Summary: <p>Football’s “aesthetic” is mutable and unsatisfying because a team can decide to sit on its heels, “protecting” the lead, but inviting its inevitable demise. A full expression of football’s aesthetic–regardless of state-of-the-art safety equipment–results in broken bones and broken brains. Baseball’s aesthetic is stable, and craftily contains the game’s action, whether hyper or docile, which is much to the observer’s satisfaction. It contains its violence to inanimate objects: ball to bat, ball to glove, foot to base. Take that and suck it football!</p>
