency meeting of the Rules Committee, along with a thorough reading of the Queensbury Rules, consensus was reached that the winning foursome will stand. However, the 9th place Yanomamo Group will now be awarded the 8th place in our tourney, just behind the two teams in 7th. In an effort to encourage continued participation by the tribe, additional wrist bands and possibly t-shirts will be awarded. ($24 worth of beads were considered.) We hope to dissuade a war at next year's tourney; a war we could not win. Mud Men are some of the fiercest and most relentless warriors the world has known, just look it up.

Yanomamo Nearly Take Over Tournament

When I relented and allowed a foursome to enter the tournament for the first time in the history of our event, I had no idea what forces I had unleashed. I first garnered the scorn of Founder and Keeper of the Beer, Clark Haley. My 2 yearly beers (one on Friday night and another after the first 9 holes of the tournament! Kelly O'Brien can verify) were placed in jeopardy. Only when the organizers realized how many extra entries it caused was my alcoholic allotment restored.

The Yanomamo foursome of Tim Backenstose, Campbell Lovett, Dave Spears and Bob Snyder ended up last in our tourney, but then golf isn't the best sporting outlet of The Fierce People. It is also their rainy season, making them underestimate the speed of the greens. Golfing with bows and arrows is also notoriously difficult.

It turns out that their were many more Yanomamo there than just this foursome. Three second generation tribesmen also joined us; Hunter Backenstose, Nate Lovett and Chris Snyder. I'm not positive about the status of Ian Smith or Seth Balkey, two other second generation participants. There is probably Yanomamo blood coursing in their veins too.

It also became apparent that I shared my foursome with 2 other Yanomamo adherents. Doug Kent and Kelly O'Brien have credentials that may even exceed the other foursome. Kelly was even there at the beginning of the Mifflin Mile (or what ever its called). There may even be a record of this with the campus police!

The Big Tent that is Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golf can easily accept any crazy group Penn State Track has ever accomadated, EVEN FROM THE NINETIES AND 00's!!

And I swear, Results will be coming some time soon! My day job isn't allowing me to blog according to my wishes. And Harry Smith needs to supply me with them, as my muddled intellect will mess them up, causing The Blog Laureate to berate me.

PSU is 800 U: PSU Women Reign Again!

Fawn Dorr anchored the 4 X 400 M Relay to a 3rd place finish at the Big Ten Championships on Sunday, one position ahead of Michigan to gain one point in the final standings. As they were less than a point behind Michigan for the lead before the last event, that gave them the victory by less than one point. Congrats on a team victory girls, (am I allowed to call them that?).

Ryan Foster again triumphed in the competitive 800 M, with Owen Dawson and Lionel Williams placing 3rd and 4th. That makes PSU, 800 U for sure! The Men (or boys to keep it consistent!) finished in 5th place.

Addendum: Brian Laird has finally succumbed and will increase our proper golf attire ratio substantially. Chris Snyder also signed up bringing our total number of Yanomamo to 8! The Fierce People are not known for golf, however. Read the earlier post on the Yanomamo Here.

Steve Guttenberg Joins Yanomamo Tribe

An avid jogger, Steve runs Central Park every day. He's in very good shape for a 50 year old actor. Apparently he's a fan of Napoleon Chagnon and the Yanomamo of South America. I'm thinking of inviting him to our next golf outing, I think he also golfs occasionally. Addendum: Steve is a good, frequent golfer! We need to get contact info, he simply belongs in Happy Valley, golfing with kinsmen.

Update: I emailed the "Goot" the following screed:

Watching your recent jogging video, I was struck how you obviously belong as an honorary member of the Penn State Track Alumni. A tradition back in the great(?) 70's was to run as far as we could on our training runs without pants. (The pants were to be worn as a head dress). This was originally inspired by attendance in Napoleon Chagnon's anthropology classes concerning the Yanomamo tribes of South America.

Several of us decided to invite you as our special guest next year at The 8th Annual Coach Groves Golf Tournament. We picked you ahead of the current CEO of Nike, Inc. even though we used to run with him! Any reply would tickle us beyond belief, actually coming to golf with us would be monumental. Check out our web site for any details, your video is currently prominently on display.



Warning: Nudity, although blurred and safe for work, is present in the following film.

Yanomamo in Happy Valley:

Napoleon Chagnon devoted a significant portion of his life to the study of the Yanomamo of the Amazon Rain Forests of Venezuela and Brazil. Many of us were exposed to their culture in Antropology classes. It can now be revealed that Dr. Chagnon brought several Yanomamo back with him to Happy Valley beginning in 1977.
With their culture in dissarray they naturally gravitated to comfortable settings. YES, that means the Cross-Country and Track teams. Many teammates never realized the origins of the men running next to them. Several of the South American natives actually excelled, even winning Marathons associated with large Relay Carnivals. Some later became Men of God in New England and even Lawyers in Suburban Philadelphia. There were many sightings of naked runners throughout Central Pennsylvania in the late 70's, wearing what appeared to be blue shorts on their heads. "Mud Men" appeared numerous times, a precursor to a war that luckily never materialized. In later years, the Yanomamo appear to have adopted a more peaceful aquatic lifestyle, channeling their origins along the Amazon River. Never mess with a Yanomamo, especially when in their "Mud Men" garb. They aren't called "The Fierce People" for nothing. (The flagship "Yanomamo" actually hosted Coach Groves on at least one occasion.) New photo added, showing starting line of Cross-Country race on the Blue Course, circa 1978. Note the large number of Yanomamo in full "Mud Men" warfare mode. PSU won the meet handily, as the opponents never returned after the first loop.

Anyone else remember the Yanomamo?