Never really understood the obsession with sports

[Crissi]

One thing I've got to agree with the OP on is the team switching. The NBA in particular has taken a huge hit in integrity. The days of guys like MJ who stuck with the same team almost their whole career are gone.

The NBA works likes this: when stars come into the league they usually start on bad (relatively) small market teams like Lebron in Cleveland, Dwight Howard with Orlando, Deron Williams with Utah, Chris Paul to New Orleans, Carmelo in New York, Amare Stoudemire in Phoenix. They play until their contract is up then everyone flocks to New York/LA/Miami.

The last few years have been a pathetic arms race of stars flocking to NY/Brooklyn, LA Clippers and LA Lakers and Miami. Watching Lebron win a championship didn't even feel redeeming or accomplishing. He took the easy way out.

Have some pride, if you think you're so great carry YOUR team to a championship. Expecting others to carry you to a champship is the exact opposite of a champ. Lebron is and never will be MJ.

Dirk Nowitzki is still with the team he drafted, and finally got a ring But I assume he is a true rarity

[kakihara]

I dont really get it either. I live in Germany in a town called leipzig. So my dad is a huge football(soccer) fan. in the past he like rostock, but some time ago he switched to dortmund.
i still have no idea why he even likes them.
so he sits in the living room and screms hes lungs out on everything that happens. and he doesnt get it how i dont share his ambitions.
football is such a slow paced boring game. its not like im not interessted in sports at all, i like to go cycling myself and while i am nowhere good at it i still strife to get better and push my limits.
i love to watch videos of extreme sports like wingsuit flying or something like that thats just let my jaw drop, but football?
the most retarted thing is when he say "we" won the game. he didnt do shit for the team... and its only we if they win.
also he watched everything they do when in winter. What is even remotly exiting about Ski jumping? i mean yeah i get it, its dangerous to jump that far and stuff but after the 10th jump that excitement is gone when viewing it. then it is the same every damn time with some minor differnce in the number they display at the end.
same goes for most other winter sports in german tv.
of course sports like trick snowboarding is something different, but those arent shown on german mainstream tv.

[Nanaboostme]

and for this reason as well:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer...2142--sow.html

[Deleted]

I watch every single game Sweden plays in Handball, Football and Hockey. The teams I cheer for I always look on highlights and stats after games. I have been like this since I was little, played both football and hockey aswell so for me it has been natural to be obsessed with sports

[semetrik22]

the opinions in this thread are going to be so bias. i don't want to stereotype but in general people here play games instead of watching sports. it's like asking everyone at a heavy metal concert why they don't like Celine Dion.

on topic: i find watching sports, following a team etc a cultural thing. you are either brought up surrounded by people who are very passionate about it or are not.

[Revik]

The reason why most people don't get sports on here is for mainly 2 reasons. Firstly none of you really knows whats going on when you are watching and never really tried to understand what was going on. So what you see is bunch of people doing something over and over again never truly understanding hence you lose interest and don't bother watching and dub it as boring. Secondly to truly enjoy sports you have to be an extrovert. You have to want to burst out and yell and scream which from reading these boards most of you are not into and sports is one accepted activity where you can do that.

I'm willing to bet that 90% of the people who say they can't get into sports fall into one of these 2 reasons.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

I've never really gotten into the sports watching culture either. I'll sit and watch a football game if I'm with someone else who enjoys football, but I'm just not invested enough to really care enough to turn it on myself. Except the Super Bowl and the World Cup, both of which I'll watch because they're major cultural events.

I wouldn't define the super bowl or the world cup as things that you need to keep up on at all when worrying about major cultural events.

[vindicatorx]

I also find it odd people can be so adamite and obsessed with a sport they can't even play or never even have played. I understand people like competition, but why not be competitive in something you can actually do? The only time I really enjoy watching sports is if i'm actually at the game. That is when it's a totally different experience.

Speak for yourself I used to play Soccer, Football, wrestling, track, baseball, basketball, etc. etc. I still watch a game from time to time but I'm not sitting around watching sports everyday. I don't team switch either I like The Buccaneers( have since 1996 when they drafted Mike Alstott I met him his senior year at Purdue and thought he was the shit), I also like Manchester United for several reasons the guy owning the Buccaneers owns them as well. I don't watch pro baseball or basketball I root for my school in Football no matter how poorly they are playing and our basketball team because of how much ass they are kicking.

