Once most of the worlds major problems (poverty, famine, disease, work, economics, Everton supporters) were sorted out by hyper-intelligent machines and no-one had to work any more after money was abolished, then there was nothing left to do but watch (or rarely play) sports all day long. So people started taking sports even more seriously than usual. Then came the Sports Wars, as the competing sports and their supporters fought for global dominance. The European Football Union and the South American Football League became locked in a titanic battle with the North American World Global Baseball Crew and the Pan-Russian Chess Association. The superior strategy of the chess grandmasters won the day and now all sports except chess have been declared to be against the best interests of the Global Superstate and punishable by day-trips to the President Sarah Palin 'Doggone' Memorial Museum.