Modern societies deny men and women the experience of solidarity, which football provides to the point of collective delirium. Most car mechanics ans shop assistants feel shut out by high culture; but once a week they bear witness to display of sublime artistry by men for whom the word genius is sometimes no mere hype. Like a jazz band or drama company, football blends dazzling individual talent with selfless teamwork, thus solving a problem over which sociologists have long agonized. Cooperation and competition are cunningly balanced. Blind loyalty and internecine rivalry gratify some of our most powerful evolutionary instincts. The game also mixes glamour with ordinariness in suvtle proportion: players are hero- worshipped, but one reason you revere them is because they are alter egos,who could easily be you.