The sporting spirit体育的精神
I am always (amaze) when I hear people (say) that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield．Even if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.
Nearly all the sports practiced nowadays are competitive．You play to win, and the game has little (mean)unless you do your utmost to win．On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible (play) simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused．Anyone has played even in a school football match knows this．At the international level, sport is frankly mimic warfare．But the significant thing is not the behavior of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and ( serious) believe --- at any rate for short periods --- that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of ( nation)virtue.
