It is a widespread assumption that processes of rationalization and capitalist industrialization propelled the "colonization" of people´s"life-worlds" (Juergen Habermas). Rarely discussed are sports figures as part and parcel of this historical transformation. Accordingly, "purposeful rationality" turned sports into just another variant of work. A different line of thought remains marginal: to consider sports as a field of play and art. Thus sports would provide the "blissful joy" of body movements. How to balance these different if not contradictory analyses? In particular, to what extent does "blissful joy" go together with stubborn self-reliance ("Eigensinn")