"Biggie, get a job!" Why?

Anyone following the Zeeshan Sports League would be aware of its veteran player, Biggie. While there are kids such as Hasnain, Cute Boy Ali, Azam, Sabir, Daniel, Assad Ronaldo; teenagers such as Cool Boy, Omar, Muzammil, Mr. Greedy and Little Biggie; and perhaps young men like JD and Kaku, the veteran player in his late 30s or early 40s is the only one in his age group. 

This evidently makes Biggie stand out, and while he has been a passionate competitor, he has also been a very fair player, adding value to this league. However, what is disappointing is that in any game where Biggie is involved, all we need to do is open the comments, and we are loaded with variations of the same message which could be loosely paraphrased as, “Biggie, please get a job’. My question is, why?

Biggie (left) competing against the greatest of all time, Mr. Greedy

I find the remark problematic at two levels, the first is factual and the next is the larger social context. Factually speaking, it is not unusual for any player to be significantly older than the average, unless it is a competition meant for a specific age category (and Zeeshan Sports League is not one such competition). To put this into perspective, the average age of a professional male footballer is 26. However, the Portuguese legend, Cristiano Ronaldo (after whom the Zeeshan Sports League player Assad is named) is still playing and is 41 years old. The 2026 World Cup Quarterfinal between Portugal and Spain involved Ronaldo playing against Lamine Yamal, the latter of whom was not even born when Ronaldo made his international debut. Does anyone insist on Cristiano Ronaldo to go and “get a job”? No, and that would be a ridiculous thing to say as well, as playing football is his job. Likewise, Biggie’s job is to play in the league and be a content creator. 

With that out of the way, I would come to the more important social issue that I wish to tackle, which is ageism and patriarchy – where people at certain points in their life are expected to be in certain “jobs”, real jobs as they call it. It is a yesteryear expectation that in Biggie’s case, a cis man, is to be doing “something else” and if he chooses to tread off the beaten track, he becomes and object of mockery and ridicule. It went to the extent where Zeeshan had to upload videos of Biggie being in “mainstream jobs” as well, working as a construction helper, making organic butter, and also working as a fruit picker. Despite this, the rude comments did not end, and often led to the next problem of classist comments as well, as these were not considered “real jobs” either despite them needing very hard labour. Finally, Zeeshan had to create a poll asking for Biggie’s permanent suspension. Fortunately, better sense prevailed and he was retained. 

The larger question is, why is it that a person who is not harming anyone doing something that they enjoy, be still judged and attacked? This attitude of the society needs to change – the only time it could be an issue is where Biggie not having a job of your expectation is personally affecting you in which case the parties involved can discuss. Otherwise, the rest ought to mind their own business. 

Anyway, for the OG fans, Biggie is an integral part of the league, and it would not be the same if not for his presence. It needs to be reiterated that this is his job. 

Cheers to Biggie for staying and not relenting to the social media hate!

Have nice day,
Anirudh