Just as the Roman Colosseum served the political purpose of diverting the attention of citizens of the Roman Empire away from corruption and state-sponsored barbarism, so too do sports in the American Empire demand the full attention of citizens who live vicariously through their home team, and divide an otherwise unified populace against each other in symbolic warfare. Sports are meaningless. They don’t matter. Yet, more Americans are completely dedicated to these billion dollar diversions than to the unjust political processes which truly affect them. This is why Arlen Specter is more concerned with investigating destroyed football tapes than CIA interrogation tapes.