Discusses the decline of sympathy and civility and the rise of self-absorption and meanness in U.S. culture, noting that even sports tutor incivility. The paper examines lowered expectations and the cult of authenticity in sport, and it investigates religion as a counterforce to help restructure sport and restore some sense of balance between…

Challenges physical education professionals to be realists who name the conditions around them that divide according to group identity and thus perpetuate injustice; to be radicals who work to change conditions; and to build and follow a rainbow path to a future where social justice, human rights, and the human condition are first priorities. (JB)