Acknowledgments -- 1.The sports of American civil religion -- 2. Holy rites of football, baseball, and basketball -- 3. Football : American myth of history -- 4. Baseball : sacred story of American aspirations -- 5. Basketball : American story of irreversible progress -- 6. Doctrines of the sports trinity -- 7. The ethical dimension of football, baseball, and basketball -- 8. Social tenets of the sports trinity -- 9. The experience of football, baseball, and basketball -- 10. Revelations of the sports trinity -- Bibliography -- Index.