I half-watched team sports twice today. We got up early to go to an Irish friend’s house, to eat a full Irish breakfast and watch rugby. I no longer detest rugby with the virulence that I had growing up, when I attended a rugby-playing school in Dublin from ages 7 to 18, but I’m still not interested in the game.

This afternoon, I went to a Chinese New Year’s party, which doubled as a Superbowl party. I trans­ferred my feelings about rugby to American football when I moved here. I have many problems with football culture: the worship of jocks, rape culture, homophobia, concussion. Even if all of those could be fixed, the game itself is in­ter­minable to watch, worse even than baseball or cricket. In rugby, they play two 40-minute halves; they do not stop the clock every 30 seconds.