Sport, ethics and philosophy; context, history, prospects

Societies and journals of applied philosophy abound these days. Any newcomer tothe field of philosophy of sport might experience a certain, though misplaced, surprise.How can it be that social practices such as sports, stereotypical havens for unreflectivephysical action, could generate genuine philosophical interest? To what extent is thisscepticism well founded? Is it mere prejudice?When one considers the cultural practices that to a greater or lesser degree form thecontours of modern living, it is undeniably true that sport is evident. Some might even goas far to say that its reach is ubiquitous. The idea that sports might not be of particularinterest to the intellectually curious should in part be assuaged by the following statistics:the Winter Olympics of 2002 in Salt Lake City, USA, were broadcast by a total of 160countries, and the summer games in Athens 2004 accumulated 34.4 billion total viewinghours by spectators,