Sports and the sacred

A reader wrote to respond to my suggestion that high culture is “sacred” and pop culture “profane,” citing the example of sports. Here’s my response: A football game often is a quasi-religious experience, but I’m not sure we use the same language to describe it. If someone slashed da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” it would be described as a “desecration” or “sacrilege”; if someone tears up a Seahawks banner or jersy, it would be provocative but I’m not sure it would be described in terms of a violation of the sacred.

Another example: After a stirring play in the theater, the crowd doesn’t rush the stage; there’s a boundary that cannot be crossed. After a football game, the fans all rush onto the playing field; it’s not holy ground, and there aren’t taboos against trampling on it.