Abstract: Co-textual obsession is a characteristic of contemporary cultural communication. The game or sport text itself is a compound text that relies heavily on its co-texts for reference and interpretation. Thus, the “co-textual obsession” becomes the “co-textual paranoia” in the communication process of game and sports. Starting from the communication features of game and sports texts, this paper summarises the present patterns and characteristics of their co-texts. It also surveys the semiotic theoretical proofs of their co-textual paranoia in an attempt to capture the relationship between the text and its co-texts and to reveal the specific value and effects of the co-textual paranoia.
Keywords: sports, game, semiotics, co-text
