Sports Nerds Are Nerds Too
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
In full agreement with Mr. Croshaw. What cinched it for me was the first time I learned about Fantasy Football, AKA Dungeons & Dragons for sports nerds.
I liked this EP. I've been saying that people that are super into sports are just as nerdy as all the rest of us. Then I have to work my way out of a locker and find my clothes.
Edit: Yeah, Fantasy football, what's the deal? I know a couple people who play it, and they insist that it's nothing like roleplaying or D&D or anything like that. You're roleplaying as a football manager person!
Edit: Yeah, Fantasy football, what's the deal? I know a couple people who play it, and they insist that it's nothing like roleplaying or D&D or anything like that. You're roleplaying as a football manager person!
That's another EP that's rather like a Big Picture [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/2522-A-Nerd-By-Any-Other-Name] episode from waaay back. Good point though. It reminds me I have something else with which to mock sports fans (and anyone who calls me a nerd without realising the implication).
I don't know, just because being a professional footballer is actually achieveable for a small subset of people (at the highest levels, that is) doesn't mean that for the majority it's any more of an unattainable fantasy as shooting guys in outer space is.
Definitely with Yahtzee on the main point though. My brother's knowledge of football and baseball, particularly all the numbers and statistics, is far more nerdy than my comparatively less weighty knowledge of video games.
Definitely with Yahtzee on the main point though. My brother's knowledge of football and baseball, particularly all the numbers and statistics, is far more nerdy than my comparatively less weighty knowledge of video games.
As a weightlifter, I would just like to point out that weightlifting has the lowest injury rate of any sport. Carry on.
Speaking as a nerd, of all the things I nerd out about, sports is the worst. Worse than video games. Worse than movies. Worse than news. Just because you're debating whether or not LeSean McCoy will be able to get 100 rushing yards against the Seahawks defense or debating if it's better to play a thief or an assassin as a Khajiit in Skyrim, it's all nerd talk. Dead on, Yahtzee.
Lower than darts and boccia?Quijiboh said:
Sorry. I fully believe you that weight-lifting has a low injury rate. I just hear "lowest injury rate of any sport" about a lot of sports!
I prefer to tell people that fencing (my sport of choice) has a lower injury rate than golf. This is perfectly true as long as you remember that "injury" in this case refers to something that requires hospital treatment. Thanks to our safety equipment, almost no one gets injured so badly in fencing that they actually need to go to hospital. Whereas a few people have heart-attacks playing golf every year.
Yes we sport fans are just like nerds, albeit with a more active lifestyle *remembers Newcastle fans* actually forget the active lifestyle bit
So let's just all get along and enojoy a game of FIFA together... or D&D whichever.
So let's just all get along and enojoy a game of FIFA together... or D&D whichever.
I wouldn't call it roleplaying per see. All fantasy football is that you select an 11 man team and receive points based on the performance of the players in the matches they play in. While a knowledge of football and some knowledge of player performances would be useful, it is quite possible for someone with no knowledge of football to do well in a fantasy football league. And really the only "managerial" decision you make is changing your captain or subbing out players who aren't earning enough points, meaning you have to put anymore effort into it beyond that. Comparatively fantasy football is not as involving as roleplaying or D&D, though I guess it could be argued it is in the same ball park as them.bazaalmon said:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/2522-A-Nerd-By-Any-Other-NameTeoes said:
Yes, I believe that Mr. Chipman's plagiarism lawyers might like to have a word with you Mr. Croshaw.
(Yes, I know that MovieBob didn't invent the comparisons that appear in that vid. Yes, I know that said comparisions aren't actually copyrighted. It's a joke.)
Yes, that's true - we're just talking about a group activity in which a player assembles a group of heroes (i.e., team) to embark on a quest (series of games) to defeat enemies (opposing teams) to earn a treasure (Super Bowl trophy) using statistics to represent that group of heroes' skill at various real-life activities (ability scores) and decide the outcome of encounters (games).The Artificially Prolonged said:
Nothing at all like role-playing games.
Sorry, should have said "one of the lowest injury rates". Heat of the momentMetalMagpie said:Lower than darts and boccia?Quijiboh said:
Sorry. I fully believe you that weight-lifting has a low injury rate. I just hear "lowest injury rate of any sport" about a lot of sports!
I prefer to tell people that fencing (my sport of choice) has a lower injury rate than golf. This is perfectly true as long as you remember that "injury" in this case refers to something that requires hospital treatment. Thanks to our safety equipment, almost no one gets injured so badly in fencing that they actually need to go to hospital. Whereas a few people have heart-attacks playing golf every year.
