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Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

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Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#81

Post by hockeybias »

solson wrote: post #20

When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills. It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education. I grew up working class and w…

solson - Please check out my labor of love http://HockeyBias.com and let me know if you like it! Thanks!

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#82

Post by seekingtruth »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #53
martythemaniak wrote: post #21

I don't like the message of this post. I do understand (and see) the cultivated disinterest he's talking about, but I would never suggest you try and make yourself like something for the sole purpose of fitting in, ie cultivating disinterest is bad, but so is cultivating this interest. If you keep and open mind and follow your passions, you'll eventually stumble on something you share enough with others. My disintere…

>so is cultivating this interest. How so? Taking part in the things most inherent in your culture is arguably a good thing. It helps you keep in touch with the rest of the world. It helps you carry on and start up conversations with your peers. It's easier to "break the ice". It makes you feel more connected to society, which is something that I'm sure most of us sitting behind a computer screen 24/7 certainly could…

>Taking part in the things most inherent in your culture is arguably a good thing.

Like being overweight? Eating fast food? Watching the latest wastes of time on the tubes? Because fuck everything about that. I do as I damn well please and spend my time on things that interest me. If that "alienates" losers, who cares? I have more to offer the average portly dimwitted plebian than they do me.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#83

Post by BurgerEarmuffs »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #74
BurgerEarmuffs wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This happened to me growing up so now I get to do it to you"? What a wonderful message for the children.

How about, you've done it all your life, so your whining when it happens to you comes off as hypocritical? What a wonderful message...

> you've done it all your life

Me personally? When did I do it?

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#84

Post by bglazer »

I'm not sure how I feel about this article. On the one hand, it had a weird highbrow tone. It reads a bit like an ivory tower academic discovering what "the poors" are up to. Some choice quotes:

"Albert suggested that sports reflect the go-to topic for small talk and building rapport across class and context"

"Sports are popular because people, in general, find them fun to watch".

No shit! Lots of people like sports. Did you really need to go to a talk at MIT to figure that out?

On the other hand, I applaud the author for challenging the social conventions of the people around him. Disdain for sports is pointless social signalling that is ultimately divisive. Another quote, that I particularly like:

"This ignorance among highly educated people limits our ability to communicate, bond, and build relationships across different segments of society. It limits our ability to engage in conversations and build a common culture that crosses our highly stratified and segmented societies"

Edit: I would also like to add one perspective that is perhaps more appealing to the intellectual crowd: Sports are a magnificent showcase of kinesiology at the highest level. The same people who scoff at football probably also marvel at the latest ATLAS robot from Boston Dynamics, which is a poor analogue of the human machines on display in any high level sporting event. I could give a dozen examples. Anything from hitting a baseball thrown at 90 mph to ice-skating to a running back evading tackles. I can't believe we take this for granted.

Imagine bipedal robots powered by ham sandwiches that have visual/control systems capable of tracking objects thrown through the air and leaping to catch them, all while evading attackers and coordinating with team mates.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#85

Post by jaynos »

serve_yay wrote: post #4
spacemunkay wrote: post #3

In summary, you should try liking things that a lot of other people like because you might like them yourself and it will help you make conversation with those that also like them.

My father has been a sales guy for a long time, and he got into playing golf for this reason. He never liked watching sports, which if you're in sales is a bit of a handicap. He doesn't even know the rules of a football game. So the golf gave him something in that space to talk with others about, without having to keep on top of sports news. Plus it's OK if you suck at golf, everyone you're playing with sucks too. An…

I've always been a football fan, but never cared too much for baseball, basketball, or hockey (probably because the season has too many games and it's hard to maintain interest). When I was doing construction sales, I made sure to scan the sports page every morning to ensure I had a few tidbits to throw out about every sport. Worked like a charm, especially in construction.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#86

Post by lotharbot »

scotch_drinker wrote: post #61
wutbrodo wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the latter isn't contempt. I feel like I don't understand why anyone is interested in watching sports (as opposed to playing), but I certainly don't look down on them for it. At the very least, I know enough people that I respect that are into pro sports that it would be inconsistent to think something like "people who are into pro sports have nothing better to occupy their time and their minds".

