I’m a football fan. SEC, NFL, I watch every game I can, play fantasy leagues, etc. Baseball, not so much. I’ll check the standings once a week or so, read the major stories–like the Imperfect Game recently. Think I’ve only watched one game this year–Braves beat the Pirates. Once football starts, I’m pretty much done with baseball for the year, unless the Braves or Cubs are in the playoffs. Don’t care about basketball, other than March Madness, or major NBA stories. Other stuff–I’ll pick up from ESPN radio, mostly. Don’t particularly care about NASCAR, golf, hockey, tennis, soccer etc…but will likely watch some of the US team in the World Cup.
Do not think I have ever seen an episode of Survivor,American Idol, or those type shows.
You don’t have to do all that. You can, to whatever extent you find deepens your appreciation, but you can like sports (or a sport) without knowing any players, etc.
That would be plenty, if you wanted it to be.
I can’t believe the amount of time people spend watching sitcoms and “reality” shows and such.
The New Hacker’s Dictionaryhas this to say about geeks and sports:
*
Many (perhaps even most) hackers don’t follow or do sports at all and are determinedly anti-physical. Among those who do, interest in spectator sports is low to non-existent; sports are something one does, not something one watches on TV. *
I’m a 49 year old male geek and have zero interest in sports. Of course I grew up in a sports-free household but I suspect an additional part of the reason I never developed an interest in sports was that in high school the people who were into sports were also into treating people like me horribly.
Weirdly, I earn a significant portion of my income from sports. One of my best customers is a sports bar. I do their TVs and satellite systems. They are the premiere sports bar in the area - all the TVs and projectors are properly set up for HD (few are) and they have multiple big dishes to get the very hard to find DVB “backhaul” feeds. Getting the game on the screen is interesting - but once it’s there, it’s boring.
Back in the early days of HD, when shows in HD were fairly rare, all the sports guys were screaming to get football in HD, and mocking the whole idea of something like the Oscars in HD. I thought this was so bizarre. They thought I was unmanly for wanting to see some of the most beautiful women in the world in HD instead of a whole bunch of ugly men rolling around in the mud.
Not being into sports did provide one male bonding opportunity. I used to buy the Chicago Tribune every day, and would give the useless to me Sports section to one of my cow-orkers who would only read that section.
The few times I’ve tried to watch team sorts, I’ve been bored. Baseball moves so slowly, long stretches of breathtaking dullness. Football is nearly as dull with a lot of scrambling to gain tiny amounts of “yardage”. Basketball at least moves pretty consistently. But virtually every American sports fan hates Soccer - which, like basketball, at least moves back and forth.
On the other hand, I can enjoy sports movies, which have the drama competition can produce, with all the dull stretches cut out.
You just don’t know the right fans. Granted, Dancing doesn’t seem to be popular around here, but Idol? I’ve felt the same feeling I feel about sports.
Also, while you sporty people are here: how does it look when we non-watchers ask questions? It always seemed to annoy my grandfather.
The thing is, I don’t really dislike sports–I’m just indifferent about the parts people actually talk about. I don’t care about what team did what. I cheer for the winning team, or whoever the other people I know are cheering for. And that’s a point, too: sports are just not something I seek out on my own. It’s boring as heck watching alone. Or watching a not close game.
Heck, will any of you sports fans shut the game off if it’s a blowout? I always wish I could at people’s places, especially with DVR, as, if some sort of upset happens, we can always rewind and watch that interesting part. Just barely keep track of the scores, and you’ve got enough info.
Their point is that the exact position of the players actually matters in sports. Plus, it’s the only thing I’ve seen with so many straight lines which look really fuzzy on regular screens.
Oh, and I’ve found a lot of disillusionment watching these “most beautiful women” in HD. It seemed to take until recently for them to figure out how to film stars so you didn’t see all their little imperfections. I often wonder if there’s some sort of filter on the lens or something. Or maybe it’s just when they chop out so much of the chroma, you lose the fine details.
Same here. I just can’t get excited by pro sports. Celtics lost to the Lakers? OK…Celtics won over the Lakers? OK-what possible difference can this make to me?
Not to mention the fact that I used to get bombarded by offers of free tickets to games…and the looks of incredulity when I refused them! My friends acted geniunely upset when i told them that I had better things to do, than attend a game that I had no interest in.
Years ago my office started a football pool. You had to buy in for $5, and the pot was $200. I was a known non-sports guy there, but put in my money and made a pick (TOTALLY RANDOM GUESS). I won. It was very satisfying to watch 80 other people just shake their heads and roll their eyes as I shoved the money in my pocket.
