The American Dream #4: Burgers and Games - the wasted brain

The time and energy that Americans typically spend watching, analysing and memorising sport-related issues is gargantuan. Concerning sport, their analytic and predictive capacities, and their in-depth knowledge are stunning - yet completely useless. I wonder what could be achieved if all this time, energy and knowledge would be invested, instead, into a national think tank for improving issues that are central to our current situation: sustainable development and energies, poverty and inequality, geopolitics.
'Bread and Games' kept the Roman population manageable, but did not prevent the fall of the Roman empire - and so won't Burgers and Games.