• Matt Hern tackles the issues of sports from a much needed left perspective. Sports are the most significant uniting force in our culture, yet the Left has thus far shied away from engaging in this vital platform.• This book tackles the fundamental aspects that draws us to sports. Specifically the most authentic experiences we gain as athletes and fans. • High art and sports are not dissimilar, and Matt Hern shows us how the only differences fall along class and cultural lines. • Matt Hern asks us why struggle, pain and hardship hold a paramount sense of authenticity culturally. What is it about playing and watching sports that seems to engage us on a universal human level?• This book speaks not only to sports fans, but specifically to non-sports fans illustrating the importance of engaging as both an observer and a participant in the world’s greatest pass time.