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

[RaikuFA]

I like playing sports (except basketball, I hate that sport more than everything else). It's more or less the hardcore fanatics that treat every game like their life depended on it.

Oh and the whole JvG thing? How many times has a geek been excused for his behavior based on how well they can do what they can compared to how many jocks get away with the same shit just cause they can play sports.

 

[joshuaayt]

We talk about games here because an interest in games is the only thing we're all gonna have in common- conversations about games are going to be easy to continue because we're all interested.
Sports have little to do with gaming as a rule, so there's no guarantee that someone here is interested in sports, so it's harder to find a good conversation about it.

Also sport sucks lol.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

We talk about games here because an interest in games is the only thing we're all gonna have in common- conversations about games are going to be easy to continue because we're all interested.
Sports have little to do with gaming as a rule, so there's no guarantee that someone here is interested in sports, so it's harder to find a good conversation about it.

Also sport sucks lol.

I posted this in the off-topic board, which is OFF-TOPIC. This board isn't about video games, you go to the gaming board for that. In off topic we can talk about anything non-gaming related.

 

[Remus]

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.

because the truth of that stereotype is rather more complicated that it appears.

there are a lot of "ill" people play video games.

A LOT.

the mentally ill, the "socially excluded" due to various conditions (like "Autism") and so on.

although yes you can get fat and scruffy if you "let yourself go" playing endless video games a great many are not that way "because they play video games" but rather they play video games because they are that way...

...because the online gaming community and/or online gaming combats "social exclusion" (ie you can have "online friends") which is actually hugely attractive, arguably beneficial (from a mental health pov) and easy to enter into if you're a person in that position.

we also used to see people like thats inclusion in gaming as a positive thing...

[small]or at least that was the case up until last august...[/small]

Not just mentally, physically as well. In a raiding guild I was in, one player was terminal and literally could not sit in front of a computer for longer than an hour, two tops if heavily drugged. When he passed it tore everyone up even though we knew it was expected, and soon.

I'm neither top of the gene pool, nor bottom. I simply am. My job requires the minimal amount of physical effort that's not literally sitting down all day. Growing up, I had a disability that prevented me from doing many extracurricular activities, a disability later corrected surgically (the tech just wasn't there yet growing up). I had ADHD. Now, I walk on my off days, not too skinny, not too fat. I look like the Comic Book Guy's skinny brother, complete with ironic t-shirt. So by design, practically since birth, I was one of the most downtrodden, if not the most in my class. And often it was those jock assholes stepping on me.

I watch the occasional Super Bowl if only for the contact high and the ridiculous ads that are produced specifically for that broadcast. Baseball bores me to tears, and basketball? Never been interested beyond the glory days of Jordan's Bulls. Outside of the Superbowl, if you asked me about football, I'd tell you that it is a chess game played with grown men and as such is barbaric and stupid because it inevitably puts human beings in harms way in a way that no other sport outside of cage fighting does. Medical science, especially recently, more than supports this conclusion. As I cannot sit by an actual battlefield and watch men kill each other, I cannot support this sport.

 

[Pandabearparade]

I don't hate sports or sport fans, I just have no interest and I'm not especially inclined to discuss the topic. If you want to discuss sports there's no shortage of forums dedicated to that, I'm sure.

 

[TallanKhan]

I can't really tackle "the geek community" because that is a far too nebulous term that means different things to different people. I will however take a stab at answering specifically in relation to gamers.

Myself, I suspect a lack of overlap in interest is primarily responsible, different things appeal to different people with videogames being by and large a storytelling medium (having more in common with movies, comics and literature which is why these things are more readily accepted as talking points on a gaming website). This has little overlap with sports and while some people are certainly bound to find both appealing there is no natural synergy.

In addition sports tend to be very sport-specific. Where, as a gamer you might have a preference for different types of games most people play games from a few genres and franchises and one gamer can usually find common ground conversationally with another gamer, it isn't necessarily so for sports fans. Sports fans seem (as far as I've observed) to usually find "their sport" or occasionally a couple of sports and stick to it. One sports fan who loves hockey has no common ground with another sports fan if they like football and baseball.

Finally I think culture has a lot to do with it. Sport, particularly Football here in the UK, tends to hold itself up as some universally positive, aspirational endeavour. You always hear Footballers talking about how "sport builds communities, sport inspires people to improve their health, sport brings people together". And occasionally it is, in 2012 - 2014 we saw a significant increase in sports uptake in the UK following the Olympics. However, that isn't universal and what sport often inspires is division, violence and vandalism. Hell in 2012 there was even a report released linking the losses of national football teams to spikes in domestic violence incidents.

