While this will probably leave me hanging on a meathook somewhere, I would offer the thought that the obsession with commercially organized sports events which characterizes both the American idiot-fan and the British hooligan-fan and the Argentinian soccer-bozo is no more a significant part of one's culture than cigarette brands or Saturday cartoons, in any real, organic sense.

Rather, they are a debased, hollow substitute for the actual ideas and values and communications that make up the real living strength of a culture. It is not that physical excellence is not part of human cultures, but modern _commercial_ fandom as "culture" is like comparing human history with Disney's feature-length cartoon stories.

A