Section VII- Chapter 4 159-180 Summary and Analysis

The first essay in this section is entitled "Sports Chatter". Eco opens with the remark that it would be easier to have a protest in a church than a football field. He continues by suggesting that sports is a form of "chatter" that serves to distract and create wasteful talk with no actual purpose or value. He suggests that sports have a definitive healthy purpose, among them the channeling of aggressive drives.

Eco draws parallels between sports and his previous essay on culture. Sports have become a kind of performance and thus lost some vital essence. The watchers of the sport may expend some energy in the excitement of watching, but they are not gaining mastery of any elements the way the players are. Eco suggests it becomes further removed by the sports press. Now...