.I lifted this from a book called 'Starting Strength'. So you know, state your biases and all that:
Injury rates for soccer are 6.2 per 100 hours of participation on average. Basketball is 1.03. Tennis 0.07. Weightlifting was down near the bottom at 0.0006.
Didn't say about Fencing, unfortunately.
EDIT: Also, Darts is not a sport.
When Moviebob pointed out some time ago that wearing jerseys was cosplay, it blew my fucking mind.
I must point out that this is simply not true, I have 4 good friends that absolutely loath football, yet are all part of my online club and play Regulus, because they simply enjoy the gameplay. They enjoy the tactical elements to the game, as in setting up the right team, putting different players in different positions to beat different opponents. They enjoy building up lower league team, making ambitious signings and developing youth players to bring a small side like Huddersfield to the premier league and Europe. Trying different skill moves out and scoring difficult goals both on and offline is fun, the gameplay is very enjoyable. One friend made fun of us for always playing FIFA, saying football is boring, their cant be any fun in it as there is no difference in each game and generally saying each fifa is a squad update. Since being forced to try it out, his brought every game since. In fact my PC loving Neckbearded best freind played FIFA 12 more than me, who lives and breaths football.Yahtzee Croshaw said:
All I'm saying is you don't have to be invested in a concept to enjoy a well made game which centers around it. I find aciteture dull and am sure city management is dull in real life, but love sim city.
Like a sirCat of Doom said:
Fifa games are allot of fun as "games" as well as "football games". As with allot of games, if you play well, you have fun. When there is strategy, you feel great when you outdo your opponent or completely outclass them. It's fun when there are so many variables a match can change with the slightest mistake, similar to the dayZ experience; You make one small mistake it can cost you your game.
Making your own team is fun because you build your own team up (sometimes from scratch). The online clubs element of the game is fantastic for friends. Team work is a vital part of almost all multiplayer games and it can be a great laugh. I for one endorse these games even if they are created by the abomination that is 'EA'.
I enjoy FIFA 13...okay I prefer FIFA 12 because APPARENTLY, of the two things they changed between games, applying butter to all the player's shoes was one of them. But anyhow, it's a game I play with my non-gamer friends, and it took me a couple of days practice to catch up to their level. I'm a fast learner, it happens. I know next to nothing about football. I know what the offside rule is, and that's about it. I can also personally attest to Yahtzee's opening anecdote about English rugby. We had a Welsh PE teacher whose reaction to cold weather was "Get out there and play lads". Once we did it in the snow. Unpleasant. Most of the time it was just frozen mud...but good god, the snow...
Anyway. I enjoy FIFA as much as I enjoy any other game I play. It does take thought. It does take skill. And it does take reflexes. It is as 'valid' a videogame as any other out there.
But you know what's really messed up? FIFA 13 includes live-changing ratings, so if a player in the real world has a bad few games, his rating in-game is affected. WHY has it taken this long to add that? FIFA 12 feels really, really dated in response. That's just ridiculous.
And the games have done nothing for my innate hatred of Messi, Iniesta and that absolute tit Ronaldo.
Anyway. I enjoy FIFA as much as I enjoy any other game I play. It does take thought. It does take skill. And it does take reflexes. It is as 'valid' a videogame as any other out there.
But you know what's really messed up? FIFA 13 includes live-changing ratings, so if a player in the real world has a bad few games, his rating in-game is affected. WHY has it taken this long to add that? FIFA 12 feels really, really dated in response. That's just ridiculous.
And the games have done nothing for my innate hatred of Messi, Iniesta and that absolute tit Ronaldo.
My class and I once staged a sit-in protest about being made to go out and play rugby in the snow. Our teacher, with no trace of irony, yelled at us that it wasn't that cold and to get out there - whilst bundled up in a thick tracksuit and gloves while we sat there in shorts and single shirts.jjofearth said:
There was a great article on The Onion a couple years ago about a guy who had 40 years of sports statistics for 3 or 4 pro sports just about memorized, who was mocking his neighbour's geekiness for being able to describe every issue of the last 40 years of X-Men comics. I don't think it's online any more, sadly.
YES. Exactly this. The worst part was when we were made to go out when it was proper pissing it down and the wool-clad teachers were all accusing the class of wimpery, and then 20 minutes before the end they let us go in anyway. EXPEDIENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE SIR.Quijiboh said: