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I Hate Sports 2003
I tried to leave work at 6:15pm today. 25 minutes later I managed to get back from a few blocks away and get back to work. The traffic was so bad I could not face the prospect of the commute across the bridge.
Apparently there's some kind of football game or something and everyone had to go. In their cars. Separately.
I truly hate sporting events.
I am really looking forward to returning this car to my folks and getting back on public transit. If I had the parking permit for my neighborhood, I'd just leave it at home during the day, but I don't so I drive. Under the best circumstances driving a car takes 15 or 20 minutes less, which seems like a big deal in a 55 minute commute, but if those 55 minutes are generally calm and involving reading or playing games on my PDA and the ones in the car are incredibly stressful and irritating, which would you prefer?
Posted on August 14, 2003 at 07:09 PM in warnings & kvetches | Permalink
Comments
Does nayone know of a web news page that DOES NOT waste perfectly
good space on sports reporting? I DESPISE sports and am absolutley
sick of it. If I could be the guy in charge of everything, everywhere
I would OUTLAW ALL SPORTS. Period.
Thanks!
Posted by: Joe at Aug 29, 2003 7:50:56 PM
Don't get too bent out of shape over the huge traffic jams caused by sporting events. It's like when a herd of cattle crosses the street.
They can't help it --they're just following the herd. Just be
thankful you're not a brain-dead sports drone.
Posted by: Tyrone at Nov 9, 2003 9:32:53 PM
I thought I was all alone in my hatered of sports. This country is OBSESSED with sports, especially football. We are inundated with sports in every walk of life. I despise even doing things like logging on to my ISP, reading the newspaper, watching television, or simply trying to listen to the radio. Even the common vernacular has references to sports to describe everyday subjects. Also, it is disgusting to hear football players being described with terms like "hero" and "warrior". Listen to advertisements aimed at us. Advertisers use simple language (one or two syllables), and idiotic attempts at humor. Say anything about your feelings, and you will be ridiculed, called un-American, or ignored and outcast. I cannot have any discussions with co-workers because I cannot and will not discuss sports. So, I have little or no social life because of this.
Sheesh!
Posted by: Michael at Dec 7, 2003 8:57:19 PM
I hate sports too. I just can't understand the mindless acceptance
much less the enthusiastic support for sports! What do you sheep GET
out of this hero-worship??! I could get along and just ignore the
rest of the world's sports insanity but the sports drones constantly
scan for non-sports freaks: "how 'bout dem dogs?" --If you don't
answer correctly, they'll know you for the non-sports fan you are
and start treating you like an outcast, a leper, or worse. It sucks
to be on the outside looking in but I'd rather be the sane one than
one of the demented, deluded herd.
Posted by: Zorro at Dec 29, 2003 4:57:06 AM
Found your site and happy to find people who hate s[ports as I do. You just can't have much in your head to want to watch a bunch of guys running around knocking each other down. I graduated with second honors in 1943 and am proud that I flunked gym every year, I guess I just had more brains than the rest of the class. Incidentally the sports nuts never really made anything of their life.
Posted by: Chuck Stoner at Jan 22, 2004 2:44:21 PM
I was so surprised to find that I am not alone. I hate sports! I am an artist with many sports-drone friends. I dont care about thier traffic jams or insipid advertising. I believe the most important thing in life is self awareness and the second is art. Anything that distracts ones own life from these things can only be my enemy. Were these games invented to get people to take part in athletics? Of course, but now its just about sitting on your fat ass stuffing fried food down your craw and screaming at the rich muscleman on the t.v. screen. Even organized religion and politics have something to offer. What a sad beautiful world.
Posted by: kasey at Feb 6, 2004 9:43:35 AM
One more thing!
Any man who wants to watch muscle men play with balls for loads of money should do themselves a favor and visit their local gay porn shop!
They may be lucky enough to find what they are actually seeking.
