The modern age supplies sports and suds. The halftime shows of major athletic events often resemble pop-rock extravaganzas. The acts are likely to be several seasons past their headliner days, but the leagues are striving to swing. Diversionary tactics aren't limited to built-in breaks in the action. Teevee, of course, interrupts the flow for the commercials that make the broadcasts possible.
Scoreboards flash messages to pump up the crowd.
The home team sponsors contests for shooting free throws or firing a hockey puck through a two-inch hole. The winner gets coveted ducats to a game against the Los Angeles Clippers or the Iranian national squad. A run for a six-yard gain will be analyzed and parsed with more intensity than the scholarly study applied to the less accessible passages of James Joyce. Campus deconstructionists thought they had broken new literary ground, but the critics in booths high above midfield or behind home plate had been deconstructing the basics long before the academy fell for the fad. According to a popular joke, a fan went to a boxing match - and a hockey game broke out.