The work cited in cultural studies, and particularly our efforts over the past 2 decades toarticulate how media formats come to shape expectations of everyday life experiences,helped shape our understanding of a key concept for understanding how everyday lifeworks with media. Two others who contributed to my take on sports and the media areGregory Stone and William Stephenson. Stone's (1971) analysis of the relationship ofwork and play suggested that the boundaries of both were becoming more permeable withchanging social forms and expectations; that is, work could be seen as play, and play could be seen as work (especially in the case of professional sports). When the two worldsbecame more intertwined, Stone argued, then play became very serious. The way we usesports in our everyday lives is influenced by the role of media. Stephenson's (1967) "playtheory" of mass communication suggested that the audience was quite active and interactedwith media materials for what he called "pleasure-communication." The audiencethus derived considerable pleasure from "playing with the media." This interactiveapproach to understanding media effects helps explain how the culture has changed, andin particular, how entrepreneurs and others now trade on mass-mediated effective environments.It is the way in which "media space" and media experiences inform ourexpectations that is important