Posted by: kasey at Feb 6, 2004 10:41:45 AM
Well. I haven't been here for a while but am glad to see there are others who despise sports as I do. Our world could go down the tubes and these nuts would still worry that some coach might lose his job. Who in their right mind would worry about some jerk being traded or some dumb coach losing his job, isn't that the way it works, if you lose a game. you lose your job, boy what security.
Posted by: Chuck Stoner at May 2, 2004 5:28:58 PM
I was wondering if they would ever do a Study on people like Us who Hate Sports, I mean I dont see the Point in any of it , Im damn sure not the one too stand out in the Hot sun and hit a ball around as they do in golf 'Whats the Point?" Its weird My whole family doesnt like nor watch Sports I dont see in watching somthing that really in the end means NOTHING.
Ps. Be like me tell People you were born without a Sports Gene they really shy away from you then.
Ray
Posted by: Ray at Aug 30, 2004 1:19:17 PM
I'm glad I've seen others who hates sports as much as me. Normally when I play sports, I get a lot of insults rubbed in my face. In my GYM class, everybody asks me why didn't I hit the ball correctly. I was never interested in sports and I don't know anything about it. If there was a quiz or test on sports, I would make ZERO. I feel like I'm the only student at my school that doesn't like sports. My best friend doesn't really like it that much and I know of people who are sports drones. I was afraid I'm the only person in the USA that didn't like sports. All they just do in sports is the same thing over and over and over and so on. If I had a Super Bowl ticket, I would probably give it away or sell it.
PS. Those of you who don't like sports, please post your opinions because I would like to know who else hates sports.
Posted by: Rose Nguyen at Oct 1, 2004 5:04:56 PM
Whenever anyone mentions sports around me, I just shrug my shoulders and reply with "I grew out of sports when I was seven." I don't care if they're my new boss, my date's father, or WHO they are. Their reactions are priceless! I'll never play along with their juvenile bullshit! It's amazing there are so many other guys here with the same hatred of sports, because I've never, ever, met even one man, in person, who hates sports too.
Posted by: Steve at Oct 4, 2004 9:02:39 PM
I just ran across this observation:
"If theater in all of its forms did not have social power, actors would not be rich and famous. Theatrical ritual also has notable power in America on the playing fields of ritual combat, otherwise known as sports. People collectively re-dream and re-create themselves as they watch. Players provide spectators with fodder for re-envisioning themselves. Movies and sporting events are not just about what happens on the field or the screen. They are also about what goes on in the mind of the viewer. Without that powerful function, there would not be huge professional sports salaries or a contemporary American pantheon of gods and goddesses composed of those who appear in movies." - Karen Larson, _Culture and Terror_
Maybe those of us who aren't drawn to sports, and/or don't idolize actors, just don't see ourselves in those settings and so get no satisfaction from watching. (One further thought: I'd love to act, I love to watch films & plays, but I don't really hero-worship actors, though I admire the good ones. Maybe "fame" is the element that draws many, and fame has no appeal to me.)
Posted by: Jinx at Oct 5, 2004 10:56:12 AM
Thank God! I thought I was the only one. Why is there not a book about this to reassure us that we're normal and it's ok that we love life, those in it with us and the simple pleasures. I have a hard time understanding why (those people) have a quest to go back to the "Roman Gladiator Days". Such aggression! Yhey get mad when their team doesn't win and stay that way all day! It affects their family and their attitude toward the world. Is it any wonder (these people) drive so aggresively and harbor a screw you attitude, "my SUV is bigger than yours?" What bright mind can sit in front of a TV for that many hours and be "dumbed down?" Historically how many brilliant minds were dedicated to spectator sports? I can't think of any, can you?
