Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports • Hacker News Board

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#391

Post by sarciszewski » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:12 AM UTC

I've never liked sports.

My reasons had very little to do with academia or privileged tech culture. I grew up poor in a blue collar part of Florida. I can keenly recall that my dad is an Oakland Raiders fan while my mom favors the Minnesota Vikings.

My dislike for sports began with not being good at anything physical. Running, kickball, dodgeball, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, baseball, flag football, etc. I was jaded towards them at school, so I focused other activities (drawing, writing, reading, and of course, programming).

My hobbies were frequently disrupted by sports. Pep rallies were the bane of my existence in high school. Every time a decisive sports game was on the air, I couldn't avoid the cacophony of drunkards yelling in vain at a television. "GO GO GO GO GO!"

"Pfft, they can't hear you, morons," I would say. After a while, I invested in a pair of headphones.

I graduated from high school in 2008. It's been years since sports were in any way forced upon me. I still don't like sports. Not because it's cool to dislike them, but because it was a nuisance for so many years of my life.

But if someone else likes sports? That's cool. I'll listen and ask questions even if I don't really give a shit. It's called being a decent human being.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#392

Post by anjbe » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:17 AM UTC

chrisan wrote: post #386

Thrymr wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's the reality that the football coach is the highest (in the millions of dollars range) paid position at almost every university in the US Not only that, coaches are the highest paid public employees in most states [0]. [0] http://deadspin.com/infographic-is-your-states-highest-paid-...

I can't speak for every school, but I will share my own insight on a big football university I attended a state school where the "highest paid public employee" was a football coach. I was lucky enough to marry a then student president of the professional students (Med, Vet, Opt, Dentist, Pharmacy, Law) and as part of her duties she sat on the athletic counsel. Our tuition did not go to the coaches at all, the athleti…

In contrast, at my university the football team had two 1-11 seasons in a row, and the head coach was finally fired after losing the first four games of the next season. It took so long because the school was wary of the $1.4 million cost of letting him go early. (He wound up getting paid for the entire third season, and $150,000 each for the next two years.)

Somehow I doubt UNM’s football team is able to cover the cost of the athletics department. The coach in question was Mike Locksley.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#393

Post by pekk » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:18 AM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #233

pekk wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't care about sports. If you start a conversation with me about sports, it'll be short. I'm not being mean to anyone who likes sports, I just don't care. You don't get to tell me that I'm wrong for not sharing your interest. Liking sports isn't obligatory.

The ability to talk to people about things that interest them but not yourself is a very important skill to cultivate. The intersection of yourself with "people worth knowing and talking to" is bigger than the intersection of yourself with "people who share your interests".

I have the ability to talk to people about lots of things. I talk to all kinds of people about all kinds of things. If someone only has one interest which is sports, I can politely demur or listen depending on whether I have the time, exactly the same as if I met someone who wants to monologue at me about locomotives for 6 hours. But I'm not working in sales, and I'm sure as hell not obligated to anyone to fake enthusiasm about some narrow subject that simply never had any interest for me.

What's awful is that you get to inflict this interest on everyone with general social approval, and you even get to tell people on HN that they are socially defective if they don't pretend to share that interest - but by no means would the same courtesy ever be extended to some kid who wants to talk about Minecraft for hours. That's nerdy and gay, sports is for real men.

Excuse me if I don't take your "advice" seriously.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#394

Post by skwirl » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:27 AM UTC

code_duck wrote: post #388

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…

It's definitely a sign of maturity to be able to treat sports and people who are obsessed with sports seriously when you know better. The fact is, the truth is unfortunate. Professional sports are a bunch of grown men playing little kid games who receive an incredibly and disgustingly disproportionate amount of money and adult attention. I believe that children and adolescents playing sports is fantastic. If people w…

And what are you doing to keep people alive, fed, free, and healthy?

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#395

Post by billyvg » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:28 AM UTC

canvia wrote: post #314

There are several reasons why I dislike sports. Professional sports are expensive and inefficient forms of entertainment. What is your cost (and opportunity cost) per hour for sports? Compared to films, books, video games, or board games you are burning money/time on a completely passive experience. When was the last time you learned something about yourself or others while watching a sporting event? Do they cause yo…

- You can watch sports at home, on a TV, through your OTA antennae, costing you nothing

- When was the last time you learned something about yourself or others while watching an eSports event? Do they cause you to think at all?

