Why do so many people in the "geek" community dislike sports?

SmallHatLogan

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Seems like a bit if a generalisation to me. Although I fit into that generalisation so what do I know?

I just don't find sports engaging (and that includes esports by the way. You'd think someone who's into games would at least appreciate esports, but no, I find esports far more boring than real sports). I can appreciate the show of skill but I just don't give a shit about what's happening.

I think the reason why people might be vocal about their dislike of sports is because it's a constant thing. For me it's virtually impossible to not have to hear about footy (that's Australian football). Regardless of whether it's footy season or not everyone's always harping on about it and it's all over the news. There's no escaping it and some people find it annoying and need to vent.

However, voluntarily going into a thread about sports just to shit all over it is not the kind of behaviour I condone.
 

Phasmal

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BloatedGuppy said:
Kenbo Slice said:
I've seen this happen a million times on sites like imgur and here and across the web. Somebody wants to talk about sports but then they usually just get shut down because "hurr durr sportz r dum." I really don't understand what geeks/gamers/nerds/whatever have against sports. I'm pretty fucking geeky but I also really love sports. So, why is this?
I like sports. A game is a game. I like games.

A lot of "nerds" dislike sports for fairly transparent reasons. Tribalism. Chip on shoulder from that time a jock hassled them. People who were once bullied often delight in turning the tables and bullying others. You see this perpetually in the "geek" community. It's as cliquey/culty as a sub-culture can possibly get, and more xenophobic and pre-emptively hostile than most.

Sleekit's response is a popular one, you don't hear about many nerds rioting and burning down the town square. They tend to restrict their rioting and shit-flipping to the internet. Possibly due to poor cardio. =P
Yeah, this.
Perhaps its because people who enjoy sports are more traditionally extroverts and people who enjoy games are more traditionally introverts? You know, on top of the whole chip-on-shoulder thing.

I have nothing against sports or people who enjoy sports. Generally I admire their enthusiasm about it.

I don't watch sports because I get bored, usually they go on for too long for me personally to enjoy them. And I don't play sports because that would require going outside and interacting with people, god forbid.
 

BeerTent

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May 8, 2011
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My only problem with Sports is this...

People sitting on the couch. Now, I understand if you got a few Game-Day tickets in your hand, and you wanna know if you win anything, but just sitting there and watching it? Fuck me, man... That just goddamn bores me to tears. A hockey stick is $10. A ball is so common it's practically free. Go play the fucking game instead of sitting there, watching it.

I'm the same with videogames. Youtube wouldn't be able to hold my attention if the people playing the games weren't informative and funny.
 

Revolutionary

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For me it's not so much a dislike of sports as it is an utter, absolute disinterest. A completely all-consuming dense chaotic shit tonne of zero fucks given, like a black hole of apathy.
 

JayRPG

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I'm not against all sports, but I couldn't watch a vast majority of them without falling asleep or wanting to neck myself from the boredom.

I enjoy precisely 1 sport, Rugby League (the NRL), I have often been called un-australian for not liking cricket, but honestly.. cricket is the most boring, drawn out, tedious process I have ever witnessed, I have no idea why it is even a sport.

I can't bring myself to sit through a game of AFL (Aussie rules), tennis, golf, soccer, or anything really... there might be other sports out there that I might enjoy, but I haven't yet found them.
 

Casual Shinji

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I enjoy football (the real football) if I'm watching it with other people, like more of a social gathering, but that's about it. I don't go and watch any sort of sport by myself.

I don't dislike sport, I just have no real interest in it. And I have a dog I need to walk 4 times a day and I generally travel everywhere by bicycle, so I don't need it for exercise either.
 

Daniel Ferguson

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I've just never had any interest whatsoever. Never got into them, for a long time didn't even understand them, had other interests. Also hated people.

I like martial arts, sword fighting (kinda the same thing but with blades) and archery though. In principle, anyway - haven't got much experience in them.

Shooting would be cool too.

RPG nerds would like those things, it's an obvious match.

What I really don't get is people who like mythology and legends but not fantasy. They're basically the same thing!
 

McElroy

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They just don't know better.

Some of the common reasons/complaints make little sense anyway. Play it yourself instead of watching it? Why don't you go LARPing Doctor Who and Game of Thrones all day then?
 

VanQ

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Oct 23, 2009
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I find playing sports fun but watching sports pointless.
I also find playing games fun but watching others play games boring unless it's for review purposes.

Sports fans talk shit about video games too. We're just giving them some of their own back.
 

