"...there may be no activity that draws closer public scrutiny that the public knows less about"

I agree that this quote may be a bit hyperbolic given, say, politics and Hollywood. But otherwise, the article is spot on.

I played football through high school and what television repackages and sells is a manufactured narrative based on a tiny sliver of the game. I loved playing the game, and I enjoy watching games on TV. There is very little overlap in the way one engages with the sport between those two experiences.

While playing, and for years afterwards, I couldn't understand why people watched it on TV. Eventually, though, I started to understand and enjoy the TV version. Decades later, I read some pieces by Nate Jackson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Jackson) which pulled me back into the player mindset and the thesis of this article was stark and obvious once again.