For me, I have never really had any interest in sport, watching or playing.

In regard to watching, while I accept there is a level of skill on display it simply isn't enough to hold my attention for the length of a sports match. I admire it, but in the same way I might stop to watch a street performer ride a unicycle, its impressive but not something I want to watch for 90 minutes. My ex was very into sport and avidly watched the last Olympics and I tried to be interested and watch with her but I just found it overwhelmingly boring, I even fell asleep twice.

In regard to playing, it just doesn't appeal to me. I walk pretty much everywhere (so far as is practicable) so get enough exercise and otherwise just don't see the point. I don't enjoy it and have better things to do with my time so... yeah.

 

[Vigormortis]

How so? How is this dismissive? Or negative? It's explanatory.

By implying "geeks" only dislike sports because they have a chip on their shoulder? I don't see how that's not negative stereotyping.

Are you under the impression that there are noble, commendable reasons for someone to seethe with hostility towards the recreational past-time of other people? I'd love to hear what they are.

I am not. The OP asked "I really don't understand what geeks/gamers/nerds/whatever have against sports." You said they have a chip on their shoulders and want revenge against "jocks". I was only pointing out that that was stereotyping.

Did you do a poll? How does one determine what is common, and what is not? I never claimed the reasons I listed were exhaustive, only that they are observable in "a lot of" situations.

Which is different than my own claims how? I never said my claims were exhaustive either.

I've been a sports fan since the late 90's, and a gaming fan/nerd culture enthusiast even longer than that. I was into stuff like pen and paper role-playing back when nerd culture was looked at like a communicable disease rather than one of if not THE predominant enthusiast culture. I had fuckin' Kara-Tur maps on my bedroom walls. And I lived in a small town that was all about loggin' and brewin', where the 15 year olds had full beards and straying from the consensus masculine ideal was "gay". My best friend was jumped and beaten in an alley for not being "manly" enough. And despite this, the amount of rancor and xenophobia I've observed in the "geek community" outstrips what I've seen from sports fans or "jocks" by an order of magnitude so large the latter barely registers. Some of the worst human beings I've ever known were "geeks". And they felt entitled to their hostile, shitty attitudes and hostile, shitty behavior because they self-identified as downtrodden.

And yet, from my own experience, the opposite is true. Some of the shittiest people I've ever met were die-hard sports nuts. (though not quite as shitty as some of the hyper-religious nuts I've met) The polar opposite of what you keep referring to as "geeks". So perhaps the reality of the situation isn't a clear cut as either of us thinks.

'Course, I won't lump all sports fans in with those shitty people. I try not to stereotype.

Completely anecdotal, naturally, and I do not suffer from the delusion that my life experience = everyone's life experience, but I find the "poor, besieged nerds" narrative more than a little facile.

So do I, but at the same time, I see the "angry, spiteful nerds" narrative as equally facile. And, just as I can't support the former as an excuse to be awful to people, I can't support the latter as an excuse either.

That's all I was trying to say. I'm not attacking you Guppy. Just wanted to ruffle some feathers since your post kind of surprised me.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

By implying "geeks" only dislike sports because they have a chip on their shoulder?

Can you quote where I said that? Because I'm reading my posts and at no point do I see myself saying all geeks only dislike sports due to a chip on the shoulder.

You said they have a chip on their shoulders and want revenge against "jocks". I was only pointing out that that was stereotyping.

Stereotype: to believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same

Did I say that all geeks everywhere felt this way?

So do I, but at the same time, I see the "angry, spiteful nerds" narrative as equally facile.

That strikes me as particularly amusing given the activities of the past six months, but that's your prerogative.

And, just as I can't support the former as an excuse to be awful to people

Did I at any point make an argument that constituted "an excuse to be awful to people"? I'm confused.

I'm not attacking you Guppy. Just wanted to ruffle some feathers since your post kind of surprised me.

Perhaps not, but you're misquoting me, which is a bit puzzling. Unless it is your conjecture that no geeks anywhere have chips on their shoulders towards "jocks", as posts in this thread ALONE seem sufficient to disprove, I have no idea how anything I said was controversial or surprising in the slightest.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

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.

You should try moving to Australia. Fucking AFL, it never lets up, even for a second.

 

[Vigormortis]

That strikes me as particularly amusing given the activities of the past six months, but that's your prerogative.

You mean the period of time when gamers and non-gamers, geeks and non-geeks, were being equally shitty towards each other? Because that's what I saw.

