I come to my disdain for pro sports honestly, it’s not an intellectual virtue signal. I played baseball, basketball, and (later) American football from childhood (~5yrs old on) through high school. I think the sports themselves to be great, with the exception of some obvious problems with football. They help build so many hard and soft skills, and in their best forms they really help build character.

All that said, pro sports culture is basically a social cancer for various reasons, including some that are illuminated directly in that article. The “but how will you relate to the working class” argument is weak, and gives the reader permission to use social crutches rather than useful, generalizable social tools. Indeed, the idea of “becoming” a pro sports fan to be able to socialize with a certain class of people is rather condescending.