Posted by: Annette at Oct 14, 2004 10:57:53 AM
it's interesting to me that everyone here is so loudly opposed to something like this. something that really doesn't matter at all. sports is sports. take it or leave it. it's entertainment. some people like wine. some people like books. some people like movies. some people like sports.
your tv has an off button. no one's forcing you to watch. isn't the idea of having your tv on at all in the first place pretty repulsive? why are you bothering watching at all? how is watching sports any worse than watching "joey" or "the apprentice?" if you were truly as visionary as you're purporting to be, this wouldn't be an issue at all.
i don't really much like sports either, and i'm not defending the nuts who do, but the idea of critcizing sports fan, people who take some pleasure out of this bleak world of ours is hypocrytical, and just as bad as what the people who you yourselves are criticizing do.
your collective blanket assessment that people who are sports fans are in some way angry, juvenile, and inferior to you and that they all drive SUVs parking spaces is just as ridiculous as saying that all muslims are terrorists hell bent on destroying the world.
it's really pathetic that people exist who are willing to get this upset over something that is, in every imaginable way, as uninteresting as organized sports is. what's the point of getting upset? like most mass media crap, if you ignore it, it'll go away.
Posted by: joe reskin at Oct 14, 2004 5:25:40 PM
It has been intriguing to me, too, that this small kvetch by Dinah (which began when her drive home from work was made impossible by a traffic jam of sports fans) has ignited such a long-lasting and passionate string of comments --- for well over a year now! Clearly this issue does touch something deep for quite a few people. Here's my guess: this much depth of feeling doesn't just come from adult experiences when, as Joe Reskin points out, we could easily sidestep the whole thing most of the time (except in the traffic jam). I'm guessing much of it comes from childhood, where we found we weren't good at sports (not such a big deal) but then were labelled and rejected by our peers, our other skills discounted. Being able to solve a quadratic equation was nothing compared to being able to catch a fly ball... (Notice, Dinah, that you attract the thoughtful types; no passionate defense of sports or the playing fields of Eton...)
Posted by: Jinx at Oct 14, 2004 6:24:15 PM
I don't necessarily agree that most sports-haters "weren't good at sports," or "rejected by their peers," although I'd agree, it may be true with some. I was actually quite good at sports as a young boy, and was accepted by other kids whom I played with. But I soon realized the absurdity (and unfairness) of "competition" before it could brainwash me and ruin the rest of my life. Bowlers who practice religiously, only to be punished by lazy bowlers receiving handicaps; top racecar drivers being placed at the back and having to catch up to the "slower" drivers; losing teams having first choice of the very best athletes. Why bother? Who really wins... and what does it mean when one does... that the loser is inferior? If a championship team wins three out of four games, is it because they're better? Then how did they lose "one" of those games to a team who's supposedly worse? Who decides which tennis player gets to swing against the wind? It's insane! If it's simply entertainment to some, or to win money from betting... that's fine. But it doesn't stop there for most sports fans...
I know someone who'll root for one hockey player to beat the hell out of another, in front of his 7 year-old daughter! He buys her hockey jerseys, memorabilia, and continually shoves hockey down her throat whenever possible. But then yells at her, and punishes her everytime she's sent home from school for fist-fighting! He won't listen to my imput on it because I don't have children. Hmmm, I guess I couldn't possibly understand her confusion as to why it's okay for her father's heros to fight over a chunk of rubber, but not okay for her to have to constantly defend herself from bullies.
I agree that "physical fitness" is a worthwhile part of education (and life), but competitive, nonsensical games requiring "winners" and "losers," are totally destructive to evolving into a sound-minded person.
In response to Joe Reskin... I don't hate people who are sports fans. I just feel sorry for them. It's their "you're not normal," mentality they have toward me. It's their constant attempts to "recruit me" into their warped and twisted brotherhood conversations, so that I too, could lose hours out of my life that I'd never get back. I can't simply ignore them with an "off button" because they're not on TV. I wish it were that simple, but the reality is that I'd have to avoid all of society to avoid being bombarded with foolish sports fanatics and their cult-worshipping beliefs day in, and day out.
