Prologue: Kick Offs

Abstract

Prologue, “Kick Offs,” establishes the parameters for Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González’s conversación de sobremesa—a tradition in Latino culture of discussing subjects in great detail and at great length after dinner. They begin by juxtaposing their own autobiographical experience with lucid cultural analysis of Latinos in pro football leagues—and not fútbol as in soccer. They offer a hermeneutical approach that seeks to assign meaning to the material and intellectual culture of Latinos in the NFL; they establish their approach to assess and assert the value and importance of the struggles and victories experienced by the significant yet oft-overlooked presence of Latinos in the history of pro football.