# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636 "2024-02-16T02:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 382
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7622 "2025-07-18T10:34:12Z")
It’s not so much that I dislike those sports, it’s that I don’t give a rat’s hinderparts about them. What I dislike is the assumption (general world, not poster-specific) that everyone loves sports and would rather watch games than anything else. My one sport of choice is somewhat esoteric compared to the big team stuff, and doesn’t get much TV time in the USA except around the Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7623 "2025-07-18T12:56:56Z")
> [@saje](#): > > It’s not so much that I dislike those sports, it’s that I don’t give a rat’s hinderparts about them. This. I voted that I don’t like them; but it’s really that I don’t care about them. And there are a couple of things that are done as sports that I liked doing; but it wasn’t the competition aspect of it that I liked, it was just the doing. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7624 "2025-07-18T13:20:33Z")
I like playing sports, though I haven’t for a long time. I like that other people like playing sports: good wholesome fun. Watching sports, and team sport fan culture, are far removed from that. I voted “don’t like,” assuming that’s what was meant. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7625 "2025-07-18T13:25:16Z")
There is only ONE sport, and that is baseball. - [Annie Savoy](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000215/?ref_=ttqu_qu): [_narrating_] Walt Whitman once said, “I see great things in baseball. It’s our game, the American game. It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us.” You could look it up. Everything else is just filler until baseball season rolls around. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7626 "2025-07-18T13:26:58Z")
I also struggled on this question. I almost never watch sports. But i enjoy watching ice hockey, especially live. And while baseball is too slow to pay full attention to a game, i do root for my home team (which i don’t do for hockey, where my only preference is “a team in a location where kids play hockey”) So, “i don’t like sports”, “baseball”, and “hockey” were all reasonable contenders for my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7627 "2025-07-18T14:07:32Z")
Ask me my favorite sport and I will instantly say baseball. I watch a ton of Yankee games and some Mets games. Nothing I like more than going to see a game in person. Unfortunately the logistics of going to a game in NYC suck so I don’t go very often. I would say I’m not as big a fan of football but unlike baseball I will watch games that don’t involve my team. Hockey is easily the best sport to watch live. I don’t watch a lot of hockey on tv but going live is the best. Basketball lost me a while ago. The golden age was watching Magic and Bird. For years now the game has become run down the court shoot a three. Run back down the court shoot a three. It’s become very boring to me. I currently root for the Knicks only because I know the Towns family. Soccer is the sport I played the most. Played from elementary school to high school. It was fun to play. Bores the hell out of me to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7628 "2025-07-18T14:20:39Z")
I prefer (American) football the most because it’s fast-paced enough to be interesting, but yet also has frequent pauses, which let me focus attention elsewhere. With soccer you can’t really stop watching and take a mental break. Also, having only 17 games in a season makes each game much more meaningful than 82 or 162. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7629 "2025-07-18T14:31:24Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > With soccer you can’t really stop watching and take a mental break. It’s not like you’ll miss anything. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7630 "2025-07-18T14:41:51Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Soccer is the sport I played the most. Played from elementary school to high school. It was fun to play. Bores the hell out of me to watch. With me is almost the exact opposite, I played “baseball” when I was a kid (because it looked interesting in movies, so I made a bat or something like it with a tree branch and played with my friends using tennis balls) and sorta liked it. But watching it? forget about it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7631 "2025-07-18T15:16:04Z")
Basketball is easily my favorite sport. No other combines grace and athleticism as basketball. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7632 "2025-07-18T18:13:39Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > With me is almost the exact opposite, I played “baseball” when I was a kid (because it looked interesting in movies, so I made a bat or something like it with a tree branch and played with my friends using tennis balls) and sorta liked it. > But watching it? forget about it. I played American football as a kid because, well, it was Texas, and football is a religion there, but soccer is my only sport now, except for socially watching the occasional football game with my son or a friend. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7633 "2025-07-18T20:18:05Z")
I chose “duck” for the utter off-putting cuteness of the notion, but honestly, my bride would have to be escorted to the altar by an alpaca which would stand between, watching over us. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7634 "2025-07-18T20:31:51Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Watching sports, and team sport fan culture, are far removed from that. I voted “don’t like,” assuming that’s what was meant. I dont watch pro sports. We do watch some Olympics, My Dad used to take me to Angels games, and I have to admit, on a perfect day, sunny, not too hot, a little breeze, peanuts and a hot dog, those were wonderful experiences. And I played Football in College ( I wasnt very good). But Pro sports are too commercial now a days. Any cities too often get conned into buying an expensive stadium. > [@eschereal](#): > > I chose “duck” for the utter off-putting cuteness of the notion, but honestly, my bride would have to be escorted to the altar by an alpaca which would stand between, watching over us. My wife would love that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7635 "2025-07-18T20:56:20Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Once again, auto racing is somehow left off the list of the top US sports. Only football is indisputably more popular. If you are referring to NASCAR, it has fallen off quite a bit since the 00’s, in both attendance and ratings, so I wouldn’t put it anywhere near gridiron football at this point. @Velocity, you have a link or hopefully vid for that wedding animal? I would have chosen Great Egret, myself. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7636 "2025-07-18T21:03:08Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > If you are referring to NASCAR, it has fallen off quite a bit since the 00’s, in both attendance and ratings, so I wouldn’t put it anywhere near gridiron football at this point. [2024 Gallup poll](https://news.gallup.com/poll/610046/football-retains-dominant-position-favorite-sport.aspx) on Americans’ favorite sports. 41% named football, 10% named baseball, 9% named basketball, and nothing else was over 5%. Auto racing came in at 3%. From a [2021/22 Statista survey](https://www.statista.com/chart/28107/sports-followed-by-americans/): 75% of American sports fans follow football, followed by basketball (56%), and baseball (50%). Motorsports, as a group, is only at 15%. And, FWIW, a [Pew Research survey from 2023](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/17/most-americans-dont-closely-follow-professional-or-college-sports/), which shows that 62% of Americans follow sports, in general, “not too closely” or “not at all.” ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7637 "2025-07-18T21:04:41Z")
[It was a duck. (ignore the annoying commentary)](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8ZBtk6ABIYM) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7638 "2025-07-18T21:10:21Z")
I enjoy the prospect of the opossum hissing as it processes down the aisle. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7639 "2025-07-18T21:24:55Z")
> [@saje](#): > > My one sport of choice is somewhat esoteric compared to the big team stuff, and doesn’t get much TV time in the USA except around the Olympics. Curling! As for the animal at the wedding, I presume we are expecting the animal to be well-behaved? If so, then a swan. Otherwise, I think an opossum would be the least likely to be destructive. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7640 "2025-07-18T23:30:51Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > > > Surely it’s horse hockey > > Isn’t that just polo? For those not in the know, hockey is an archaic word for shit. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > But i enjoy watching ice hockey, especially live. Yes, we used to tell people that if you don’t think you like hockey go to a few live games. We had season tickets for about ten years, and I’d say that only maybe 2 or 3% of the games we attended were duds. There’s always something going on that the TV cameras with their obsession with only following the puck don’t often catch. > [@mbh](#): > > Curling! I love watching curling during the Olympics! It’s absolutely mesmerizing. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/7641 "2025-07-18T23:52:32Z")
Our doorbell has a little light that shows it’s working. The very old-fashioned bell is clearly visible by the ceiling. Unfortunately, the one is not hooked up to the other, and our contractor couldn’t figure out how to make the bell part work. Also, it’s to the door in the backyard: the front door doesn’t have a bell. (I love the weirdness of old houses.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=381) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=383)