What if I don't like sports?
Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
91–100 of 511 posts
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#92I've tried multiple times to become interested in spectator sports. To date the only ones I find even mildly interesting are: - NBA Finals basketball - World Series of Poker - UFC Football is slow-paced and disheartening b/c of all the drives that end with a punt. Baseball is slow-paced. Hockey is OK but after a watching for 10 minutes I start to get board. Tennis and Golf are both extremely frustrating as well. I lo…
Golf in particular was hard to watch on TV until I started playing golf. The concentration required to hit near perfect shots over and over across 4 days is insane. The other beauty of golf is that almost anyone can go out and hit that perfect shot once and relate just a bit. Golf is also very easy to handicap between skill levels making it easy for various people to play together (my wife and I can 'compete' with the handicap in place).
Football is the perfect party/passive sport. There is so much downtime you can have entire conversations and still watch the game. I do not know what the stats are now, but the NFL has done a lot to give the offense the advantage and up the scoring. The problem I have with the NFL on TV is not showing the full 22. When you watch that view you see how little margin of error there is during the game. The QB looking left a 1/2 second sooner and a sack could have been a TD and vice versa.
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#93When 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…
Cultivated: having or showing good education, taste, and manners[1]
Even the title is dripping with disdain and condescension. Seems like he has to spend a bit more time going native. [2]
It's best to avoid judging people's interests, and learning a bit about them can definitely help you interact with people. Faking interest, as many do due to social pressures, is ineffective in the long run as well.
[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cultivated [2] Can someone please tell me the politically correct version of this idiom?
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#94When 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…
"When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills."
That's nice. What other corporate products must I consume in order to be a validated member of your social caste?
How about this: "when you show overt contempt for fast food, you are showing contempt for most everybody, and that is a problem with your social skills."
If I don't eat at McDonalds because I care about my health, am I unfit for socialization?
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#95When 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…
>The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I don't have statistics, so this is all anecdotal, but most Professors I have gotten to know well have a favorite team or sport etc. The reality you present sounds more like movies than real life. For example, I can see Dr. Epps from Numb3rs being snoody about sports in a way I have never se…
> Anyone can be an intellectual if they are intellectual, but at least in my mind, being an academic implies peer-reviewed novel research.
I thought this as well. I had always thought that being an intellectual was just something you were regardless of education, but an academic is a vocation marked largely by publishing peer-reviewed research and (most likely) having advanced graduated degrees and/or a professorship of some sort.
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#96When 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 this is getting cause and effect backwards. Many (not all) kids who became intellectuals were the last picked for the team in sports and generally suffered due to it. I went through school dreading gym class. Deciding that sports was not important to me and spending time on things I was better at was in part emotional self-defense.
Of course, dividing up into different tribes is not healthy. We should ideally try to leave such things behind and try to get along with everyone. But the nerds versus jocks thing lingers even in programming with the "brogrammer" meme and also in many programmers' expectation that everyone else should put in the hours to learn programming on their own because that's what they did.
Rather than indulging in moral shaming, I think better to say that the folks who are good at sports and at intellectual activities are in an excellent position to build bridges.
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#97People tend to view football as a bunch of dumb lugs pushing each other around, but theres crazy amounts of raw physical strength, finesse, and smarts involved. Each play might involve linemen pushing defenders one way or another to mislead them just long enough to let the ball carrier run through. Watching a great run play unfold is truly amazing, especially at the professional level where the players are basically…
I think you might be onto something. I still find sport boring, though I recall my interest in soccer increasing when I was learning things about game strategies. Maybe simply some of us derive pleasure from the aspects that are non-obvious first time you watch a match on TV.
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#98For a context: I emigrated from Europe to North America as an adult. I used to watch hockey and football (soccer) growing up and know the rules and mildly enjoy watching an occasional game. And I can totally relate to the issue of missing opportunities for smalltalk because of my lack of interest in typical North American sports: american football and baseball. Not that I cultivated disinterest, it is just I did not grow up with it and right now getting to know the rules and intricacies of theses games seems too much of a hassle.
I am thinking of getting to know American Football, more for socializing than anything. Baseball is probably a lost cause for me.
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#99I 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…
I also find it hilarious that intellectuals apparently don't go for Heavy Metal, because I'd fall in his "intellectual" category, but spent several years deeply engrossed in Metal and I enjoy the Nordic and Prog subtypes
In recent years there has been a swell in the popularity of metal, but there seems to be a cultural divide between certain styles despite sharing the moniker of "Metal". It's less a matter of the size of the fanbase and has more to do with a difference in sound/style.
Think about rock played on the radio vs indie rock. There is some crossover but not a large amount. Fans of Nickelback don't overlap with fans of The Walkmen. In much the same way someone who listens to Def Leppard is unlikely to also listen to Opeth or Sunn O))).
Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
#100If being into sports is a conscious decision, you're probably not really into sports. Maybe I'm reading between the lines incorrectly but this post has an air of condescension and elitism. The white-collar, academic author decides to like sports because another white-collar, academic told him it was good for him. It almost feels like he chose to like sports to assuage some form of guilt. Maybe I'm wrong and this is j…
It may feel like that but we don't know his true motive. I'll take him at his word that he is seeking an avenue by which to build real relationships with people.
For example, if your spouse has an interest, you declined to share it until you realize it could bring you closer together, and then you pursue her interest with her then who am I to say you aren't really into it?
Just like you can develop a taste for IPA beer you can develop a true enjoyment of football. I think your point is better taken as, this is a good idea but be careful not to misuse or misunderstand it's goal.