Yep, a society increasingly drowning in sentimentality and emotional porn.
Quite what relevance the death of a nice old dude has to the football going public of another nation two continents away is questionable. A few documentaries on the BBC should cover it.
The Diana guff was the tipping point and it's been downhill since then, imho.
It's a tricky one, he did have a sport influence in that sport had boycotts successful and broken around apartheid. Also, he was about as high profile a world leader as there is. But by the same token, the list does grow longer and longer of people we are supposed to commemorate at sport and yes, since that Diana death porn we have been encouraged to look harder and harder for something to grieve. I'm not sure I want a return to stoicism and stiff upper lips in all circumstances ever, but we do need to get a bit of a grip.
I know there is an obscure cup game in North Wales tomorrow where they've already agreed a minute's silence will be observed. It feels a little irrelevant to the game at hand, but equally, I'll happily respect it.