The Egalitarian Super Bowl

The widespread attraction to sports at every social level provides a uniquely egalitarian way of resisting what Tocqueville warned would become a soft despotism. There is nothing else in the country today that can act as a common language between the boardroom and the bingo hall, the classroom and the union hall. Sports, and most importantly talking about sports, is the only activity just about all Americans share regardless of age, education, or wealth. When the electrician shows up at the doctor’s house they can always talk about one of the local teams. This is not as often the case in other countries where interest in sports is closely associated with class.