>who plays baseball anyway?
> most of the known universe, excepting the EU and Africa, it seems.

Only joking, honest. Interesting, for all our immersion in all things American (McDonalds, Burger King, TGI Fridays, Friends, The Simpsons, ER, Hollywood, GAP, US Politics ....) we really don't get much US sport on terrestrial TV (which, despite burgeoning satellite channels, tends to be the sport discussed in the pub). I wonder why, given the huge success of other exports.

Maybe there are not enough slots to cover the main sporting events of Europe (endless football, rugby, horse racing, Grand Prix formula one racing, tennis, athletics, golf, boxing, show jumping, I've probably missed a few). Outside major events like the Olympics, the main overlaps are tennis, boxing and golf, I think. Mohammed Ali, Billie Jean King and Tiger Woods are as big here as I assume they are/were in the states.

I suppose that it is relatively difficult and expensive to transport horses routinely for horse races (I know that they have to do it for the Olympics) but I don't think that they show US horse races, do you get horse races from Europe? So, whilst I know that the Kentucky Derby exists, I've never seen a race. I know that Nigel Mansell moved from Formula One to Indy car racing but I don't really know what an "Indy Car" is - is it a type of car or a type of circuit? I ever seen more than five minutes of a baseball or American football game but then I don't watch much cricket or rugby either. I wonder what sport from other countries is routinely shown elsewere?

I suppose that television shows sport to its existing supporter base. Here, football fans expect to see their teams - Manchester United, Celtic, whatever in the same way that an Australian might want to see Melbourne play cricket. I think that Channel Four shows some baseball late at night and satellite TV seems to have endless sporting channels, including all the minority sports that used to complain about their lack of coverage.

I wonder if, as communications grow and people are able to choose what they watch on an individual basis from a huge number of channels our sporting worlds will merge more as has happened with our cultural worlds (theatre, cinema, TV) or will sport remain local, part of society's ritualisation of our tribal roots.