POLL: Just curious - how many of you are sports enthusiasts?

[FlyingPenguin]

I'm not a sports enthusiast (my wife considers it a mixed blessing - she's not a football widow, but she IS a computer widow ).

Just wondering how many of my fellow PCAers are also put off by sports.

Only sport I'm even VAGUELY interested in is baseball (and that's basically a concession to my father who's a baseball nut). I don't really follow baseball, but I can enjoy watching a game and I do try to at least catch the world series (but frankly I haven't watched the last two).

I don't knock sports (I can certainly admire the skill and artistry involved in most of them even if I don't enjoy watching it) it's just that they don't interest me.

I CAN have a good time watching a sporting event with friends who enjoy it (I go to football parties at friend's homes for instance) and I understand the rules and everything, it's just that I really don't care who wins and I can't get excited over it. I get a laugh out of watching how seriously some of my friends take it though.

It's also not the fact that I'm not physically active. I mountain bike, scuba dive, I like to work out at the gym, and I used to run (before my doctor told me that at 6' 4" if I didn't switch to biking or some other low impact excercise I'd do myself some serious harm).

I also enjoy watching SOME Olympic sporting events (usually for the artistry involved and rarely team events - events like running, skiing, etc).

On the whole of it, I can't understand WHY I don't like sports since I like team based online games (first person shooters) - so obviously I like SOME form of competition. Although, I don't take the gaming as serious as some people do. I won't play competitions for instance and the clan scene is a joke to me - I play for fun and recreation but death match is a bore and prefer team oriented games with an objective.

Anyway, seems like an interesting subject to dwell upon on Super Bowl Sunday (which I didn't watch - no interest what-so-ever).

[DaMaN]

Can't get enough of my Yankees, Raiders, Sixers, & Rangers.

[dadx2mj]

I enjoy watching football not much on baseball or basketball. I really enjoy watching motor sports. If it has an engine and it is a race I'll watch it and enjoy it.

[blade]

I love sports. Let me repeat myself, I Love SPORTS!! :B

In fact that's about all I watch on TV. Movies sometimes and the discovery channel.

da Raiders, kittens err panthers, Braves, A's, Kings(basketball), Duke, UNC, WF, NCSU, UNLV(college basketball), or acc teams and same in college football along with Ohio State.

Woody Hayes and 3 yards and a cloud of dust, my first fav college team. And da mad bomber for da Raiders, Daryl Lamonica. Hey DaMan, the Ghost made the hall of fame. imo the best all-around tight end ever in football and a devistating blocker, something most te's today avoid like the plague. Ole Dave Casper. Too bad they shun Ray Guy each year though, he really deserves it.

[Insane Morphius]

Football for me

I am a cowboys fan for life, I know I am suk... but that is just the way it is. I also love College FB

[DaMaN]

Ray Guy was the unsung song hero on the Raider temas.

[JMan]

I'm a nut: NY Rangers, NY Knicks, NY Jets, NY Giants, and, of course, NY Yankees... see my email address for more details I try not to base my life around sports, but I do get quite into it. I dis lose a few hours of sleep over the Yanks' loss though I just try to enjoy it all.
Just a note: I cannot stand people who constantly bash professional sports for the overpaid players and explosive egos. These points are valid, but it's one of those things where if you don't like it, just go away and do something else. That's my semi-rant brought on by nothing in particular.
As for what I play myself... My best sport is tennis, though I also play some basketball. I used to do some roller hockey. Sometimes I get into biking. I am horrible at soccer and baseball. I've started working out recently with friends, so I hope I'll be at least somewhat buff someday. I'm weak right now. I'm the best foosball player I know and I am really good at ping-pong... If table sports count as sports

JMan

[Syn]

College football is where it's at for me(SEC baby!).I used to like pro football alot but for the past 6 to 7 years I've just been a casual viewer(gotten a little stale but starting to get good again IMO).I could care less about baseball or basketball I find golf or figure skating more exciting.

[FlyingPenguin]

dadx2mj: To loosely quote a great George Carlin line:

"Car racing is not a sport.... it's 50 rednecks driving in a circle. It's always the same 4 or 5 guys that win all these races anyway and I don't care about these people. The only thing that's even vaguely interesting is when there's a big pileup... let's face it, where else am I going to see a 20 car accident and not be in the son-of-a b@tch?"

To each his own.....

[Syn]

George Carlin doesnt know sh*t.I'd like to see his geritol ass do 400 laps in Nascar and then say it isnt a sport or doesnt take skill to win.I grew up around drag and dirt track racing and have alot of respect for those guys even though it really isnt my cup of tea.

