On the eve of the crass commercial spectacle that is the Super Bowl, here’s a thoughtful piece on what’s good about sports in America: It’s the only force in culture that unites nearly everyone. There is elitism, but it’s what the author calls an egalitarian kind of elitism: Athletically speaking, we are all equally inferior to great athletes like Aaron Rodgers and Troy Polomalu, for example, and that fact doesn’t bother any of us.
The achievement of the sports culture in America is that it permits a clear recognition that some people are better than others—elitism—without producing a cultural divide between those who can truly appreciate it and those who cannot. Everyone, rich and poor, intellectual and uneducated, can appreciate the achievement of elite athletes: Everyone is equal compared with Aaron Rodgers and Troy Polomalu. Even more, everyone is equal in front of the TV.
Maybe so, but it’s boring to some of us!
I’m not the biggest fan, myself. But I did watch it without any rooting interest.