Its hard to say whether or not people's interest in sport overshadows their interest in politics, because I think it varies throughout age groups. I'd imagine that younger groups of people, whether they participate in sport or not, would in fact care more about sporting news or music then they would about politics because at least for now since my parents are still helping me out a lot of what is being done with social security, unemployment, mortgages, and healthcare isn't going to directly affect me for a while. I also think what draws people in to sports over politics is the accesibility of sports in terms of participation and viewing. We can watch a sporting match on live television and it is usually very interesting and full of exciting images or action to keep our attention, but turning to CSPAN to catch some coverage of congress proposing a budget will in my opinion lack the excitement of action sports. I don't know how to specically define politics, but it involves a lot of closed quarters meetings, paperwork, arguments and compromise that I think lack the visual and general entertainment that you can get from following a sport or watching it live on television. I guess another thing to point out is the fact that there is diversity in sport in that whites, African Americans, Asians, Latinos etc. of all different socioeconomic backgrounds can participate or play a sport be it profesionally or on the playground. Most politicians are white wealthy men with elitist connections, and it takes money, sometimes millions, to run in a local, state, or national election which I think limits developing an intrest or participating in politics for certain groups of people. I don't think that the sporting world is a place free of politics, and I think that politicians and people of power have long known how to work the two.