From: Jordan Stein John, I think that there is definately a connection between baseball and mythology. First of all in baseball, as in mythology, there are absolute good guys and bad guys, and only one side can triumph. Because only only one team can triumph, the ideology of success through competition gets reinforced. I also think that the appeal of baseball has to do with the fact that baseball is seen as representing something truly american, whose continuity is rooted in a time before we were born. I would argue that mythology also has this function. The value of athletic competition is also something which we have carried over from the ancient greek culture, and that could be another example of the tie- in to greek mythology. In a sense we also deify our athletes, seeing them as people who somehow transcend the average. Sports, like mythology, has heroes. I think one reason baseball movies have been popular, is because film itself is our mythology. Film in this culture reinforces, and has helped to create, many of our taken for granted attitudes toward the world. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the heroes of our films with the heroes in mythology. As an aside, the first episode of Star Trek DS-9 proposes the argument that baseball reinforces the notion of linear time. Do Classical Hollywood films do the same thing? Sincerely, Jordan