Reading advanced

Reading unit 9

Read

I don't discuss sports. For most men, talking sports is as basic and natural a transaction as watching TV or going to the toilet. I only wish I could be involved in the dime-store philosophizing, the displays of technical sophistication, the vicarious passions of virtuosity, victory and defeat. There is a sense of belonging that better men than I have long embraced but I can't help it; when talk turns to the most fundamental bond of our fraternity, my overwhelming response is tedium.

Fill in the Blanks

Why do men talk about sport so much, according to the writer?

I only wish I could be involved in the dime-store philosophizing, the displays of technical sophistication, the vicarious passions of virtuosity, victory and defeat. There is a sense of belonging that better men than I have long embraced but I can't help it; when talk turns to the most fundamental bond of our fraternity, my overwhelming response is tedium

Fill in the Blanks

How does the writer deal with his lack of interest in sport when with other men?

When I can, I pretend knowledgeability to head off embarrassing silences and spare others discomfort. When that fails, I diffidently explain that I don't follow the activity under examination.

Fill in the Blanks

How does the writer deal with his lack of interest in sport when with other men?

I go to a baseball game every other year or two, after all, and if necessary I can even admire the athletes' prowess in the final minutes of a basketball playoff. Call me stubborn in my refusal to get interested, but I have better things to do with my leisure than surrender it to the commercialized, banally competitive, jargon-ridden, overexposed, overbearing domination that sports exercises over our culture.

Fill in the Blanks

What are the writer's criticisms of sport?