Sports Fanaticism

I am the same. A 35 yr Oakland Raider fan, but never take it to any extreme. I watch the game or I don't, never a bother.

If kids and adults are playing soccer on a hot day with no shade, well I assume they know when to quit and have a drink or go home, I would be more unimpressed if they were spending the day playing XBox or PS4, with the air con on high and with constant fridge opening and electricity usage. They are outside, what more can you ask. lol

If you were hiking on the same type of day (hot and humid), is that different then them playing soccer?

I find that sports like the UFC are more of a problem then soccer or the NFL. These literally target violence with the bonus to knock someone out, legally. This sport is taken to the streets a night, into the Nightclubs and results in a few deaths, unintentionally, but related non the less.

 

Without the fan(atics), there is no money to pay the players, the organization does not function. I use the word "we" a lot for sports, we won this, we won that etc. they're my teams, they're who I support, they're who I pay money towards in terms of memberships, tickets, merchandise etc. etc. if they get excited, I get excited, when they're down, I am down. We feel all this together and that's what is so special about it.

Anyone ever played on team sport? I used to be medical training staff for rugby union club, a club that thrived off their small country fan base who went week in, week out to watch their boys dish out against the bigger clubs with money. There was passion and the boys lived and loved to play for the fans.

If you can't get excited and all that over sports then someone please tell me what the point of following or watching sport is? I don't really tend to gawk at strangers doing things that don't interest me, so if it's perceived badly or in bad taste that I love my sports, because I enjoy watching and supporting then to hell with ya.

My high school was sports driven high school and we did really well for ourselves and the school, well not me, but those who participated did really well and it was exciting to see them happy and to push themselves, and they did it for each other too. The look on friends faces etc. while they watched their favorite sports teams, I remember those faces and the happiness and I remember the sadness too, the whole emotion of the fanatic. Some of the best times are with a group of people dedicated to a certain team or sport and watching that team or sport with them.

 

They should shut down every fucking church and school for the entire world series this october

 

I hate sports...

 

Middle of the afternoon in July, middle of North Carolina, no trees around? No thanks. Early morning or evening is so much better. Sometimes I walk at night, in a safe neighborhood with plenty of streetlights and good sidewalks.

I went to a high school like that. Intelligent male non-athletes were disrespected. Girls were judged only on looks.

 

Just as many females did sports at our school as males. Just not me really. :d I took sports medicine up but I never played. I did rowing a little while but nothing full on, I enjoy watching.

 

It's great to play sports. Physical fitness and teamwork and competition, it can really bring out the best in us.

Idolizing athletes, and attaching your joy and misery to the performace of your geographically proximate sports clubs, is pretty toxic. I played basketball and football in high school, and even while I was in the midst of the experience, I found myself feeling very disconnected from the experience by 11th/12th grade. It felt like a religion, like something entirely rooted in tradition and dogma.

I intuitively started drifting away from my favorite sports teams soon after. There's a way to do it without the dogma. I started feeling drawn to teams that had a style I identified with. Smart teams, smart players. Steve Nash, a shortish, unathletic, white Canadian became the NBA MVP. If I were ever to emulate someone to be the best player I personally could be, that's who I would study. Steph Curry is a fascinating player. Incredibly skilled, and thriving in a world of ultra athletic giants. Your goal should always be the best YOU can be. Competition is integral to that project, so is coordinating with other people and observing the people who do it best. That's the role sports should play in people's lives. It shouldn't be a tribalistic, bread and circuses enterprise that serves to distract people from improving themselves and their surroundings.

 

^^Hope I never have to watch sports with this downer^^

^^Hope I never have to watch sports with this downer^^

I be all like;

OH FUCK OFF REF! PASS INTERFERENCE.

And this dude be like;

You know, this sports team is pretty smart and they have some smart players and a smart coordinator. I like them because they are smart. They just smartly dodged a penalty. Smart.

 

Very much like fundamentalist religion. I wonder if that explains why there is so much geographical and demographic overlap between sports fanatics and church people.

Exactly. That's what I do, more or less. I start out with some kind of a connection to an individual or group of individuals within a team. It doesn't matter to me where they are physically located. My loyalties change as the teams change; players and coaches come and go, and organizations go in different directions. An old favorite team may evolve to represent an organizational style that I detest.

People who think this way are much more likely to be into pro sports than at the college level, unless you become drawn to a particular college coach and his style and philosophy, such as Coach K at Duke.

 

I was thinking about this last night. There's definitely a growing social expectation for parents to sacrifice everything to give their children every possible competitive advantage.

There was some vicarious living going on back when I was a child, but the activities were much more diverse. Girls didn't play a lot of sports. There was dance, music lessons, cheerleading, drama, debate team, and beauty pageants for the older girls. So many competitive opportunities for parents to brag about. I did my duty to the family.

My parents assumed I'd follow in their footsteps, living my adult life as a big fish in a small pond; a leader in a small manufacturing community where most people accomplished very little. But even before all those little towns lost their good jobs and started to rot, I decided to dump that lifestyle. It was just too tribal; too scripted and fake.

 

I feel there is some importance of being involved with sports too whether actually playing the sport, or supporting it.

You make a good point in asking what is the point in watching or following sports if you can't get excited. I think that being part of a group is very healthy - physically and mentally. And I think sharing in the emotions of winning and losing strengthens our connection to that group.

I can relate to Karen in that a lot of people around my area not only participate and celebrate sports, but they rely on them and, to quote Karen, "attach extreme importance" to them.

It's a good feeling to contribute and feel accepted in a group. If you're the kind of person that seeks out more than just a few interests, you can feel like an outsider in a group of people who have few interests, and obsess on those interests.

With as many interests as you have, Irminsul, and as varied subjects that you bring up, or respond to on hf, I would suspect that you would feel uncomfortable living in my area.

 

I think my parents assumed the same - when I was young. They probably realized I wasn't going to be much more than blue gill in a mudhole. Luckily I have a successful brother, haha.

Anyway, I agree. A lot of parents live through their children (I believe) because it adds to their self worth, or possibly fills in gaps where they feel empty. In my opinion, it contributes to unhealthy levels of competitiveness, and self worth issues...which eventually leads to living through someone else's successes, which leads back to living through their kids' achievements, and also contributes to fanaticism...

It fills the empty spots.

Just my opinion though. I have no research to back me up.


-I'm not saying all sports fanatics, or proud parents of children have self worth issues, btw.

 

i love sports, to play. to watch, they generally range from boring to downright obnoxious. i do enjoy watching a little NFL each year, although i ultimately give about 1/10 of a fuck about the outcome.

in my experience, this seems to come mostly from a lack of anything better to do. places like this tend to lack any legitimate entertainment opportunities, and the people that live there tend to be the people that aren't smart enough to move to a decent location, and therefore also aren't smart enough to come up with a better way to keep themselves busy.

 

This theory matches up well with what I've heard about the Panthers; that the majority of their season ticket holders live outside of Charlotte, many of them more than an hour away. Locals have other, better things to spend their money on, and they're smart enough to realize that you can see the game better on HDTV, in the comfort of your own home, where the beer is cheaper and colder.

 

And no toilet lines lol