The Days Of My Youth I Remember

The Practice Of Our Democracy Depends On A Sense Of, And Knowledge Of, History In The Same Way That Playing In The World Series Requires A Bat And A Ball.

What Kind Of People Do We Wish To Become, And How Do We Know An American When We See One? Is It Possible To Pursue A Common Purpose Without A Common History Or A Standard Text?

Whether Lawyer, Politician Or Executive, The American Who Knows What's Good For His Career Seeks An Institutional Rather Than An Individual Identity. He Becomes The Man From Nbc Or Ibm. The Institutional Imprint Furnishes Him With Pension, Meaning, Proofs Of Existence. A Man Without A Company Name Is A Man Without A Country.

Except In A Few Well-publicized Instances (enough To Lend Credence To The Iconography Painted On The Walls Of The Media), The Rigorous Practice Of Rugged Individualism Usually Leads To Poverty, Ostracism And Disgrace. The Rugged Individualist Is Too Often Mistaken For The Misfit, The Maverick, The Spoilsport, The Sore Thumb.

Unlike Any Other Business In The United States, Sports Must Preserve An Illusion Of Perfect Innocence. The Mounting Of This Illusion Defines The Purpose And Accounts For The Immense Wealth Of American Sports. It Is The Ceremony Of Innocence That The Fans Pay To See - Not The Game Or The Match Or The Bout, But The Ritual Portrayal Of A World In Which Time Stops And All Hope Remains Plausible, In Which Everybody Present Can Recover The Blameless Expectations Of A Child, Where The Forces Of Light Always Triumph Over The Powers Of Darkness.