Children play soccer; so do adults. But even with the same equipment and general rules in place, there exists a difference extending beyond physical abilities, such as how powerful and accurate one can kick or how fast one can run. Illuminate style of play. A group of first graders play soccer absent of what we would refer to as strategy. An educated sportsmen knows that the advancement of the ball towards the opposing goal is best accomplished through the use of strategic passing systems between fixed positions. Keeper up to left midfield, back to left defender, over to right defender, over to left defender, back to keeper, up to right defender, up to center midfield, up to right striker, back to midfield – and so on like a conservative game of chess, simply waiting for the opponent to fault. For a more illustrative example catch a televised world cup match. But children play much differently. A lack of positions and passing makes for the clutter style that is associated with a children's soccer game. With everyone chasing after the ball at all times, the players maneuver more like schools of fish through open water, than knights and roukes upon a chessboard. But why?

  Many would argue that children do not know any better. That is, they are just ignorant of how successful soccer is played. Perhaps/Perhaps not. Perhaps children could care less about what classifies as 'successful'. Perhaps they would rather chase the ball, than wait for it to get passed to them. And why should they not? Because, waiting is not playing. This is both how and

  This is all to say very little about the overall infrastructure of play adults adhere to. The transformation of play into work, recreation into business, running into exercise, and of most importance for now, activity into passivity. Namely the creation and role of the spectator. For if to play is to be actively involved, nothing offers a more deceptive form than the sports entertainment complex. Statistics could do very little to better prove the obsessive behaviors and attitudes concerning the 'play' of others than the salary figures of professional athletes. And no sensation better illustrates this false sense of involvement better than the super bowl. Or the NFL in general.

  American football for adults can be summarized by quarterback ratings, rushing yards, two-minute warnings, and over-sized/dictating scoreboards. For children the sport is more about pile-ons than pylons. It is not a game so much as it is a continual reconfiguring of piles. And thus children would rather play football than watch others play- adults vice versa. This is not to discredit the jump-shooting abilities of a Larry Bird, or the golf ball driving powers of a John Daly, at least not entirely. The critique does not concern actual participants as much as the