The Rules of the Sport and The Chill Summary and Analysis

At the start of "The Rules of the Sport," Gopnik wrote about a French government committee charged with choosing a name for a new stadium in Paris. Speculation abounded, but in the end, the committee chose to call it the French Stadium, which Gopnik interpreted as ironic minimalism that shows the French would not get carried away by sports as the Americans do. Gopnik tried to find an American-style gym in Paris, and was sent to the Ritz. He dove into the pool, only to discover upon surfacing that everyone else in the pool was around the edges, eating tea sandwiches off silver platters. He joined a "New York-style" gym, and found that extreme enthusiasts were permitted to attend once weekly. He arranged to come several times...