Here’s a tip: anytime someone’s playing the Pirates, it’s pretty much a guarantee that the Pirates are going to lose.
-Guin, hockey (Penguins) and football (Steelers) fan
ETA: oh, and since the Terrible Towel was brought up – by now, it’s no longer just a Steelers thing, but a symbol of Pittsburgh. People from Pittsburgh were waving them at the presidential inaugurations, and when the G20 summit came here, one of the gifts given to the representatives was a Towel. So it’s more of a “I’m from Pittsburgh!” thing. It doesn’t even say “Steelers” on it.
I am so glad to have found a group of likeminded men. My father and older brother were both gungho pro and college sports fans. I grew up in a really small town and EVERY boy had to like a sports team. I liked the Steelers’ colors, so I picked them.
I went to college and found a couple other sports-haters (at Penn State, no less!) and we became lifelong friends.
I’ve heard plenty of “fag” remarks over the years, and it probably didn’t help that I was not a fighter, liked to dress in the latest style and hang around with women. But I was mostly just trying to get laid, and often succeeding!
Now here I am 40 years old with a wife and 4 kids and I don’t have to prove my manhood to anyone. I like to lift weights and run and swim and do gymnastics, so I guess I LOOK like I’m a prime candidate for sports talk. But you bring up sports, I’m going to laugh and say “Sorry, I didn’t inherit that gene, much to my father’s neverending dismay, I’m sure.” And hope you are interested talking about home-improvement projects or animals or cars or kids. If all else fails, I’ll start asking you questions about what you do at work, and that always makes me seem really interesting.
I’m grew up not interested in spectator sports. I admit that my lack of athletic ability is the biggest part of my indifference.
I’ve been riding trails on my mountain bike for the last 7 years. I have become so obsessive that I’m now the trail manager at the biggest park in the area (Blue Mound State Park, WI). My goal is to build 20 miles of trail. “My” trail is widely considered to be the most difficult in the southern half of the state. I use the term “My” trail very loosely because many other people have contributed to its construction.
A co-worker once told me that what I do isn’t a sport. He’s right, and I don’t care. On the other hand, watching other people do sports doesn’t make you an athlete.
I’m an athlete of limited competitive ability. But that’s not the point for me. Riding demanding trail clears and focuses my mind like nothing else. Any thing less than total involvement will result in pain and potential injury. But when I do it right, it’s like the world slows down, and the distractions go away. For a while…
I’ve never followed any sports. I have never watched an entire game of any sort on tv. I have tried to watch, since I’m a guy and am supposed to, but damn is it ever boring as hell.
I think the reason for this is due to my Father never watching sports or following any teams. I suppose if you’re brought up as a kid watching then you end up watching as an adult.
As a kid in school I was always very self conscious of this. I always hated when the guys would start talking teams and I couldn’t participate (or worse, embarrassed when asked who my favorite was and such). As an adult, I could give a damn and just say I don’t follow such and such sport if asked.
I found it funny when doing online dating sights and seeing all the girls that would list watching sports as something they enjoyed, or used a local team in their screen name. That’s cool, I figured most guys would eat that up. Me, instant turn off.
I’m 38 and couldn’t care less about most sports… though I like attending a pro baseball game occasionally (saw 2 in Japan last year and hope to see one next month in the USA).
I’ve been to one pro hockey game in the Czech Republic.
I’m 42. Have never followed sports. Have zero interest in football, baseball, and basketball. High school, college, pro… doesn’t matter. Zero interest.
It gets a bit awkward at work when people come into our office. (I share an office with my technician, and it seems to be the social epicenter of our larger group.) I would estimate 30% of the conversations are about sports. I have nothing to add to the conversation, and I usually find myself tuning out and doing something on my computer.
Okay this is interesting - thinking about it more I’d say only about roughly 10% of the conversation where I work (or in social situations with people I don’t know that well) ends up being about sports, if that. I’m starting to think that maybe this is a bigger issue in the US than elsewhere. If I was in a situation with a guy I didn’t know well I could think of a ton of stuff to discuss without getting into sports.
I like practicing a couple of sports (swimming, skiing). But watching others play ? Not for me. Except occasionally some crazy sports like extreme offroad motor racing or extreme downhill skiing (that’s breathtaking)…
There’s absolutely something fundamentally wrong with you men that don’t like NFL football and reside within the USA. You are damaged, broken, in need of repair. Either that or you’re all from Detroit or Cleveland, where NFL ineptitude reaches high art status and therefore you can be excused.
