Perspective: Why we watch

Earlier this week, as we covered the crisis of confidence in a stunning array of sports, one commentator we linked asked the most basic question: Why should we watch?

The answer came a day later from the most unlikely of places.

The Iraqi national soccer teams’s big win against South Korea in an Asia Cup semifinal match sent fans pouring “into the streets in a paroxysm of good feeling and unity not seen in years,” our correspondent wrote. Unlike the street celebrations after Baghdad fell, no one doubted that the jubilation was authentic.

This was sport, not politics.

Read the rest at the NY Times