But yes. Not assuming entire collectives of people are inline with every negative stereotype associated with them is definitely my prerogative, as well as my aspiration. [footnote]Not that I'm still implying you are[/footnote]

Unless it is your conjecture that no geeks anywhere have chips on their shoulders towards "jocks",

It wasn't. As I'd said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It's late and I need to try to get to sleep. Farewell Guppy.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I hate watching sports because it bores me to tears. I love to play sports, and to actually participate, but I couldn't give a shit about professional sports and athletes. Why? Because they don't do anything, nothing of substance happens. There's no story, nothing at stake, there's nothing to care about, and every year the same thing happens all over again. It's like watching a TV show that never ends and is about nothing. Actually, it's like watching c-span.

This sums up my answer right here, BUT I AM a runner. Unfortunately now I'm an athletes isn't treated like an athlete. Nobody gives a shit about my running anymore than I give a shit about their professional TV sports. I guess it evens out.

Edit: I meant to add that I LOVE table tennis, but people here in America don't consider table tennis a real sport. Spent many years playing by myself. The point is that I hate team sports.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of these people who profess to hate all sports would actually thoroughly enjoy some of them if they made an attempt to get into them.

My annoyance with sports is precisely because it's inescapable in my culture. If I'm at a frikken business luncheon, it's just expected that everyone present knows about and can intelligently discuss recent baseball or (American) football games.

It was like that for me with hockey in Canada. Eventually, I just embraced it. Now I thoroughly enjoy the game. Still, it is annoying when people try to force things on you so it's pretty understandable that you'd have a negative opinion.

 

[Johnny Impact]

I dislike sports because of the low-brow fanbase, the uncountable billions of dollars that get funneled through it instead of to somewhere better, the worship and superhero status lavished upon people whose only real accomplishment is catching a ball, the constant scandals and despicable crimes, the forgiveness for same, the hypocrisy regarding steroids and other enhancers, the hype hype HYPE HYPE HYPE my god it's EVERYWHERE the paper has a sports section why not a science section, when I was a kid there was no on-demand which meant your favorite show frequently got pushed aside so everyone on the wrong side of the mental bell curve could watch a bunch of overmuscled fools run around on a field..........

Going to cut the rant off there. It's a strange thing: on the one hand I'm jealous that sports has such a following you can simply assume the guy next to you is into it, but on the other hand I'm contemptuous of humanity and likely would dismiss popular status as a fluke if my interests had it.

 

[Leoofmoon]

Imgur? dude have you seen the people who hand out there? there nothing but breast obsessed teenagers

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Sports are about balls. They're about wanting really, really hard to put this ball in that one place. And I never saw the fun in that. I don't like playing sports, real or virtual, and can only tolerate watching them every four years in the World Cup midst.

 

[viscomica]

I like sports, and I used to watch some on tv. That being said, a recurring point being made in this thread is "different people like different stuff". While I do agree, I don't think that should become an easy excuse to bully someone just because they have different interests. If someone is a gamer he doesn't instantly becomes a pariah the minute he or she states they also like playing / watching sports.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

If the majority of the geek community is like me, they got picked last and sucked at sports.
And I don't like watching them either.

 

[Kotaro]

I don't watch sports for the same reason I tend not to watch "e-sports:"
I don't see the point in just watching; I'd rather play a game myself.

Of course, I can't actually play sports because I suck at them, but my point still stands.

 

[happyninja42]

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?

Well from personal experience, the type of person who is a fan of sports, were the types of guys who were bullies in highschool. I had a bully, who was a football player, and he bullied me for 3 years, for no reason than I think he just randomly picked me out of the lunch line. He was revered by the other jock students for his sports ability, and they all thought his mockery was funny. So there is a bit of the "fucking jughead football assholes" aspect to it for me. I know the types of guys who were into sports, and I didn't like them as people. So there's that part of it.

There's also just the fact that I don't find competitive sports all that interesting. Never have. Even when I was a kid, and had to play soccer, baseball and basketball to satisfy my dad's expectations of me, I didn't actually enjoy the games. So there's that part to it.

I dunno, maybe I'm not the right person to ask, as I don't make posts like "hur hur, sports dur hur" like you are talking about, but I don't have any interest/respect/compassion for those sports, and I likely never will.

 

[theSteamSupported]

I'm not a sports fan for the same reason I'm not into competitive gaming. So much that I believe the toxicity in geek culture was imported from jock culture after the multiplayer function became the most important thing in gaming.