1) I never said it was innocent (whatever innocent means in this context).
2) It still doesn't change the fact that thousands of people are in hundreds of parking lots and stadiums every week. It is indisputably a culture.
we will be lucky to put football culture where it belongs.. alove of the game and sportsman rivalry!
HUH?!?!
We are not in disagreement about football culture...I think.
I see that there are two parallel lines:
1. Football culture—the actual games, the team rivalries, the fans loyalties including football histories, watching the games in the stadium or on TV, the tailgating,etc. etc.
and...
2. The big business of football...franchises, the stadiums and city sponsorships, TV sponsorships and televising, Endorsements, Gambling, donations to colleges’ football program etc. this business aspect of football has removed it from an era when the “business” of football just wasn’t THAt powerful or pervasive.
My point was that once a “team’ enters the arena, even if its college, it is now involved in Big Business..although college teams are inextricably (sp?) tied to the Big Business of Football and the consequences of bad behavior is now more significant.