Win,

Yes! I read Thorstein Veblen many years ago. Another thread to throw in was the finesse angle. The Cro Magnon's out competed the Neanderthal on many levels, cranial development of the frontal lobe, amount of babies produced, more fluid social structures, etc, but that they were more adept and running on the open savannah after beasts they were hunting, and could change direction so much quicker than the Neanderthal, because of the evolution of our knees. As such they also became much more vulnerable to injury but they were designed for finesse in running that came in handy for hunting large, and fast animals. Their teamwork was also so much more superior. So after reading that article some 5 years ago I was thinking of Jerry Rice as being the epitome of our Cro Magnon roots and why we prize such athletic prowess, not so much for entertainment purposes, but for the fact that we still carry that deep memory when our survival depended on the young warrior within our tribe that could bring home the large beast that the tribe could mine for so many of its needs.