Karl Marx said that “religion is the opium of the people”, and I used to be inclined to agree with him. Today, though, I think we need to edit his phrase to read:

professional sports is the opium of the people.

I can’t claim credit for the idea. I first heard Noam Chomsky say something similar in an interview. But I think he’s got the right idea. You know, keep them too busy working their butts off at underpaid jobs, then give them a Gladiator show in the Forum on the weekend, and you keep the plebs satisfied and too busy to think about politics. Oh wait, did I say Gladiator show in the Forum? I meant football game at the stadium. Sorry. Wrong empire.

It hit me again full-force last Monday morning as I listened to the news. When the sports news came on, the lead story was, of course, the Grey Cup. Lots of crazy cheering Roughriders fans, and two grown men from Winnipeg, weeping because their team lost.

Weeping!

Because a team (that they don’t play for, coach, or manage, incidentally) lost a game. A game! Grown men weeping!

And then I wondered, how many of these people voted in the last election? Well, thanks to the marvel of the internet, I can tell you. Check out these numbers:

52,230 people attended the Grey Cup game in Toronto. Many of them traveled from Winnipeg (or other parts of Manitoba) and Saskatchewan to be there.

And of 450,000 registered voters in Winnipeg, 90,000 voted 2005 civic election. That’s not even double the number of people at the (just about sold out) Grey Cup game. It is also, sickeningly, only twenty percent voter turnout.

And that’s what’s wrong with our country.