AUSTIN, Texas — When I arrived at the University of Texas’ football stadium, I was struck by three things. It’s a huge stadium with a capacity of 100,119. The game with Louisiana State University wouldn’t start for nearly an hour, but the stadium was almost full. And so was the suite from which I would be watching the game, thanks to my friend Alan Sager, a businessman who also teaches at UT.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by any of this. College football is probably the most popular sport in the country, and UT and LSU were both top 10 teams. In three-fourths of America (but not in the Northeast), college football generates more genuine enthusiasm than President Trump, movie stars, or mere TV news anchors could ever dream of.