[Srg56]

This isn't a thread to antagonize anyone but to merely understand more about the passion and obsession with sports watcher.

I rarely watch basketball, american football, baseball, etc on television since I never found it entertaining to watch. My biggest reason is because there really isn't much stake in hand. At the end of the day, both teams are paid millions of dollars whether they win or lose. I've always been interested in poker tournaments, and I think it's because theres so much stake involved that it gets pretty intense. One winner, the rest are losers that go home empty handed.

Another thing that bothers me are team-switching. I find it strange a player can be playing for the Lakers, competing against one of their rivals, the Celtics, but eventually one of the Lakers transferring to the Celtics. I don't feel like there's any authentic team spirit or patriotism at all when this stuff happens. Or when your team isn't playing in the super bowl, so you root for another team that could have possibly been a rival to your favorite team. To me a team should be like a loyal band. Once a band member drops, the whole team isn't the same and should be disbanded or giving a new name/color theme.

I also find it odd people can be so adamite and obsessed with a sport they can't even play or never even have played. I understand people like competition, but why not be competitive in something you can actually do? The only time I really enjoy watching sports is if i'm actually at the game. That is when it's a totally different experience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses

Nothing more, nothing less. Same goes for everything else in which you sit on your ass and cheer for one side. At least at the Olympics you may have the excuse of nationalism but it's still the same thing. Not much else to add, sadly.

[Mormolyce]

I'm not interested in sports in general, they seem really boring compared to video games, I'm your classic nerd really

I did watch tennis for a little while though. I find it a lot easier to understand a 1 vs 1 sport where you can actually care about the individual people playing. I can't really understand why anyone would feel attachment to amorphous teams. Especially when they basically just buy and sell players.

[Prokne]

One thing I've got to agree with the OP on is the team switching. The NBA in particular has taken a huge hit in integrity. The days of guys like MJ who stuck with the same team almost their whole career are gone.

The NBA works likes this: when stars come into the league they usually start on bad (relatively) small market teams like Lebron in Cleveland, Dwight Howard with Orlando, Deron Williams with Utah, Chris Paul to New Orleans, Carmelo in New York, Amare Stoudemire in Phoenix. They play until their contract is up then everyone flocks to New York/LA/Miami.

The last few years have been a pathetic arms race of stars flocking to NY/Brooklyn, LA Clippers and LA Lakers and Miami. Watching Lebron win a championship didn't even feel redeeming or accomplishing. He took the easy way out.

Have some pride, if you think you're so great carry YOUR team to a championship. Expecting others to carry you to a champship is the exact opposite of a champ. Lebron is and never will be MJ.

Those teams probably get the good players early because their teams are bad and get higher draft picks. Then one guy isnt enough to carry the team and they are still bad so the guy leaves for a team he has a chance to win a championship with. The best way to fix this is with salary caps since it evens out the talent between the teams. The NFL really doesnt have this problem. MLB is fine except for premium players going to the Yankees but the thing in baseball is bargain players(see Moneyball).

All of this is another reason why college sports are better than pro sports. Some people still play as a minor league for the pro leagues but there is still school pride and not many people switch Div I schools.

[Lemons]

I think the closest thing I've ever come to really watching a sport is watching professional SC2 matches on YouTube. Like Total Biscuit, Husky, etc. and eventually I tired of that. It kind of sucks because it seems like society thinks that "men should like sports!", but I just don't. My dad never did, and his dad never did, so I assume that's why.

[hawtlol]

This isn't a thread to antagonize anyone but to merely understand more about the passion and obsession with sports watcher.

I rarely watch basketball, american football, baseball, etc on television since I never found it entertaining to watch. My biggest reason is because there really isn't much stake in hand. At the end of the day, both teams are paid millions of dollars whether they win or lose. I've always been interested in poker tournaments, and I think it's because theres so much stake involved that it gets pretty intense. One winner, the rest are losers that go home empty handed.

