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Godless liberal pinko commmie hippie socialists generally don't get their kids into sports as much as God-fearing patriotic flag-waving Americans. Sports are very closely tied to nationalism (see the Olympics) and in America, nationalism is very closely tied to religion. The same kind of people who endorsed Manifest Destiny back in the day are the same people who invest a lot of their time and energy in sports -- there's a drive, perhaps even a lust, for competitive achievement that seems to be inherent in American Christianity.
Conservatism and Christianity are practically synonymous in America these days, and what's more free market than the clearly defined winner/loser system of sports?
Also, I think your observations are correct: African-Americans are, in general, actually quite socially conservative and religious. But their attraction to sports would probably be less tied to that sociopolitical crap I was talking about and more to the fact that so many African-Americans are so good at sports that it just naturally became a part of the larger culture. So, in that case, it would be not so much a matter of belief system leading to an attraction to sports. Rather, it would just be a belief system coinciding with a natural athletic inclination in the community.
Basically, I think it's Theory 3 by a country mile.
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