what is sport?

Near the top of what is admittedly a behemoth xmas list (can Santa bring me a new, virgin planet not ravaged by homo sapiens, and will it fit in my stocking?), is the 'attractively slim' (TLS's words, not mine) 'What Is Sport' by number one diamond critical theorist Roland "the Rat" Barthes.

Here's a quotation/ gloss: Football (which Barthes came to the mystical land of Angles to experience), with the centrality in the flow of the game of the crowd's participation, creates a spectacle that provides us with "knowledge of our own passions".

A good bit of aesthetic badminton over sport/ art which I missed at the time.