{"id":20847,"date":"1992-02-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1992-02-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nybooks.wpengine.com\/"},"modified":"2022-02-17T12:24:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T17:24:35","slug":"the-cruelest-sport_1992-02-13","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/1992\/02\/13\/the-cruelest-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cruelest Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul?\nAnd if the body were not the soul, what is th<div class=\"leaky_paywall_message_wrap\"><div id=\"leaky_paywall_message\">\t<div class=\"paywall\" id=\"paywall-a\">\n\t\t<div class=\"fadeout\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"paywall-content text-center pb-xs-14\">\n\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\tloading=\"lazy\"\n\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=200\"\n\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=200 200w, https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=400 400w\"\n\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 200px, 400px\"\n\t\t\t\talt=\"New York Review in various formats\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"paywall-img mb-xs-3\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-20 text-lg-30 mb-xs-1 color-ny-red font-giza\">Continue reading <br\/>for just $1.00 per issue!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-16 mb-xs-2\">Choose a Digital subscription or our best deal \u2013 All Access \u2013 that includes print and digital issues, full archive access, and the NYR App!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.nybooks.com\/ecom\/nyb\/app\/live\/subscriptions?org=NYB&publ=NY&key_code=EPMXM01&type=S\" class=\"button font-giza bg-ny-red color-white hover-text-white hover-expand sign-in-subscribe text-xs-16 mb-xs-3 paywall-offer\"><span>View Offers<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t<hr class=\"mt-xs-0 mb-xs-3\"\/>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-16 mb-xs-2\">Or\u00a0register\u00a0for a free account to read just this article. <a href=\"\/account\/register\/?level_id=0\" id=\"register\">Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-label color-gray mb-0\">Already a subscriber? <a href=\"\/account\/signin\/\" class=\"paywall-signin color-gray\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"paywall\" id=\"paywall-b\">\n\t\t<div class=\"fadeout\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"paywall-content text-center pb-xs-14\">\n\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\tloading=\"lazy\"\n\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=200\"\n\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=200 200w, https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=400 400w\"\n\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 200px, 400px\"\n\t\t\t\talt=\"\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"paywall-img mb-xs-3\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-20 text-lg-30 mb-xs-1 color-ny-red font-giza\">Continue reading for just $1 an issue and get a FREE notebook! 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Though highly ritualized, and as rigidly bound by rules, traditions, and taboos as any religious ceremony, it survives as the most primitive and terrifying of contests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1326412,"template":"","categories":[18760,18772,18771,18757],"tags":[],"coauthors":[7382],"class_list":["post-20847","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biography-memoir","category-history","category-ideas","category-literature","article-type-book-review","article-form-review","_issue-1992-02-13","author-roles-by","author-cap-joyce-carol-oates"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/nybooks.com\/articles\/1992\/02\/13\/the-cruelest-sport\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Cruelest Sport","url":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/1992\/02\/13\/the-cruelest-sport\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/1992\/02\/13\/the-cruelest-sport\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1992\/02\/muhammad-ali-levine.jpeg?w=125","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1992\/02\/muhammad-ali-levine.jpeg"},"articleSection":"Biography &amp; Memoir","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joyce Carol Oates"}],"creator":["Joyce Carol Oates"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The New York Review of Books","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"1992-02-13T05:00:00Z","datePublished":"1992-02-13T05:00:00Z","dateModified":"2022-02-17T17:24:35Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"The Cruelest Sport\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/articles\\\/1992\\\/02\\\/13\\\/the-cruelest-sport\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/articles\\\/1992\\\/02\\\/13\\\/the-cruelest-sport\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/1992\\\/02\\\/muhammad-ali-levine.jpeg?w=125\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/1992\\\/02\\\/muhammad-ali-levine.jpeg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Biography &amp; Memoir\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Joyce Carol Oates\"}],\"creator\":[\"Joyce Carol Oates\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"The New York Review of Books\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"1992-02-13T05:00:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"1992-02-13T05:00:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-17T17:24:35Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nybooks.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/20847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/20847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1327140,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/20847\/revisions\/1327140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1326412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20847"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=20847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}