Incidently, I've never heard of "Joey" or "The Apprentice," but I'm guessing that YOU must watch your "pretty repulsive" television far more often than me these days.
Posted by: Steve at Oct 16, 2004 9:45:34 PM
well, there's no arguing the fact that parents who get into fights because of their kids' sports teams have some things they need to work out, but there are also plenty of sports fans who are fine, productive, upstanding members of society. some even know how to read and write.
why single out the sports fans, though? zealots of all kinds are pretty troubling in all their forms, be they people who try to convince people of their religious beliefs, political notions, or anything else. i know people who routinely tell me that photography isn't a true art, and the only true form of literature is poetry. i don't agree with these people, but are they any more or less wrong than sports fans? i don't think so. i shrug, and keep walking. it's really quite nice actually. leaves them stammering for a response. people with whom i interact with every day tell me how great some player or team did over the weekend. i shrug, lift my cup of coffee, and smile politely. really no sense getting bent out of shape. people have opinions on things. people enjoy things. more power to them. i think with most things, very much not limited to sports, it's fine as long as you're not getting in other people's ways. i've found that i've been on the rough end of far far far more political and religion-based fanaticism than sports-based. what then? is religion something that matters? am i a bad person for disagreeing politically with the guy who works at the qwik-e-mart on the corner of my block?
by the way, i never accused you or anyone else of hating sports fans, dentists, locksmiths, coopers, or anyone else, steve. i simply said getting bent out of shape about something that's purely entertainment is questionable way to spend time, regardless of which side of the argument you're on.
as for joey and the apprentice, advertisements for these shows have appeared quite frequently in newspapers and on the barriers in front of construction sites for weeks. no need to turn on the tv at all. but, you know, you're absolutely right. most of the time ads for products and cultural phenomena are neatly contained entirely within they medium to which they apply.
joe
Posted by: joe reskin at Oct 18, 2004 10:57:03 AM
Yup. I hate sports too. Bored to TEARS by them all (well, that women's beach volleyball has some reasons to watch). My wife and I talk about this. As a guy, I am constantly trying to stay out of sports conversations or defend my boredom of them. She has to deal with the same thing on the other genderscape with the topic of babies/children. She, nor I, want anything to do with them.
Posted by: JoeW at Oct 20, 2004 5:24:51 PM
Why do we single out sports fans? Because people don't spend hours every single day discussing religion, politics, photography, poetry, dentistry, or locksmiths with others whom may not be interested. They talk about sports... everyday, all day! I've never heard a news anchor say "Now, here's Jack with today's Poetry Reading," or "Coming up next... Dave Dawson and the Daily Dental Report." I've never been asked about photography or politics each and every day. Sure, it's acceptable for men to have different interests... just as long as sports be one of them.
People with common interests discuss those interests amongst themselves. But people don't ask everyone they meet everyday if they need their locks changed. Sports fans, however, expect EVERYONE to be interested in sports. Sports, Sports, Sports! THAT'S why we single them out.
Posted by: Steve at Oct 25, 2004 3:11:51 PM
I was also good at sports. The main problem is I love playing sports (except the trash talk that prevails in sports now.) but hate watching them there boring for me to watch. It is annoying to see a bunch of sports-drones (I love that word). I currently work for a hotel while taking classes. And every time there is some big sports event in roll the fans. And these are the weeks we see the most damage; noise from rowdy chuckleheads broken things fist fights cops on the scene. Their drunk the whole time. They are belligerent. There annoying. When they ask whom im rooting for I say I could care less then I hear their blather. I ignore these ignorant jerks as much as possible. Who really cares these sports are just another thing to rally behind and encourage unity like patriotism. Or religion. Its good in allot of senses uniting a community is great. But sports seem to be the only thing that unites a community along with church. Why? In allot of ways these diehards use the love of the team to be rude to people on the other team they each probably have allot in common but like different teams because of where they live on this world decking each other in the face and knocking a like minded individual senseless. That is why I hate sports drones. The rest are just slobs who drink too much. Republican or democrat each and everyone, thinking there is no other choice. None of them seem to have a brain inside their skulls when it comes to any subject besides women or sports.... that’s pathetic. They’re the drones in the truest sense of the word the social norm the status quo. Most seem to be proud to be a fly on the wall and ride out there oblivious lives of debauchery. Proud of their American beer guts and close minded ideals. Their love of violence is disturbing.
