# Sports and Masculinity (or lack of it!) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023 "2004-07-07T22:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023/21 "2004-07-09T14:07:59Z")
Hate sports. Am gay. Of course, now they’ll practically revoke your gay pass if you’re not at the gym four days a week… that was _not_ in the brochure! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023/22 "2004-07-09T14:24:52Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > The only thing people we’re “doing” in the early 20th Century was working on farms and reading books by candlelight. > > There are people who go out and actually do stuff - play a sport, an instrument, join a club in school, play in a band, travel, be active in their community. There are also people who don’t do shit all day. Col. Cooper was (obviously) not trying to make a general & absolute statement. He was noting a trend, and I happen to agree with him. In the past, most people use to _ **do** _ things; they would farm land, build stuff, dance, play games, socialize, etc. But it seems technology has changed a lot of that, in that so many people today spend their evenings sitting in front of the TV, playing video games, or playing on the computer. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023/23 "2004-07-09T14:43:32Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Just had to comment on this part. I’m reminded of a statement by one of our gay members, somewhere on this message board, that his mother had realized he was gay…because he loved reading! well, see. . .i’m reluctant to trust a statement like this. Maybe that’s what his mom told him, because it was the only thing she could really articulate. Maybe it came out of a heartfelt conversation where he told her he was gay and she said, “i think I always knew it” and he said, “how” and that’s all she could come up with. What’s she going to say, “because of the way you pranced around the living room and enjoyed setting the table”? I think it’s similar with the sports thing. . .some guys you just kind of “know” are gay. If someone asks for a reason, you might say, “well he was never into sports”, but it was probably a lot more than that. There are WAY too many guys in high school that aren’t into sports to think that that’s enough to make them gay. That would have made 60% of the graduating class gay. I think there’s a straw man here. If a guy shows none of the other behaviors that one might associated with being gay (relying entirely on stereotypes – but that’s what this thread is about) then people aren’t going the think he’s gay just because he isn’t into sports. If you know a guy who isn’t into sports but has sex with a lot of women, has a big beer gut, eats fritos, hates theater, and who can’t remember if Bruno Magli was the name of the guy driving the Bronco or the name of OJ’s shoes, no one will think he’s gay. If you know a guy who is into sports, but dates men, sings show tunes, cuts hair, and subscribes to “mens fitness” you might think he’s gay. If you know a guy who isn’t into sports, but also dresses well, stays thin, has a mysterious dating life, keeps an eye on the arts. . .well, you know, it’s just one factor. That’s all presuming you go around trying to figure out if people are gay at all. . .something I hope no one spends much time on. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023/24 "2004-07-09T14:43:44Z")
> [@dwc1970](#): > > They take pride in being able to recite statisics about scores, players, etc. from any given season. I have better things to do with my time, personally and I don’t like devoting brain bytes to such meaningless trivia. Of coure, the very same thing can be said for any number of geeks who can reel off pages of dialogue from Monty Python movies, anime, comic books, and Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023/25 "2004-07-09T14:58:13Z")
Well, at the least with video games & spending time on forums like this one, you are actually doing something, that requires thought and effort. TV watching is much more passive. When I see millions of people wasting so much time, energy & money on something as ultimatly pointless as sitting around watching as professional sports, it makes me think that sports are little more than one half of the modern version of the old Roman “Bread & Circuses” to keep people pacified. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023/26 "2004-07-09T15:02:11Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > If I had to “defend” my lack of interest in sports… You certainly don’t. I have a problem with people who attack non-sports-fans. There’s no need! > [@](#): > > Life’s to short to sit around watching _other_ people play games. I’d rather be a participant in life than a spectator. One can do both. _Without_ insulting sports-watchers!🙂 > [@](#): > > There are plenty of people out there who take sports _too_ seriously. By not taking them seriously at all, I’m helping to maintain the cosmic balance. I like this reason best! Watching a game with someone who is entirely too into it is sheer torture. > [@](#): > > Watching a ball game is only interesting if you can pretend that it matters who wins. It does! It does! I swear! > [@](#): > > My theory is that most guys who are sports fans are vicariously re-living the days of their youth when they played sports, and/or when they bonded with their dad or grandfather or brother or whoever by watching sports together. Sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023/27 "2004-07-09T15:08:47Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#): > > Well, at the least with video games & spending time on forums like this one, you are actually doing something, that requires thought and effort. TV watching is much more passive. Sorry, but typing or twiddling my fingers playing a video game is not my idea of “doing something.” True, lots of guys sit on the couch and watch football for hours during the season, all the while eating snacks and drinking cold beer, but they’re not “doing something” either. Both passtimes are equally as passive in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023/28 "2004-07-09T15:57:59Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > I’m curious if you hold the same attitudes regarding television, movies, theater, concerts, and every other form of entertainment Actually, yes I do—at least toward the ones that don’t particularly interest me. You do realize, don’t you, that my defenses are all bogus after-the-fact rationalizations and not _a priori_ reasons that _caused_ me not to become a sports fan, don’t you? 🙂 > [@](#): > > Life’s too short to sit around watching _other_ people play instruments. I’d rather be a participant in life than a spectator. If you really mean **watching** , without also listening, sure! 🙂 > [@](#): > > There are plenty of people out there who take theater _too_ seriously. Oh yeah? Name one! In my experience, most theater nuts are participants at some level. But maybe you’re right. Lemme check the daily Theater section of the newspaper, or watch the theater report on tonight’s TV news, and get back to you. 😉 > [@](#): > > Watching a movie is only interesting if you can pretend that it matters how it ends. Absolutely! Or at least, it sure helps. Although, at least movies don’t all have the exact same plot. 🙂 > [@](#): > > I agree that sports aren’t particularly valuable or necessary, but I would say that sports are more valuable and necessary than just about anything else on television or in movie theaters. I suppose I would give theater and museums the nod as being more intrinsically worthwile, but that’s about it. And I wouldn’t even go that far if the sports in question are the Olympics. I’m not sure how _intrinsically_ worthwhile even the Olympics are; I think the importance is what we invest in it. Is it really _intrinsically_ important whether some guy can run slightly faster than some other guy? I’m just glad there are things in this world that I’m not interested in, because if I were interested in everything, where would I find time for it all? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-and-masculinity-or-lack-of-it/254023.md?page=1)