"Baseball is still a sport. Professional football is a cult. A whole way of life and values has grown up around it and its demands are heavy. To forego the exhibition games is to fail a loyalty test. Not to possess Redskins season tickets spells a fatal absence of status, only slightly less damaging than never being seen in the owner's box. Nobody keeps score on you at a baseball game. Come or don't come, it's up to you. You don't have to go to clinic or brunch or post-game celebration or wake. You can be a Red Sox fan and still be a free American. Baseball is what we used to be. Football is what we have become."