What makes a game that still provokes controversies - with its violent, darker side that almost got it banned in its earliest days - continue to captivate the popular imagination and power a multibillion-dollar, media-driven industry? How can postmodernist theory be thought of in practical enough terms to explain commercial football? In this story of sociological insights and theoretical analysis, heroes and anti-heroes, yesterday and today, actual game and mediated game, wholesome warriors and beer-drinking womanizers, Kerr shows how the study of both sports media and critical theory can provide innovative but practical insights into both.
