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

[JayRPG]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[McElroy]

Why don't you go LARPing Doctor Who and Game of Thrones all day then?

and this doesn't sound awesome ?...

It's the kind of awesome this world isn't ready for... yet.

 

[MysticSlayer]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I dislike watching sports because I think it's boring. I also think that watching other people play video games is boring. I don't see much in the way of inconsistency here.

 

[Schtimpy]

My main issue with sports is that most of them are completely skill based. The only thing that decides who wins or loses is whether they are fast enough to get ball or tall enough to dunk. Most of the time it just comes down to who exercised more, or has the better default body.

Me, I'm more of a tactics guy. While some sports have some thought put into their game plans (like football, and to a lesser extent, football), most sports like golf or baseball are just people doing things. Not saying that it's not worthwhile, if I was a tennis expert I'd love watching it, but it doesn't do anything for me.

You know what I'd watch the shit out of? Professional LARP. Like, legit army stuff. Get formations, cavalry charges, the whole shebang. Have some kind of territory/land thing so there's a story that writes it self. But that can't happen without VR because people would die. Is Professional Paintball a thing? Not COD crackhead style, but tactical. SWAT breaches, holding a base, heck, capture the flag? I would watch that.

Funnily enough, you can't even get that from most E-Sports. Starcraft 2 is all about skill with its APM and rolling balls of death. Fighters are boxing, card games are blehh (although I do enjoy watching Hearthstone and Magic because I play those). FPS has infinite re-spawning so it's more like a beehive, that focuses on the individual getting head shots. I want to see plans and maps, not some crackhead running to point B and getting ganked.

I'd rather watch chess than bloody knuckles.


Note: This is only my opinion, and not necessarily representative of geek culture as a whole. Geeks probably hate sports because jocks are jerks. Not saying geeks aren't, but jocks hit harder.

 

[visiblenoise]

Maybe video games and sports both sort of satisfy a certain type of basic need to be obsessed with something. I'm thinking about the sort of people who know all the good players and are aware of their stats. So for some, having one might mean that they find the other unnecessary.

 

[Ishal]

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.

What happens over the internet is always going to be worse compared to IRL. What with the greater internet fuckwad theory and all.

Still, I stand by what I said. There are a greater number of ways to silence or stop completely the "vileness" of online gaming. Not so at a bar or stadium when individuals are as hellbent on causing problems as people online.

It's clear the gaming and sports circles we frequent are vastly different.

 

[DRTJR]

I like watching Pro Football(American rules Football, the real Football) live on Sunday as God intended. but I could care less about Soccer/Hockey/Golf/Basketball or other sports that I'm just forgetting. I also spend the vast majority of my free time playing games (tabletop or video).

 

[Schtimpy]

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.

You do know you're talking about our equivalent of soccer hooligans right? The people who actually hurt others? Death threats are bad, but real threats are far worse. People suck, it's just more apparent because we have more access.

 

[giles]

The very same people who think it's boring to watch pro athletes give it their all competing on an international stage will go and watch japanese cartoons with repetitive pantsu fanservice or watch actors play pretend with camera tricks and computer animation in the latest Dr. Who.

Also, fox and the grapes.