Here’s a great paragraph. It carries the reader along one cliche, only to upend it with a splash of cold truth:

“Sports fans are like bad lovers, jealous and infatuated at the same time. I’d play professional football for free, they say. I would sleep in the parking lot to be the first guy at practice. I’d run every route, gleefully make every down-field block, volunteer to return punts and fill the Gatorade containers. How could anyone take such a gift, and thus, responsibility, so lightly? Of course, these are largely the same people who take time off at work to read about sports on the Internet. That is to say: most everybody loafs; few people do their jobs under as much scrutiny as skill players on offense in pro football.”