I am a social pariah because I don't like sports! (2 Viewers)

[Ross Williams]

Why would they care about a team that sucks or doesn't ever make it to playoffs? I don't understand the hate towards "bandwaggoners", does it make your love of a team any less sincere?

Because true fans follow their team through thick and thin. They root for their team no matter how bad they are. Losing sucks, it gets old quick, but it makes the good times even better.

I've been a die-hard 49ers fan since I was 10 years old. It's been easy to root for them for most of my life, they've won 4 Superbowls and consistantly made it to the playoffs since I've been watching them. In 1999 they went 4-12, the first time they'd had a losing record in almost 20 years, it felt horrible, but I didn't love the team any less. I rooted just as hard for them in 2000 when they went 6-10. This past season they won 12, made it back to the playoffs, it was so sweet just to watch a winning team again, I didn't care that they lost the first game in the playoffs.

Now, that pales in comparison to so many other teams. I can't even imagine rooting for a team like the Saints, who've made it to the playoffs once or twice in their entire history. But just imagine how sweet those playoffs must have felt to the true fans. If your team keeps winning, you get jaded, the wins just aren't as exciting any more, because you expect them.

The team city bandwaggoners aren't that bad. It's just annoying when you see more Yankee hats worn in Seattle than Mariner hats during the off season and most of the regular season, but as soon as it comes down to the end everybody's wearing Mariner stuff. True fans wear their stuff all season long.

The people I really hate, are the ones who only root for the best teams, no matter where they're located. I met this guy a couple of months ago who said his favorite baseball team was the Yankees, that his favorite basketball team was the Lakers, and his favorite football team was the Rams. He claimed to have been rooting for each seperately for his entire life, that they just all happened to be the top teams at the same time. I can gaurantee his loyaties change, as soon as these teams start to go downhill. He'll suddenly find new teams that he's loved his entire life.

 

[MickeS]

No argument from me there. I don't really have a favorite team at all, I normally just root for whatever team happens to come from where I live.
/Mike

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Give me any football team. I guaruntee equal W/L record with me standing on the sideline with headphones on being screamed at by the owner as any of these coaches "coaching"

Same thing with a coach. He knows that the player needs to throw the ball over to the other player, while running down the right side of the field.

No offense, but even a monkey can figure that out. You don't need some overpaid scapegoat on the sideline to figure out "See ball, get ball to goal line without getting tackled"

If coaches mattered, then when star players leave teams, they would still win, because they have good coaching. But they don't invariably they suck. Why? Because 1 person was responsible for them winning. THE STAR PLAYER, NOT THE COACH

 

[Ross Williams]

Jeff, please give it up. There's a lot more to football than just throwing the ball and running fast with it. It may look like that when you're watching it as an uninformed person, but once you learn the game, you'll see it on a whole new level.

Barry Sanders, arguably the most talented football player of all time, never had a team that made it past the first or second round of the playoffs. Why? Probably because of their coaching. They had a decent QB at the time, they had good WRs, their defense was servicable, they just couldn't put it all together, it takes a good coach to do so. Less talented teams have won the Superbowl.

Talent will take you a long way in sports. But winning it all takes the right coach. Hell, look at the Lakers, they've basically had the same talent for a while, but didn't win it all till Phil Jackson got there.

 

[MickeS]

Fortunately for you, that's a bet we can never settle... :rolleyes
/Mike

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Barry Sanders, arguably the most talented football player of all time, never had a team that made it past the first or second round of the playoffs. Why? Probably because of their coaching. They had a decent QB at the time, they had good WRs, their defense was servicable, they just couldn't put it all together, it takes a good coach to do so. Less talented teams have won the Superbowl.

As a lifelong Detroit Lions fan (no bandwagon riding here ), I can tell you that the owner (William Clay Ford) and the coach at the time (Wayne Fontes) were no rocket scientists. Fontes didn't have a clue, and Ford is so incompetent in running an organization that his family basically bought him a football team to keep him away from the business. You may have heard of it -- Ford Motor Company. However, your assumption that Detroit had a decent QB is incorrect. The Lions have not had a decent quarterback since Greg Landry in the 1970's. In fact, he is the last Lion QB to go to a Pro Bowl.
Jeff, if you ever get to be a head football coach in the NFL, it will probably be with the Lions.

 

[Mike Broadman]

No offense, but even a monkey can figure that out.

Well gee, I guess you've figured it out and we haven't. I suppose you, an individual who doesn't play and doesn't follow the sport, has unlocked the Great Secret that has eluded decades of players, coaches, management, fans, followers, and journalists. Congratulations. The Patriots, the Jets, and the Giants of the 90s all doing well after Bill Parcels coached them was just a big ol' coincidence.

Frankly, this discussion is silly. Even a monkey can figure it out.

This whole idea of people being treated poorly because they don't follow sports is bewildering. I have never experienced it. I don't follow baseball or hockey, and I never get any flack, even though most of my friends and the people I meet are huge baseball fans. Either some of you just happen to know a bunch of jerks, or you're blowing this up way out of propotion. I'll ask a guy if he's following the NBA Playoffs. If he says no, the conversation moves on to something else. What's the problem?

Frankly, I see more anti-sports, especially anti-football, bashing than vice versa. I can't even begin to count how many times football is compared to wrestling (the fake hit-'em-with-a-chair-kind), or is accused of being a rip-off of rugby (a claim so outrageous that it boggles the mind). There is this snobbish attitude that something involving physical strength and athleticism must be low-brow or stupid. Is it so shocking that a person can be interested in and involved in sports as well as classic cinema, jazz, and literature? Or, we could just continuing stereotyping everything and everyone. Whatever.

