This is a note to myself. It would be interesting to learn something about the modern history of spectator sports. When was the first stadium erected? Was it in Britain? You would need leisure; or would you? It likely would have been America that led the way.
Does bullfighting have a continuous link back to the Roman Coliseum? I think so, but it would be interesting to find out.
My thesis is that some types of sports–most obviously bullfighting, but to a lesser extent things like boxing, wrestling, and even football–are sacrificial. We want to share, as a group, in someone else’s suffering. It is a sort of minimized martial impulse.
There is also a tribal element, an element of identity. If you are a Red Sox, or Yankees fan, it is an important part of your self understanding; yet, you control and influence nothing.
The role of sports in our culture is quite obvious, and in my view important from a mythical perspective.
Bon mot: you only get to keep the myths you cannot recognize as such. (is that true? Not true? Partly true in some times and places? Indeterminate since poorly defined?)