Another thing that bothers me are team-switching. I find it strange a player can be playing for the Lakers, competing against one of their rivals, the Celtics, but eventually one of the Lakers transferring to the Celtics. I don't feel like there's any authentic team spirit or patriotism at all when this stuff happens. Or when your team isn't playing in the super bowl, so you root for another team that could have possibly been a rival to your favorite team. To me a team should be like a loyal band. Once a band member drops, the whole team isn't the same and should be disbanded or giving a new name/color theme.

I also find it odd people can be so adamite and obsessed with a sport they can't even play or never even have played. I understand people like competition, but why not be competitive in something you can actually do? The only time I really enjoy watching sports is if i'm actually at the game. That is when it's a totally different experience.

First of all I find American sports to be boring due to how many stoppages there are in the games.

Not much at stake? These guys are giving up their body for a championship. The money comes along the way but to win a championship in any sport is the ultimate prize. You need to stop looking at whats "in stake" as money because you can lose much more in life than money, for these players this game is their life.

Team Switching is going to happen due to how players perform, if a team is close to a salaray cap, or just don't want to take on a certain contract. These are grown men, some will form great relationships with other teammates but you don't know what goes on in the locker rooms. To say that there is no team spirit is absurd.

People like watching other people who are more skilled at do something. Why does anyone watch WoW boss kills or PvP? Why do people go to concerts? Why do people go to movies?

[Deleted]

I like sports, well, not all of them but the ones I really liked and played in High School were very good. Watching people play them with such skill and perfection is very impressive to me and it's very enjoyable.

Although, that doesn't happen with all games, even with those that require big amounts of skill.

[Garehn Vi-Brittania]

Popo is too good for sports

[RH92]

I watch only two sports, Rugby Union and Ice Hockey, manily National Competitions and matches. Not great fan of Club Competitions, but I chceck the results and watch some games too. What I like about watching it? Well, I don't know.

Ice Hockey is part of our culture somehow as we are/were quite good at it, but it is descending due the poor system (Culture and Sport is overlooked in our country, not enough money goes there). Anyway I find it interesting how those guys can move on those skates at around 30-40 km/h, handle those pucks and still they can take a hit. And the Goalies are incredible catching those fast pucks.

Rugby Union, I came across it by reading about New Zealand's Haka. When I searched it on the net I became obsessed with it. This sport has probably the best spirit of all sports... I love about rugby that is high contact sport that require players to use their brain more often than muscles and you never see them cry for being hit and blood running down their head. It is really complex and diverse game and it takes time to fully understand it. If I hadn't Haemophilia I would love to play it, it is like war, battle for territory LOL. It may sound childlish, but I like it.

[Woakerio]

Until the penalty for losing is death I'm not that interested

[Stormcall]

The reason why most people don't get sports on here is for mainly 2 reasons. Firstly none of you really knows whats going on when you are watching and never really tried to understand what was going on. So what you see is bunch of people doing something over and over again never truly understanding hence you lose interest and don't bother watching and dub it as boring. Secondly to truly enjoy sports you have to be an extrovert. You have to want to burst out and yell and scream which from reading these boards most of you are not into and sports is one accepted activity where you can do that.

I'm willing to bet that 90% of the people who say they can't get into sports fall into one of these 2 reasons.

Never tried to understand what's going on? I UNDERSTAND them fine, I know HOW to play baseball, I know HOW to play football, I know the rules and the terminology, and you know what? I STILL find them fucking DULL. As for being an extrovert, I have no problems there either, I just "burst out" when I'm at parties with my friends actually having a good time, instead of watching a boring sports event.

[Stormcall]

That is okay..you are not supposed to understand or love everything.

Reality TV, hell...watching TV in generally..obsession with that is sth I can't understand. Then again I love games. Now THAT is an obsession that others cannot understand.

I don't like sports, but I'd watch them over most "reality" TV in a heartbeat. I do love games too, but that said...I don't particularly desire to watch other people play them, either(I don't really care about watching progression guilds downing a boss, or streams from high ranked PvP players anymore than I care to watch the Cowboys or the Rangers play a game)

[Nerevar]

I don't understand watching sports as well. Only if you're betting on the teams for money, that's okay. But in any other case - I'd rather play myself, than watch. Watching sports is like watching paint dry imo.