[EvilHorace]

I too have never had much interest in "conventional" sports (those involving a "man-made" ball of some type being passed, tossed, bounced, hit, kicked or bopped with a stick of some sorts going back and forth between 2 goals with teams). I don't care who's on what team and if they win or lose, makes no difference to me whatsoever.
I think alot of that's possibly due to upbringing and/or ones own co-ordination (skills) with it. I have never been good at throwing or catching a ball (or tossing one into a hoop) so one learns at a young age that if you're not good at it, don't bother. My father was also not a sports freak although he liked football and we use to go to college games on occasion when I was a kid although my favorite part of that was waiting for the food vendors to walk by.
I have always liked the less popular, less conventional type sports that I can be involved with (nothing to do with "man-made" balls) and be good at it like skiing (although I havent skied in 20 yrs now), skydiving (quit when I met my wife), auto racing (not circle track type stuff however), hiking, biking, scuba diving in warm water (like when I lived in Florida, not much fun here in WI IMO) and things that usually involve some personal risk. I'd really like to try bobsledding someday but I know they don't do that anywhere local.

I also would dare to venture that there's probably alot of guys who aren't really as interested in "conventional" sports as they might pretend to be because lets face it, it's popular to be a "sports guy" and some guys might think that you're "gay" or "weird" if you dare to admit that you're not, right? I think many (especially some women) "go along for the ride" faking real interest just to be popular and have others like them. As I'm sure FP can attest, if you're a kid and admit to not being into sports, you will not be popular and alot of that mentality continues into the adult world too. I'll also admit that a guy who's a "speaks sports" can usually find common ground with almost ANY other guy anywhere as that's usually the small talk that starts most male conversations. Not being into sports, alot of "false conversations" with strangers are cut seriously short because I won't usually even play that game, pretending to be in the slightest bit intersted in the subject.
There was a time when I was in 7th and 8th grade where EVERYONE who was anyone in school and wanted to be popular with the girls had to be a "jock" SO I tryed (wanting a GF), joined the football team and played it for two years but I wasn't happy about it as I was faking my interest and didn't enjoy it. Then my freshman year in HS I was again suppose to be on the team (my mother thought I was good at it and liked it) BUT instead we'd go to the lakefront (the big lake, Lake Michigan) and smoke cigs 'cause we were so cool . That was the end of my football days.

[vwkess]

Not much of a fan of sports either. I'll watch soccer occasionally since I played it for so many years and some racing (F1 or rally). If I had the time, I probably could get into hockey; kinda like soccer on ice with a bit of violence
It is funny when someone tries to strike up a sports conversation. "Did you see the (insert team name here) game?" Umm, is that baseball or football? That usually ends the conversation.

[blade]

I also would dare to venture that there's probably alot of guys who aren't really as interested in "conventional" sports as they might pretend to be

Whooooaaa Evil, you are way wrong there. And that "gay" part, geeez man. Most of us love just watching sports because of the excitement and the plays. You do have to understand sports it to enjoy it of course.

In grade school I never liked sports and was made fun of when I'd stay home on a Friday night to watch an Elvis movie instead of going to the local high school football game. Didn't bother me at all, hey I was a major Elvis fan. Along with all the babes in his movies. Plus I usually watched an Elvis movie with a girl.

But my first year in high school I quickly got caught up in the pep rallys and that along with watching the cheerleaders, my interest intensified drastically. I started going to the games and watching what people and the cheerleaders cheered for, then I noticed that I was really getting into the games and I mean bigtime. It was exciting. Watching the various plays and the excitement of our team winning.

At first it was the pep rallys and the cheerleaders but soon it was me really digging the sports. The babes were just a pleasant benefit. Competing, yes that is the best.

But hey, to each his own. I know many hate sports but many of us love them and we do not love sports for fear of being known as less of a man or being questioned as being a homo. You really think many of those many many thousands of fans who go to the games are faking that they love it? And what about the many millions who watch on TV, with many watching by themselves. They don't care to "fool anyone". And I doubt many guys say they like sports to talk to other guys either. In fact I find most are only too eager to say they hate sports. If any do "fake it" it's a real small percentage.

I doubt some homos say that they love sports nowdays to try and fit in anyway, because now they are more open and I hear they get 10 % off vaseline.


It's just fun and a good release/tension breaker and because it's something we love it's a way to unwind. Those of us who are sports fans consider it entertainment.

[tunis5000]

I'm like you FP, it's not that I dislike sports or knock them, I just have no interest in watching them or care what teams win or anything. As fas as playing them, I've played some here and then, but it's pretty rare, especially since I got married. Only activity I do is go the gym regularly (cardio and weightlifting), which I really enjoy...

[VidmanII]

I like the NFL and NHL in that order. Funny, in that I played basketball and baseball in high school. Go figure. I like going to see a good motorcycle roadrace in person as well. I never thought less of peeps who didn't play sports in school. I suppose some did tho. I played sports because I liked them and was decent at them.