Yeah, if you look at it certain ways, many/most athletic endeavors can be described as silly, pointless, etc. But I saw something on TV last night that truly caused my jaw to drop.
I don’t watch a lot of sports, but whatever station was on when I turned on the set had something called equestrian vaulting. :smack: They had individual and team events, where as many as 3 people were on the horse at a time. It impressed me as competitive circus acts.
The competitors and announcers were taking it very seriously. How would someone decide to get into something like that? Hang around the stables and say, “Hey, do you mind if I do some flips off of your horses?”
You try vaulting, honey, if you think you’re so smart. Do you think gymnastics silly? Because it is just gymnastics only with a horse added to make it more dangerous and thrilling. You need the same kinds of skills.
Personally I think American football is way stupider than vaulting.
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Hey! One of my friends is one of the top American cornhole players! Cornhole’s legit!
A little while ago I was at a brunch and ESPN was on in the background. They were showing a roundnet tournament. I thought it was odd just because I’d never heard of it and yet here it was on national TV. I couldn’t really figure the game out from watching it across the bar.
I know it’s not for everyone, but it is the greatest — speed, power, strength, skill, teamwork, grace, balance, foot skills and hand-eye coordination… nothing is better.
But yeah, I get it, if you don’t like it, then you don’t like it.
Probably bowling. I’ve done league and tournament bowling on-and-off for almost 30 years so it’s not like I have anything against it but it sure ain’t a spectator sport.
I actually considered saying that, until I thought of curling. It looks ridiculous, BUT Olympic-level racewalkers cover long distances - IIRC, 20K and 50K, which is 31 miles - at surprisingly fast paces, less than 7 minutes per mile. Most people can’t run that fast, let alone that far, and lots of them are disqualified because they’re supposed to have one foot on the ground at all times, and are allowed ONE scratch.
Televised professional bowling was quite popular in the 1970s.
I’ve heard several people say, “Why is beach volleyball so popular?” and my response has been, “Have you seen how they dress, or don’t dress in the case of the women?”
Yeah to the uninitiated it may look quirky. I’ve never been a fan, but on a family vacation to Niagara Falls we did a family outing to the historic Niagara Falls Curling Club (it dates to 1891) and we had an intro lesson and then we, my wife and I and our 3 20-somethings kids and our daughter’s boyfriend took basic curling lessons and then we played for a little while. It is very tricky!
And besides being educational, it was fun and memorable too.
So now when there’s curling in the Olympics, we aren’t as quick to change the channel.
I’ll watch bowling any day of the week. Properly telecasted, of course. I gave up when they turned the finals events into something like the 17th hole at Phoenix, with cheering while they bowled, etc.
Curling is fascinating to watch, especially now that they are experimenting with better viewing angles to show the curl more. Of course, I curl, so I know what is involved.
For me, most of the made-up exhibition X-games type sports are just stupid. Instead of pretending they are competitions, just acknowledge that they are people showing off mad skilz and leave it at that.
