"A body reading in modern sport". Sport as an opportunity for the masses to watch the body fighting against its own decay. The sportsman or sportswoman as a representative and investigator who explores the boundaries. Sport as a substitute for the ritual cult celebrations of (mass) experiences otherwise taboo in our society. Sport allows / demands the division into victors and vanquished, sanctifies defence and offensive. Substitute warfare: man against man - see the boxing boom. The last domain of society where conflict is permitted, half-hearted compromises and tricks outlawed: an „ecological niche of sincerity", to quote Norbert Bolz. Every blow a real one, no fake blood - an alternative to our pain-avoiding culture. The attraction increases in proportion to the level of danger: the ultimate kick lies in the ever-possible accident, the potential death of sporting heroes. A complex essay on the cult surrounding our new-age idols.