War or basketball?

I overheard a conversation on the bus the other day. A woman said to the man sitting next to her, "all that's on TV these days is the war and basketball . . . it's a guy's dream. Not that they all like war, but they are more fascinated by watching it." Then the two went on to talk about how the war was percieved more as "a TV show" than as reality. They may have had a point. Some Americans probably do look at the war as a new thing that's on TV. How "real" would it be to you if you had never been to a foreign country?