It is contempt. It implies that there is no valid reason for liking X. You may not look down on them but when someone says "I don't see how anybody...", that is contempt. Not understanding is vastly different from expressing disbelief that anyone would do a particular thing.

> "It implies that there is no valid reason for liking X."

Taken more charitably, it merely implies that one does not understand the valid reasons for liking X.

There's a difference between saying "there's nothing of value here" and "I don't see why this is of value" -- one is phrased as an objective statement, while the other is a statement of perspective.

Long ago, my wife told me she didn't understand why people liked a particular music genre I listened to. I had her listen to a couple of favorite songs and talked about what I thought was interesting about them, and as a result she developed a mild fondness for the genre which grew over the next several years. She wasn't expressing contempt; she was expressing a lack of understanding which was overcome as a result of experience and education.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#87

Post by clay_to_n »

bitwize wrote: post #23

tl;dr everybody likes sports, and if you don't like sports than you're weird and might not really be human. Been hearing that since high school. Am sick of it. I literally can't be arsed to give a shit about sports. I know about football and baseball and can understand most sports-related metaphors, but I really don't have the energy to invest in knowing what the Patriots are doing. (Although I followed the Deflatega…

>tl;dr everybody likes sports, and if you don't like sports than you're weird and might not really be human

That is absolutely NOT what the article states. The articles argument is basically "If you don't like sports, you might be condescending and exclusionary about it. Sports are a near universal conversation topic. If you try getting into them just for the social benefit, you might find you actually like them."

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#88

Post by Zikes »

solson wrote: post #20

When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills. It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education. I grew up working class and w…

I think what you're interpreting as contempt for sports is more of a contempt for people not being able to take the hint that not everyone is interested in same things they are.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#89

Post by TeMPOraL »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #53
martythemaniak wrote: post #21

I don't like the message of this post. I do understand (and see) the cultivated disinterest he's talking about, but I would never suggest you try and make yourself like something for the sole purpose of fitting in, ie cultivating disinterest is bad, but so is cultivating this interest. If you keep and open mind and follow your passions, you'll eventually stumble on something you share enough with others. My disintere…

>so is cultivating this interest. How so? Taking part in the things most inherent in your culture is arguably a good thing. It helps you keep in touch with the rest of the world. It helps you carry on and start up conversations with your peers. It's easier to "break the ice". It makes you feel more connected to society, which is something that I'm sure most of us sitting behind a computer screen 24/7 certainly could…

Even if you feel that deep disconnect with the society?

I'm not sure how to describe that feeling precisely - but to give you an example: most people seem to like/watch soap operas, while I actively avoid them and prefer to watch sci-fi, which is shunned by general population. And the reason is, sci-fi series have a point. There's some reason for things, some grander goal, etc., whereas what I see in soap operas are random people making dramas around love, family and money. This, so called normal life, feels so empty and pointless.

I'm not aiming to insult anyone here - what I'm saying is that I just don't grok "normal life". While I have enough empathy and perceptivity to be able to understand the life priorities of an average Joe (in my circles I'm the go-to guy if there's a conflict to fix or someone to cheer up), I don't feel them. I do feel disconnected from society, and honestly, I'm fine with that.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#90

Post by jly »

angersock wrote: post #5

Part of the reason I don't like watching, say, American football is that I used to play it in highschool. Once you've actually played the game, watching other people play is kinda boring. Especially when you see what a comically capitalized affair the whole thing is. Also, this part from the article is kind of silly: The machoness and absence of women in the highest levels of most professional sports bothers me deepl…

> Part of the reason I don't like watching, say, American football is that I used to play it in highschool. Once you've actually played the game, watching other people play is kinda boring.

I find this to be the complete opposite of my experience. I never played football, but I did compete in many team sports when younger and I find my enjoyment heightened by that experience, and a high degree of understanding and empathy.

I find golf, a game even many sports fans do not watch, to be one of the most enjoyable and dramatic to watch. I think this is mostly because I play it, not in spite of it.

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