Sports news you don't really follow

If you could, keep this to a sport you actually follow otherwise. Obviously, I could post, "The World Cup!" We all could make a long list of sports we don't follow. I'm more interested in story types or in stories within a particular sport that you otherwise follow.

My short list:

(1) Free agent wooing. A post by 21 about the breathless Peyton Manning reporting actually inspired this thread. I just don't have the mental energy in reserve to devote to these wild goose chases. In a week, it won't matter that he visited five other teams. What matters will be who he will be suiting up for next year. Same goes for Brett Favre, Albert Pujols, LeBron James, Roger Clemens, and all other free agency tours.

(2) NCAA Tournament minutia. You people seriously shock me with how quickly you absorb where teams are playing, what time they are playing, what region is the toughest, and so on and so forth. I consider myself a fairly big Indiana fan, and until I turned on the TV last night, I didn't realize they were in Portland. However, everyone on here - along with all my friends - could tell you six to eight weeks in advance which site that Wichita State or Detroit Mercy might get sent to if they are able to beat Creighton and Loyola, respectively, on the road in a couple weeks. And whether it would be fair to have Kansas filter into the Nantucket Regional or should they go to Reno instead, where they might have to meet Long Beach State in what one might consider Long Beach State territory. That is if Long Beach gets the draw people expect and somehow upset George Mason in the second round.

It's fucking exhausting. I don't know how you guys do it. Particularly once the brackets are revealed and people have internalized within 30 seconds of the conclusion of the selection show all of the regionals and all of the first- and second-round sites and what it means for how the thing might play out.

 

any "breaking down" of a game beforehand - and "picks." Unless there are serious consequences if you are wrong, don't waste my time.

 

Great, blame it on me.

Things I passionately don't follow:
--'Expert' predictions/prognostications. It's sports, you're just guessing. If you really knew, you'd be in Vegas right now. Made an exception for my president, just because I like to see him write left-handed.
--Fan excitement. If I want to see what the fans are wearing/drinking/eating, I'll find a bar with too many Bud Light signs in the window and see for myself.
--Anything involving yelling. You have a microphone, it works, we can hear you. If you really believed what you were saying, you wouldn't have to scream it.
--'Breaking News' that is neither breaking nor news.

 

Spring training/NFL exhibition game results. Everyone "looks good."

 

Olympic sports bore me. That includes anything that I wouldn't be expected to follow aside from the Olympics: swimming, gymnastics, skiing, curling, fencing, etc. I watch the Olympics for the basketball and hockey.

I don't care much for golf, but I end up reading a lot about it because I like Sports Illustrated's golf writers a lot and my shop covers it heavily.

And all preseason coverage, be it baseball, basketball, football or hockey, is garbage.

As far as types of sports journalism I don't like, the list starts with lists. I'm not talking about power rankings; I'm talking about stories lazily being broken into "Five Things To Watch" or something. Unfortunately, my boss loves lists. I don't read them outside of work very often, though.

I don't like picks, either, though I'll read a good, in-depth preview by someone whose opinion I respect.

I don't care about athletes' personal lives. And I really don't care about broadcasters' personal lives.

 

Olympics.

Preseason games.

High school football/basketball. (Odd, since I used to make a living covering it.)

Women's sports.

 

One of the ones that got me in the "I really don't care" department was "Beer and Chicken"-gate for the Red Sox.

From what I gathered, they weren't pitching that day and wanted some beer and chicken for a couple innings? What's wrong with that? Anyone who tells me these current pro teams - especially the super-assembled ones - are good friends and a cohesive unit and all that is high.

I heard enough to apparently get the surface, and then tuned out. It damn sure wasn't some three-week ESPN party-line debate that we fucking got from it.

 

For me, I love most aspects of the NFL and that includes the combine, the draft, free agency etc...

Off-season workouts and the preseason are both where I draw the line though.

When I covered colleges, I understood basketball recruiting, but thought football recruiting was the dumbest thing ever. The chances in basketball that they were actually as good as people said was so much higher than football, because in basketball, the "experts" have actually seen these guys play against top competition in AAU.

 

Anything to do with recruiting. That goes for following it and covering it.
Signing day is a rush, but the process leading up to it is asinine.
The stalking of high school kids to find out if they've changed their minds from State U. to Tech, then back again between breakfast and lunch?
The breathless "State U. got a commitment from a 5-star defensive tackle!" stories when the kid is in 10th grade?
The instant breakdown and ranking of recruiting classes, when half of them will either end up not making the grades or not playing for 2-3 years?
Who. Gives. A shit?
Not this guy.

 

Since we're into March, I'll throw out there as pointless any story that talks about teams getting "disrespected" because they got a No. 2 seed instead of a No. 1.
What's the damn point? You're basically a 1-seed anyway, just on the other half of the bracket. It's not like you have to play Kentucky in your opener, instead of Western Kentucky, because you're the 2-seed. You still get a schlub to start with, and if you take care of business no one remembers.
Plus, all of that crap is forgotten by 12:30 on Thursday anyway. It's a waste of ink and electrons, and it pops up every freakin' year. I want to put a bullet in the knee of the people who write those stories or bring it up in TV analysis.

 

I hate columns burning down straw men. ;D

 

Most NBA stories aren't on my radar.

MLB either, until after the All-Star break.

Spring football for college teams.