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DIRECTIONS The essay gives you an opportunity to show how effectively you can read andcomprehend a passage and write an essay analyzing the passage. In your essay, you shoulddemonstrate that you have read the passage carefully, present a clear and logical analysis, anduse language precisely. Your essay must be written on the lines provided in your answer booklet;except for the Planning Page of the answer booklet, you will receive no other paper on which towrite. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep yourhandwriting to a reasonable size. Remember that people who are not familiar with yourhandwriting will read what you write. Try to write or print so that what you are writing is legibleto those readers. You have 50 minutes to read the passage and write an essay in response to theprompt provided inside this booklet.

Prompt

As you read the passage below, consider how Jesse Hicks uses

? evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.

? reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.

? stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add powerto the ideas expressed.

“Probing Question: Is football similar to Roman gladiator games?” by Jesse HicksOriginally Published in Penn State News Online, September 14, 2009

On six more Saturdays between now and mid-November, a caravan of pilgrims will arrive at UniversityPark, Pennsylvania. Many will sport outlandishly colorful attire. Some will appear days beforehand andlive in tents, setting up camp outside Beaver Stadium. And on game day, as many as 107,000 fans willcrowd into one of the largest stadiums in North America. Still more will feast and imbibe from theirvehicles—a modern ritual called “tailgating,” while listening to the thunderous roar of the crowd inside.Beneath the carnival atmosphere lies the fact these fans have gathered to watch young men hit and bruiseone another—a violent spectacle that is one of America’s favorite pastimes. Given its nature and itsprominent position in our culture, is football the Roman gladiator sport for modern Americans?American football has many similarities with gladiator games, says Garrett Fagan, associate professor ofClassics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and History at Penn State. Most obviously, both involvespectacular, violent displays before a massive, cheering audience. Fans choose sides and strongly identifywith their team—just as Roman citizens cheered their favorite gladiators in combat. Do these superficialsimilarities suggest a deeper connection?Fagan thinks so. Media mogul Ted Turner once called sports “war without the killing,” and, as Fagan seesit, football is rather like gladiatorial combat without the killing. The psychological lure remains much thesame, he says. Large-scale sporting events create intense bonds among fans, provoking feelings ofbelonging, validation and camaraderie. Individuals feel part of a greater whole, and they feel empowered.”This is a very powerful emotional experience,” Fagan says. “This is one of the draws that brings peopleto these mass events. That would be true of Romans as much as modern Americans.” Fans often come tothe stadium simply to feel a part of the crowd—107,000 strong.A psychological connection between the Roman Colosseum and Beaver Stadium might make somereaders queasy. After all, the values of ancient Rome and modern America are worlds apart. Faganacknowledges this key distinction. “We value individual lives and believe they all have worth. TheRomans had a completely different view of human beings, which was that there were people who wereworthless: there were slaves, who were the walking dead as far as the Romans were concerned.” To theRoman spectators, gladiators’ lives were only as valuable as the entertainment they could provide.

In addition to psychological factors, the similarities between gladiator battles and football games mayextend into the physical. We know that gladiator injuries could range from dismemberment to death. Eventhough football games are far less severe, long term injuries sustained in football are concerning to many.Several studies have linked chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) to suicidal behavior, dementia anddeclines in memory, executive function and mood. Professional athletes may be at higher risk for CTEbecause of their high likelihood for concussions and other traumatic brain injuries; up to 3.8 millionsports-related concussions occur in the United States each year. In 2016, a health official with the NFLacknowledged the link between football and CTE for the first time.The distance between the Roman gladiator arena and the modern American football stadium is not as faras we might think or wish, says Fagan. Even today, he says, “I suspect if we staged a gladiator spectacleand we picked the right constituency to staff it—people who are commonly regarded by society asexpendable, such as death row inmates—I think we could fill Beaver Stadium.”

Write an essay in which you explain how Jesse Hicks builds an argument to persuade his audience thatfootball is similar to Roman gladiator games. In your essay, analyze how Hicks uses one or more ofthe features in the directions that precede the passage (or features of your own choice) to strengthen thelogic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevantfeatures of the passage. Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Hicks’ claims, butrather explain how Hicks builds an argument to persuade his audience.