Theodore Dalrymple, I'm happy to learn, is as baffled by the enormous appeal of sports as I am. Even as a kid I recognized there was something suspect about taking pleasure in chasing a ball or trying to hit one with a stick, or watching others who were doing so. The first time I met William Gaddis, an English professor was gushing about a novel devoted to baseball. Gaddis shook his head and muttered, "Fucking morons." In his latest "Global Warning" column in The Spectator, Dalrymple writes:
"Since my youth, I have developed a visceral distaste for sport, not as an activity for amateurs, but as a spectacle that occupies the thoughts, raises the hopes and stimulates the emotions of millions. I try to understand why it does so, but try as I might, I cannot."
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Perhaps Dr. Daniels could begin to find an answer to his question in Johan Huizinga's "Homo Ludens".
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