Among the purported virtues of sport, whether through participation or viewership, is its capacity to foster community. In the years since September 11, 2001, the institutions associated with the production of mediated sport have constituted community rhetorically through nationalistic and militaristic rituals and ceremonies. Such ceremonies played a prominent role in the public memorialization of 9/11 on its 10th anniversary in 2011. Although it is surely the case that some communal healing is possible through mediated sport and its ceremonies, this essay argues that the centrality of this theme constitutes an illusion of democracy. As a consequence, these mediated sport productions shaped a public memory of 9/11 that diminishes active citizenship and deflects attention away from the consequences of American actions since the terrorist attacks.
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