Tell me why I should continue to follow sports

Isn't that supposed to start off with someone being bored with their cable TV?

 

Another thought: How many times have you met a guy who "doesn't follow/like sports" and thought well of him?
I don't judge people on their level of fandom, but I do enjoy the bonds it produces between people who otherwise have nothing in common. There is something great about something that causes complete strangers to high five each other - and sports does that every day throughout the world.
How can something that does that be overvalued or dismissed? Even if I didn't like sports - I'd like sports.

 

You should continue to follow sports because it is the best - and ONLY - way males can bond with each other.

In addition, the coolest women are always sports fans.

So basically, you NEED to like sports, because if you don't, you may as well just be a big dork.

 

Every day since I got out of sports journalism.

 

I simply CANNOT believe this.

Sports are the reason for life!

 

Two guys who sit near me at work have five fantasy football teams each. They talk of little else, all day long. I did my fantasy league stuff 20 years ago, so I'm not really into that level of fandom or bonding anymore. Happy for them, but I wish they would shut the fuck up.

 

I don't think anyone's saying that. And your post above took the hyperbole well beyond what DanOregon said. Fact: Sports are a method of bonding. I DO care about the Browns, I do go to the weekly Browns Backers watch party at a bar here in Atlanta, and people are high-fiving and hugging people they've never met. Every conversation starts with "where you from?" because we're all from up there in some way.

But I also think it's ridiculous to not think highly because someone isn't "manly" enough to watch sports.

 

Hyperbole?

Think I successfully conveyed the utter lack of respect I have for that take, whether it's DanOregon saying it, or anyone else.

Heard it many times. Sports are so so, essential to being a guy, or to bonding, or to some other stupid ritual that we as sports people hold so freaking sacred. We say here "How could anyone watch reality TV/movies I don't like/science fiction/something not sport related?!?!!?!?"

The fact is, many people have no care for and no clue about sports. And they do just fine.

 

My brother-in-law doesn't follow sports AT ALL. He wrestled in high school but was never into the team-sports thing.

His wife, my sister, is a BIG sports fan (and was a 3-sport athlete herself in high school).

When anybody in their family watches sports, it's my sister. My other three siblings are pretty big sports fans (much bigger than me the last 15 years or so -- I just burned out on it). A lot of times they'll sit down and scream watching our common alma mater on teevee. Usually BIL and I will drift in and out of the room paying little attention to the game and doing stuff with the kids in the other room.

Once in a while I get called in for "expert analysis" of whatever's going on in the game, but I usually beg off, "probably any of you guys know more about the team than I do."

 

That about sums it up for me. It's why I love the Red Zone channel. And why hasn't someone found a way to do a college version of that?

 

All I'm saying is that I've never developed a friendship with a guy who has expressed that he "doesn't follow/like sports" when I'm watching sports on TV or discussing sports. I do have friends and relatives who don't follow sports, but most at least understand my interest in them and don't try to dismiss the idea and/or end up distancing themselves from others by expressing it.

I've been to the ballet and the symphony with my girlfriend - they aren't my bag but I appreciate the ability to do what they do and want to open myself up to new experiences.

I really hate to run, but a friend invited me to join her on a 5K and I did it because she didn't want to do it alone.

And I've repeatedly tried to learn chess, gone to concerts that weren't my bag and participated in other activities because even though they weren't my thing, what they did do was allow me to get to know someone better whose bag they were.

 

I suspect rights issues there are about 100 times more complicated.

Red Zone has one league and two networks. College has several leagues and a bunch of different broadcasting rightsholders -- the biggest being ESPN, which isn't likely to play along unless it's the entity creating the Red Zone in the first place.