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#396

Post by rohunati » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:29 AM UTC

I am always puzzled at how "high brow" people scoff at sports. There is so much to learn from athletes. MJ, Kobe, Tom Brady -- these guys have all the skill in the world, but more impressive than their skill is their incredible work ethic. I feel there's a lot to learn here.

For example, one of Kobe's conditioning trainer's had this to say:

"When I arrived and opened the room to the main practice floor I saw Kobe. Alone. He was drenched in sweat as if he had just taken a swim. It wasn’t even 5AM.

We did some conditioning work for the next hour and fifteen minutes. Then we entered the weight room, where he would do a multitude of strength training exercises for the next 45 minutes. After that we parted ways and he went back to the practice floor to shoot. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Wow."

Later on, around 11AM, the trainer sees Kobe on the court, practicing with the USA Olympic Squad, and has this conversation:

"So when did you finish?"

"Finish what?"

"Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?"

"Oh just now. I wanted 800 makes so yeah, just now."

...

This is not unique to Kobe, you find stories like this with all athletes in conversation for "greatest of all time."

Secondly, there's a lot to learn from coaches as well, especially from the perspective of a startup founder. There's a reason Keith Rabois brought up the Bill Walsh's (SF 49ers coach) book, "The Score Takes Care of Itself," in the HTSAS lecture series.

Lastly, watching sports at a high level is like appreciating great art. A great backhand in tennis, a brilliant pass by a quarterback, these all have a quality of beauty about them. I feel they induce similar awe-inspiring feelings one might find in an art museum, a great music album, etc.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#397

Post by GhotiFish » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:33 AM UTC

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…

People I've met say the exact same about the things I love. Most have, To my face, over and over, systematically.

So this kind of talk isn't just relegated to the "highly educated".

You're right, that hurts, and it takes a big person to not fire back.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#398

Post by billyvg » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:39 AM UTC

misiti3780 wrote: post #339

As someone who doesn't watch sports - hasn't fantasy football basically ruined football? 1) No one has team allegiance anymore, it is now player allegiance 2) People waste more time watching football to cover their entire team. The NFL shoves so many shitty ads in your face it's painful to even sit there and pretend to care. I have trouble understanding why everyone watches games in real-time. Sign off twitter/facebo…

I don't think it's ruined football at all. The older fans certainly still have team allegiances, while fantasy helps new fans get interested in the NFL.

Yeah advertisements suck, but any television programming also face the same problems. The great thing with watching football is that you're already conditioned to not pay attention to the game for 30 seconds every 10 seconds.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#399

Post by pekk » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:42 AM UTC

aaron-lebo wrote: post #19

I think professional sports are the closest we have to real-life dramas, tragedies, or even comedies, and they have profound life lessons. I am a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan. I grew up when they were a dynasty in the 90s, and at the time it seemed like going to the Super Bowl is something they were supposed to do every year. I cried after some tough losses. Sometimes I get into other local teams when they are doing w…

You like watching sports. Some other guy likes Marvel comics. Another guy likes D&D. Another guy likes trains. Another guy likes Marxist literary analysis. Everyone finds something interesting in their own interest. It doesn't mean anything. Your source of inspiration is no better than anyone else's.

The thing is, sports fans form the great majority in the US and too many of them have a habit of shaming and ostracizing people who don't share their inspiration, starting from beating up the non-sporty kids in elementary school. And they have the power to do that without any real reprisals because they are the majority and the strongly enforced norm for men is that they must like sports and play them. So I'm glad for your sake that you have a source of joy and I don't care if you want to talk to other people who share that interest. But please don't bother telling me that your interest is better than other people's interests and that something is wrong with someone who doesn't share your interest, because it's part of a broader abusive pattern.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#400

Post by dinkumthinkum » Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 2:45 AM UTC

mundizzle wrote: post #129

i always found Chomsky's take on sports to be quite interesting... "Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about -- [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might…

Training for jingoism? You know, I think part of being an intellectual is not only to learn things and develop thinking skills but also deeper thinking skills. I think this is sort overly indulgent scifi novel hyperbole. But it's not just you, this sort of thinking is kind of shockingly common among, I guess, programming minds. I just think the world is more complicated than that.