Psyche and Sports

Sport has a powerful collective appeal--athletic events can draw audiences that number millions, vastly exceeding other displays of skill and probably rivaling participation in organized religion in audience appeal and meaning. But sports also have important meaning for individuals. People require play and derive much satisfaction from it even while feeling embarrassed about being as obsessed with it as we are. The essays here look at a variety of sports from the collective, mythical side and in terms of the psychological impact of individual experience, from the viewpoints of both spectators and players, in a collection that spans the history and universality of the human psyche at play.