Library of Congress
By TOMAS RIOS
When sports is all about the money, every call is a chance to make a buck
Some white boy in Texas killed four people while drunk driving and wasn’t held responsible because he’s rich. There is maybe more nuance to the story than that, but what matters is that it’s yet more proof of just how bad people are at creating truth systems. Our institutions finally recognize wealth as a mental illness, but only when the wealthy need an alibi. People hardly even pretend the justice system is fair; rather it’s an exercise in constructing elaborate explanations for maintaining the status quo.
This sort of madness is why sports are so popular: Everything off the field may be unfair, but inside there are rules, and rulings that must be respected. The result you see on the field is the result at the press conference. But the epistemological ceasefire that characterized professional athletics is coming to an end. Soon enough, no one will even know what sports is.
