The above was not meant as a shut out. We also enjoy our local minor league baseball team. On the other hand, too many people spend more time watching than participating in all sorts of activities.

While this is great for the people who believe they own (who says the plantation system is dead) sports teams, it keeps the public from really getting the most out of these sports--participation at any but the most basic level.

Too often, if a person is not a star, they get shut out of participation and become a couch potato/spectator. This is neither healthy for the eliminatee or the culture. I would lay odds that many on this forum are amateurs (in the original sense) who did not take initial elimination from other activities as vox dei. We need more of that in the world.