Orwell was wrong. Sports are not "war without the shooting," nor are they "war by other means." To be sure sports have generated animosity throughout human history, but they also require rules to which the participants agree to abide before the contest. Among other things, those rules are supposed to limit violence, even death. More than anything else, sports have been a significant part of a historical "civilizing process." They are the opposite of war.
As the historical profession has taken its cultural turn over the last few decades, scholars have turned their attention to subject once...