Demagogue

I wrote a while back about how much I like rubgy, despite the classist roots that still influence the sport today. I'm also a dyed-in-the-wool Red Sox fan, which isn't quite as bad as in the days when Abbie Hoffman noted how many lefties (including himself) supported an organization owned by that old racist Tom Yawkey. And don't get me started on the retrograde N.F.L., or on the homophobia that pervades most men's team sports (and the fear among administrators of women's sports that the "girls" will "act like" the lesbians that some of them are). The International Olympic Committee is simply unspeakable, and has been since the modern Games were instituted more than a century ago.

Then there's sumo, which I grew to love when I lived in Japan, to the extent that I subscribed to a sumo magazine for several years after I had returned to the U.S.

I think sports is a guilty pleasure for a liberal. Not athletic activity--there's no problem with liberals' playing sports. But spending money and a bit of your heart on professional teams and leagues that are slightly to the left of Attila the Hun is a bit uncomfortable.