Deep down I like a sense of belonging to a group like anyone else to a point its fun to meet a stranger and have something in command to talk about...sports does that. It’s the rowdy yee hars I don’t like. Why are our rallying points centers for violence instead of cooperation?
Posted by: rich at Oct 31, 2004 10:00:50 PM
Hello! I too am one of the few people who dislike sports, especially football. I can see playing sports being good to keep healthy. I think it is such a turn off how many guys watch other men running around in tights, smacking each other's rears and acting like violent fools. It is sad too that so much money is wasted on the NFL industry making money off of weak men who aren't men enough themselves that they need to live vicariously through big muscular men or are too scared to play sports themselves. People spend some much time wasted watching sports. It is just crazy to me. If all the energy that was put into watching tv was put into solving world hunger, war and violence there probably wouldn't be any. I think it is about priorities and guys being selfish looking for an escape from everyday life they can't deal with without having to drink beer and watch football. I guess that is what it is to be a man in America. NOT! A real man is there for his kids and family. ahhh..i feel better now...Glad to hear there are others like me..=)
Posted by: Danielle Iwanyszyn at Jan 16, 2005 5:41:23 PM
I hate sports. My parents forced me to play little league where I was made fun of and harrassed. What is the point of being able to hit a ball (Wow! look at me I can run and catch! I am so awesome, too bad I am a idiot)?. All I wanted to do was sit at the library and study, god forbid. Sports ruined my adult life, because I rebelled and got in to drugs and it took me 10 years and counting to straigten out. My parents wonder why I don't talk to them. Now my life is 3 times as difficult as it should be. They said I am so smart. If I am so smart why couldn't I make my own decisions about what I do?
Posted by: Paul M. Dziejman at Jan 27, 2005 7:04:32 AM
Any parents who come between their child and the library are sorely confused.
Posted by: Dinah at Jan 27, 2005 8:06:15 PM
Joe W is right! We focus on sports fan because we're constantly immersed in sports --everyday --all day! And don't tell me that you can simply shrug your shoulders and walk away. That's a load of bullshit. If the topic we despised happened to be ballet, poetry, copper mining, or root canals, then YES, we could walk away! It would be a perfectly normal and acceptable reaction. But we're not allowed to dislike sports or even to be ambivalent --if you're a man --because to be less than enthusiastic about sports is to be... gay. Or weird. Or anti-social. And don't even try to say otherwise. It's so ridiculous it's not worth responding to more than once.
Posted by: Ray at Feb 7, 2005 4:55:23 PM
Sports have many benefits, but their importance is grotesquely distorted for the average American. Sports are the national religion, and this is no exaggeration. I think it is because people need something to feel passionately about, as well as a diversion from the hollowness and tedium of their daily lives. Unfortunately, the average American lacks the imagination or literacy to persue anything more cerebral, particulary if they have children, raising children being the other national religion. The kids are all involved in sports, so it's bring the kids to the game, and watch the game on t.v. and read about the game in the paper and get updated on the game on the evening news and talk about the game at the water cooler. It's the vicariousness of the entire phenomenon that aggravates me the most. If you're playing sports, it's a great activity to stay fit, have fun, stay in touch with friends, maintain a competitive spirit... but if you're just watching other people play sports all day, it's no different than watching porn. It's pointless, and pathetic - if it becomes the central focus of your life. I don't get the fanaticism at all. Never have, never will.
Posted by: Jim at Mar 15, 2005 10:48:26 AM
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