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After a year of economic heartache, statistics show that Americans are making adjustments.

We’re driving less. In August, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Americans had driven 53 billion fewer miles since November than in the same period a year earlier. In June alone, the figure was 4.7 percent less, or 12.2 billion fewer miles, than in June 2007.

We’re dining out less often. When we do eat away from home, we’re drifting away from fine-dining restaurants and favoring fast-food places.

We’re spending less on clothing. Although, according to some reports, men are spending a little more while women are cutting back noticeably.

All of these adaptations can be seen from at least a couple of viewpoints. Those who decry our materialism and demand for convenience might see these as positive steps. The people who run the businesses that sell gasoline, food and clothing will see trouble.

A third view: note that some sectors of the economy suffer less or not at all. For example, even though people pinch the budget on staples, they’re still opening their wallets to support their favorite teams.

This summer, when it was obvious that we had major financial problems, minor league baseball set an attendance record for the fifth year in a row. The 15 leagues drew 43.3 million fans, a 1.1 percent increase from 2007.

Major league baseball is likely to have its second-highest attendance total of all time, just slightly behind last year’s record-shattering 79.5 million.

Last winter, attendance at NCAA Division I college basketball games topped 35 million for the first time.

And just last week at an ordinary Iowa high school, a homecoming week auction of the senior football players’ jerseys drew bids of $300, $400, even $500 from families and girlfriends.

We have one word of advice for young entrepreneurs, just one word: Sports.