Queen Michael

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Because most sports aren't sumo wrestling. Sumo wrestling is awesome. But most sports do not consist of sumo wrestling. This is, of course, a bad thing. Take baseball. baseball isn't sumo wrestling. Soccer is popular, but is it sumo wrestling? No. No, it's not. On the other hand, there's sumo wrestling. Experts agree that sumo wrestling is sumo wrestling. Unfortunately, at least 93% of sports aren't. Hence the animosity from geek circles.
 

bartholen_v1legacy

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Jan 24, 2009
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Because the stereotypical conflict of "nerds vs. jocks" is very much based on reality. Often the bullies in school are also athletic or sports people, and the ones bullied are often gamers. Sports aren't usually associated with intelligence, and videogames aren't usually associated with physical fitness (face the truth: go to your local game or other nerd stuff store, and take a general look at the customers). I was wondering another facet of this the other day: why is exercise still something that's not discussed in these kinds of forums? It'll be a cold day in hell before I let myself look like the stereotypical fat fuck who just sits on his computer playing WoW all day.
 

TheRightToArmBears

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I suspect it comes down to most of us just being plain bad at them back in school, so we never developed much interest. I'm sure there's a lot of stupid jocks/nerds mentality as well, and a lot of people resent how much football gets shoved down our throats (mercifully only figuratively) over here in the UK.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of any sport that doesn't involve an engine, or rugby. I mean, football is a very easy sport to hate and I'm plain uninterested by most other sports. Still, it's possible not to enjoy them whilst still respecting the talent involved.
 

MysticSlayer

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I'm not really sure I can say that I see that. Yeah, there are plenty of geeks that dislike sports, but I can find the same thing among people with other interests than traditionally nerdy ones.

At least among my friends, most of the geeks also love playing sports. We actually probably make up at least half of the people that show up to sports nights among our larger group of friends, and a few of us are certainly among the most fanatic hockey fans in an already hockey-loving area. When I'm online, I generally see at least a sizable number of fans for various sports in any geek community. And again, that's not to say that all of my nerdy friends or all people I see online are sports fans. It's just that I don't see enough people who hate sports in these communities to say that there is any active dislike for sports on the same level as other types of communities that aren't sport related.
 

Ishal

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I dislike the culture of sports more than the sports themselves.

While it's true I was bullied by "jocks" in school, it didn't happen more than any other group. Punks and even other "geeks" had a go at me just as often. Equal opportunity I suppose.

There's just something about going over to a friend's house, and being able to hear his parents (mom typically), screaming bloody murder before I even get in the house. Absolutely losing her shit at the TV screen, beer in hand. Granted this does happen in gamer culture, and it does happen online. But... well... that's not really a compelling argument.

Can't really compare someone getting in your face IRL to an angry message in a chat box or inbox. If they are in a voice chat, mute them or block them. Fact is there are tools at your disposal nearly always for dealing with this stuff online. There is no way to turn off an angry fan who is drunk when you're at a stadium. As for the culture being xenophobic or harsh to outsiders, I'd say sports forums are worse by a very large degree. Gaming is still a young medium. Sports have been around much longer, and their fans often express a zeal and zealotry most gamers could never hope to achieve.
 

rosac

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Because, until I found a sport I was good at, I was ridiculed for being shit at them.

Once I found my sport, I got called a jock (even though I'm skinny as fuck, ah well) and was well known within the sporting community at University (I have since graduated). I also pay more attention to sport in general, in particular football.


And to the person saying there;s no story of end result in Sports, wow. Look at the FA cup results this week in the UK. Teams that play for free, and have to pay for their own kit, drew against Manchester United. Chelsea lost to a League 1 team. Shit has hit the fan and it's amazing. However, in the same way that an expansion to Guild Wars 2 coming out doesn't affect sports fans, this doesn't affect you, and you're therefore indifferent to it, and potentially get annoyed at people getting so excited about this. The perceived resentment may be because "geeks" see things they care about ignored in favour of sports.
 

Wasted

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Ishal said:
I dislike the culture of sports more than the sports themselves.

While it's true I was bullied by "jocks" in school, it didn't happen more than any other group. Punks and even other "geeks" had a go at me just as often. Equal opportunity I suppose.

There's just something about going over to a friend's house, and being able to hear his parents (mom typically), screaming bloody murder before I even get in the house. Absolutely losing her shit at the TV screen, beer in hand. Granted this does happen in gamer culture, and it does happen online. But... well... that's not really a compelling argument.

Can't really compare someone getting in your face IRL to an angry message in a chat box or inbox. If they are in a voice chat, mute them or block them. Fact is there are tools at your disposal nearly always for dealing with this stuff online. There is no way to turn off an angry fan who is drunk when you're at a stadium. As for the culture being xenophobic or harsh to outsiders, I'd say sports forums are worse by a very large degree. Gaming is still a young medium. Sports have been around much longer, and their fans often express a zeal and zealotry most gamers could never hope to achieve.
To me, the video game community is easily the most vile and aggressive community that I have experienced. What you attribute as negative aspects to sports fans I see it as 10x worse in any gaming forum. Say what you will, but personal attacks are too casually thrown around in nearly any multiplayer video game.

Homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, death threats are way too common in video game chat rooms and with the popularity of swatting these idiots have a means to potentially kill someone that one time said something that they disagreed with.