The thing is, basketball is no such thing either. There's nothing really stopping anyone from playing or enjoying a game, and as kids back in the day we used t

The thing is, basketball is no such thing either. There's nothing really stopping anyone from playing or enjoying a game, and as kids back in the day we used to play for fun on schoolyard courts. The problem is cultural; we as a culture have not really valued sports as recreation, but as either professional calling or consumer activity. Trying to argue from the outlier really doesn't work as you said, but its also more of a cultural issue that we really don't value participation in sport over production of it.