# How do you feel about sports? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 12, 2013, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-sports/658132 "2013-05-12T06:29:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-sports/658132/41 "2013-05-14T16:27:14Z")
I played a lot of sports when I was younger, and have usually been pretty active, but my interest in sports has waned considerably. I still really enjoy watching baseball, and I’ll watch golf and football and even hockey or basketball, but not to the extent I used to at all. soccer doesn’t register with me at all. I’ve watched a few highlight videos or really good goal compilations, and I don’t think I have enough insight with it. It very frequently just looks like something I could do, and doesn’t seem impressive at all. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-sports/658132/42 "2013-05-14T16:41:55Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > I recognize that the majority of America (and maybe most other places) likes sports. I don’t give much of a crap about sports, although occasionally I’ll watch something if it’s on, or if I’m there in person getting drunk with some friends. There are even sports that I like and will actively seek out, though they’re not the ones aired on TV for the most part (wrestling, sumo, sometimes lacrosse, occasionally soccer maybe). This inevitably leaves me out of a lot of conversations, so it’s kind of bizarre standing on the outside of this and seeing just how much social interaction revolves around which player put what object where. > > The thing is, I realize that there are a crapload of people who aren’t into sports because they never played them. Though I assume that this number is smaller than those who watch sports, I at least understand why those people aren’t into it. You never played, it doesn’t matter, it makes sense. But I wonder how many are like me, a person who played all kinds of sports for 20+ years, everything from football to frisbee, and still doesn’t give a crap about watching them. > > So where do you fall on the liking sports spectrum, given your background with them? The poll options are generalities, so put yourself in where you think you fit the best. I think you are talking specifically about the sports that are popular to varying degrees as spectator sports. I used to watch a fair amount of football and baseball, but that’s dwindled to almost nothing in recent years. OTOH, I enjoy hiking and bicycling with the Firebug, and I’m looking forward to teaching him Frisbee golf in a couple of years. So I do sports, just not the kind anybody watches. And I don’t watch sports much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-sports/658132/43 "2013-05-14T17:19:33Z")
Love sports, with my favorite sports being football (esp. NFL) and hockey. Hockey is probably my #1, though closely followed by football. I like a good baseball game, but don’t follow it closely any more. I also love the Olympics, and swimming brings me in the most, which is natural (see below). I watch golf sometimes, though mostly just the big tournaments (Majors/Players/Ryder cup/FedEx cup tournaments, plus the Memorial since it’s here in town and I photograph it every year). I played sports throughout my younger days, starting with soccer (hated it and quit after 2-3 years), then baseball (loved it, but was terrible - played through 7th grade), a little basketball (enjoyed it, but again, was terrible, played 5th-7th grade), and then I was a competitive swimmer from 6th grade through high school, and I was pretty good. I’ve also played golf since I was 11 and tennis since I was 8, though I don’t play tennis very much any more. Interestingly enough, the sport I enjoy playing the most with friends is probably basketball, and I despise watching it on TV for the most part, with the exception of the NCAA tourney. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-sports/658132/44 "2013-05-14T23:49:00Z")
I give less than a fuck about team sports. What viewing I do is mostly of individual sports. I did plenty of other activities, but no team sports, except for the stuff we all had to do during PE in school. I was and am very active, but most of my activities are not group things. A few require a partner, but the kind of partner you have to trust with your life, like scuba and rock climbing. I grew up in the country. I rode horse- (well, pony) back when I was barely old enough to run without falling down on a regular basis. Learned to shoot a bow and a gun with pretty high accuracy, well enough to take rabbits and other small game. Climbed anything I could, threw anything that was small enough to pick up, ran or biked everywhere. I started gymnastics when I was 10, steadily up to age 13, and off and on until about age 15. I was on the swim team and the springboard diving team, medaled a couple of times in both at the state level. I started martial arts around 16 and have done a few different ones since. In college I competed in diving again, started rock climbing, and did a few serious long-distance hiking/camping trips. I watch the Olympics and wish that there was better coverage of the “oddball” sports like modern pentathlon, biathlon, fencing, judo, etc. Even relatively mainstream stuff like weightlifting gets short shrift a lot of the time. Anything involving a ball/puck/snitch is boring as hell to me. Maybe if they did polo the old way, using a severed human head stuffed with horsehair, and counting bonus points for unhorsing and/or trampling opponents I’d be interested. I paid for and watched a reality show about jousting. I would have liked to have seen rather more jousting and training, and less inter-personal bullshit, but that’s “reality” shows for you, I guess. Overall, though, I’d much rather do things than watch them being done. The sports I do watch are mainly for inspiration, or for activities I’d like to be able to do (like jousting) that I’ll probably never get a chance to try. As an adult with a job, I now don’t get much time to do anything outside of work, so I lift weights, try to keep up with gymnastics skills and build back to some level of proficiency, run through some _kata_ when I can, and generally try to keep from getting out of shape. I try to maintain a high level of base fitness and skill so that I can go out and do whatever, whenever I actually do have a chance to go try something new or do one of the activities I love. If I can grab the chance to go do [insert activity here], I want to be able to that without my body holding me back. For example, I got too fat and out of shape when I was in my late 20s to enjoy snowshoeing very much when a friend here in Japan asked me to try that out. Since I got back in shape starting at around age 30, my fitness hasn’t been a barrier, and I want to keep it that way. But to end on topic, fuck sports. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-sports/658132/45 "2013-05-15T03:19:39Z")
I do not believe it will come as a great surprise to SDMB regulars that I am somewhat passionate about baseball. I watch and listen, but also play regularly. I’m the regular second baseman for McCleary Electric. Go McCleary! I also golf when I can find time. I watch a lot of hockey and might play again next winter. I guess it’s not cool to say I enjoy watching sports, but it’s enjoyable, especially with friends. Bonding and laughing and joking and talking about hockey and baseball with my buds is a joy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-sports/658132.md?page=2)