 

[Jed M]

How ironic. This thread has turned into a discussion of sports.

Jasen is right. I am a huge sports fan but I don't think we should get upset with this thread. I can understand why these people hate sports so much. Imagine if you did not like the Opera but yet every other guy you knew not only likes it, but eats, breathes and sleeps Opera. It would get pretty annoying fast. Either you like sports or you don't, nobody's opinion is going to be swayed by reading this forum so there is nothing to defend here sports fans. I say we should let these people have at least one corner of the world where they can rip sports mercilessly and even make off the wall comments like Jeffs. Who does it really hurt? With the exception of the guy who claimed he did not know of an interesting sports fan, I have been enjoying this outsiders commentary on sports. I agree with everything that has been said defending sports but I just disagree that this is the right place for these arguments. These poor guys just want a place where they can loathe and despise sports without being the outsider and I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[JasenP]

This thread was NEVER intended to bash sports, or the people who like them. I was simply curious if anyone else was in the same situation in regards to not liking sports and feeling like a bit of an outcast.

 

[Holadem]

Agreed, that was the reason I posted, not to dish out ignorant comments about a sport I know little about :rolleyes.
I respect the players AND the coaches for their talent(though I think they are seriously overpaid), I just don't care for the game.
--
Holadem

 

[Jon_Are]

I've played plenty of football video games...So I have PLENTY of understanding of football

Jeff...I feel compelled to respond to the above, but right now I'm laughing too hard to formulate a response.

Jon

 

[Jed M]

Sorry about the way I worded that guys. Despise and loathe are strong words but I was just trying to show that even the extreme views are ok. I know the majority of you are level headed people who prefer not to watch sports, but I will stay out of this, since I should not be in this thread to begin with. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[BrianW]

Nerd. I’m a nerd. Yep, a big, fat nerd. No televised sports for me. When someone (who doesn’t know me very well) tries to engage me in a discussion about sports, it usually goes something like this:

They get the message real quick that I’m not the best one to bring into the discussion.
There are some huge advantages to not giving a flip about televised sports:
1. We get more nookie and just as much beer on the weekends.
Well, okay, that’s the only advantage I can think of, but it’s enough for me.

 

[Ted Lee]

"go kings!"

heck...i'm only hyped right now because it's some local team playing some sport where they bounce a ball up and down a court for an hour (or whatever it is).

sounds silly to me...i don't know why they don't just make the hoop thing lower and let the guys walk. and check this out...if they tackle one another then the guy gets a free shot.

sounds pretty weird....

as you can tell jasen - i think a hippo in space knows or cares more about sports than i do...

 

[JakeR]

I have never, ever been interested in sports...not since I ran the wrong way during a pick-up football game in grade school and made a touchdown for the other team.
Basketball? Baseball? Football? Anything with a "Ball" in it is intensely boring to me. The only sport I follow with any passion is mixed martial arts, which is like watching 20 minutes of pure human drama unfold. No script, no spoilers, all heart.

 

[Brett_H]

JasenP, I know where you're coming from! It's not so much that I *hate* or even *dislike* sports, it's just that I can't appreciate something that I can't do or don't enjoy doing.

Let me explain: I'm 6'5", so everyone I've met since the age of 16 has felt compelled to ask me how my basketball career is going... well, I'm a somewhat uncoordinated guy who can't run for any length of time without wheezing, so it's not going anywhere fast! As such, I have no interest in watching basketball. Same goes for baseball and football, although to a lesser degree.

Sometimes I actually enjoy watching a football or baseball game, but mostly by myself. My fiancee's father and my future brother-in-law are big sports fans. The kind that know all the players, where they went to college, who they used to play for, their likes/dislikes, the whole ball of wax. I'm lucky if I know one or two players. This fact makes watching games with them annoying, I usually just sit there on the couch drinking and nodding occasionally, which is not my idea of a fun time. I used to actually try to read the sports section a few days before I knew I'd be watching a game with them to pick up one something that I could use in conversation. Problem is, that would be all I'd know, and the "conversation" died soon afterwards. I've now realized that I really don't care if I can have a discussion on "their terms" and I'm all the happier for it.

On a side note: Even as a casual observer, I can tell that the coaching staff has a huge influence on the game. What good is power without control? You dismiss the comparison to a film director, well how about an orchestra conductor? Do you honestly think that all of the worlds best musicians could just sit down and knock out great music on their own? Of course not, and the same goes for the worlds best athletes. Someone needs to call the shots....

-Brett.

 

[Ross Williams]

Being a big sports fan, I've never had problems with my non-sport fan buddies. We'll usually talk about movies. Maybe I have a "weird" group of friends, but I find that the sports fans are actually in the minority. Out of my 20 best friends, I'd say that only 2 of them are seriously into sports, with another 2 or 3 following casually.

The Lions have not had a decent quarterback since Greg Landry in the 1970's.

Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but I thought Rodney Peete had some decent years. Not Pro Bowl worthy, but enough to win, without handing it to Barry every play.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but I thought Rodney Peete had some decent years. Not Pro Bowl worthy, but enough to win, without handing it to Barry every play.

Ross, Rodney Peete was never healthy long enough to be a decent QB in Detroit. That guy could injure himself getting dressed in the morning. Seriously, Peete did not have enough talent to be anything more than a backup QB in the NFL.
Other Lions starting QB's during the Barry Sanders era (off the top of my head) -- Erik Kramer, Dave Krieg, Andre Ware, Bob Gagliano, Charlie Batch and Scott Mitchell. Kramer was the best of the bunch, since Krieg was at the end of his career.
Sorry to hijack the thread, but I can never pass up an opportunity to bash my favorite NFL team.