From Vox.

America is football.

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Why do we love football so much? Why does this sport dominate American culture in a way nothing else can? Why does it feel essential even to people who barely like sports? And what does it say about us that we keep watching, even as the risks and contradictions become harder to ignore?

Today’s guest is Chuck Klosterman, cultural critic and bestselling author, whose new book Football tries to explain the game at the height of its power. Sean and Chuck talk about how football became the defining spectacle of modern America, why it’s easily the best television show we’ve ever seen, and why it presents a ton of moral dilemmas we can’t really solve.

Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Chuck Klosterman, author of Football

00:00 Intro
00:40 This is not a love letter to football
04:17 Taylor Swift and football are America’s only monocultures
11:26 Football is chaos and control
21:04 Watching football in the stadium vs on TV
28:19 Should we let athletes do dangerous things?
43:28 Is football doomed?

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