To those of us who watch, the game is like going to the movies. No one ever dies unless the screenwriter says so. But, in real life, the MRI pings and blips, and life ebbs and flows in real time, meting out consequences we neither feel nor see. We just watch the highlights on "SportsCenter" and bemoan the loss of one of our fantasy football units.
Should football, hockey, soccer, boxing or NASCAR be banned? Arguably not, but our lust for and anticipation of disaster seems insatiably titillating, and our willingness to pay for the chance to see it up close and personal excises a portion of gentility from our collective souls.
In the end, we get what we are willing to pay for. We cast our most effective ballots with our checkbooks. It says volumes about who we really are and about whom we are becoming.
An unabashed fan of outdoor humorist Patrick F. McManus, Ed Smith is a freelance writer, golfer and fly fisherman. He resides in West Bountiful.
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