Reminds one of the halcyon days of Wide World of Sports. Does anyone still jump over barrels on ice skates?
I’m a couple of years older than you. My parents (both Silent Generation) were avid bridge players for decades, and their social circle was largely made up of the other couples who were in their bridge groups.
When I was in high school, my dad wanted to teach me how to play bridge; he told me that when he was in college (in the 1950s), it was an important social skill to have. I wasn’t interested, as I knew no one of my age who played it.
When I then went off to college (and I went to the same school which my dad had attended), I literally saw no one playing bridge; when I told my dad about that, he was dumbfounded.
For me, role-playing games (and, to a lesser extent, board games) have been the social currency that has led to most of my friendships and social activities; it’s played the same role for me that bridge did for my parents.
When I was an undergraduate in Pakistan bridge was ubiquitous in university. EVERYONE knew how to play, however badly.
When I came to the US and went to grad school, the only people playing bridge were from outside the US.
Now my daughter reports that her very large university not only doesn’t have a bridge club (they have a Go club and a Chinese chess club) and in fact she is the only person she knows who has played or even heard of bridge.
I’m a 62 year old American and I doubt I would have even heard of bridge as a kid if Omar Sharif wasn’t taking up valuable real estate on the comics page.
Oh the memories!
Hence the arm?
Curling is the only sport I have consistently played.
I’m not young anymore, but I am a decade younger than you. When I was in high school, I was obsessed with card games. It was the excuse a lot of us used to hang out and surreptitiously drink. I learned Euchre, Spades, Hearts and Cribbage, but never once did anyone suggest a game of Bridge.
This was a time when it was still a pretty common thing in the ether, you’d see the section in the newspaper, some of our parents would have Bridge nights, most of the community centers had dedicated Bridge events…so it was definitely a thing. But none of my Gen X peers knew how to play it or had an interest in learning. I suspect that it was stigmatized with my generation and that was the nail in the coffin.
The nickname, and even my registration on this site with that nickname, predate my taking up the sport.
Come to think of it, your nickname is more apt for curling than mine.
There are lots of one-on-one strength sports I enjoy watching - “amateur” (not WWE style) wrestling, arm wrestling, some martial arts (not MMA), and the interesting “mas wrestling” (look it up on Youtube).
Tug-of-war is always fun to watch - specially when you have two fairly even teams.
I played a lot of cards (not bridge, though) in college. It was cheap entertainment, an important factor in those days.
Except for a little bit of Hold Em, I don’t think any of my kids play cards. Too many alternatives that we olds didn’t have, perhaps?
When I moved from the US to UK I started watching the sports/games that are popular here. Football (soccer) doesn’t interest me but I like both rugby league and union. Snooker and darts both get a lot of coverage here and are good to watch.
A few years ago the UCI (cycling’s governing body) held the world championships for all the cycling disciplines at the same time and place so all the obscure events got televised on the BBC. I’ve always enjoyed track cycling and the mountain bike events but had no idea that bicycle football was a thing.
I like most motor sports except NASCAR and Indy. F1 and WRC are televised here. In the early 2000’s I went to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for 9 consecutive years.
Over the last couple years I’ve started watching professional Starcraft 2 and Counterstrike. I’ve played both against bots but never people.
I learned bridge in college in the 80s because a guy on my dorm floor was into it and invited me to play. Haven’t really played since then.
My favorite sport in the Winter Olympics is the Biathlon. In a biathlon race, competitors cross country ski around a course, and have to stop several times to shoot a target with an air rifle. If a racer misses, they have to ski an extra distance as a penalty. It’s like running hard and then stopping to thread a needle.
I love the combination of abilities that the sport requires.
I’m going to a roller derby match this Saturday in Chicago!
I love watching curling. I wish it was easier to find on TV. They need a roku app or something.
As far as games, I love playing euchre. My father-in-law are in a league together.
I spent three hours last night watching Soapbox Racing.
Then you should love Chess Boxing.
I love Track and Field - always watch it when I can find it on the TV - however, apart from World Champs and Olympics there’s not a lot shown down here (it is a very minor sport in Aus).
Mostly sprints, hurdles and jumps. Anything over 400m is a bit far for my interest, and while the the throwing events are technically very interesting, they lack the spectacle of the other events (unless you see them live - seriously, go and see some top athletes throwing - the distances they get seem impossible).