Me who just don't care about sports (feel like the only one)

Jerrypeoples

when hockey season comes around i will watch it as much as i can. i didnt start playing sports until i was 18 (basketball) and still play it to this day twice a week with a group of friends. its my outlet. i get on the court and i dont have to think i just go out there and play. no matter how ****ty my day at work was or how ****ty life is, when i pick up that basketball its a whole different world for me. the day i have to quit because of age or injury i wont know what to do with myself.

as far as athletes getting paid so much, they have a very specific skill set that brings their owners a **** ton of money and therefore the pay is much higher.

you always hear teachers say they dont do this for the money but thats the first thing they ***** about. they go on strike cause the school only covers 95% of their health insurance and they want it to be 98%. players go on strike who does it hurt? the team and players. teachers go on strike who does it hurt, the kdis. so you tell me who's really greedy.

im not saying teachers dont deserve to make more money, they do, its a tough job, but to compare it to sports is stupid. why not ***** about actors who make 30 million dollars for 3 months work?

Laces_0ut

The pros are paid based on how fans flock to watch them.

That was kind of my point....

Our society puts more importance on sports than just about anything else.

entertainment in general..sports, music, movies. if you are exceptional at something that a lot of people like you are going to be rich. those entertainers affect way more lives than a teacher, nurse, soldier etc...

Laces_0ut

I think you have (almost) missed my point as well.

How many Americans can tell you how much we were spending per month in Afghanistan and Iraq? (I applaud you for knowing). A far cry less than the number that could tell you which teams won the Superbowl for the past 12 years (yes, that's how long we have been at constant WAR in the Middle East - longer than Longer than WWII, longer than Korea, longer than Vietnam).

I'm not being critical of the government per se, but the society that worships sports while ignoring what is going on in their communities, their country and across the world.

"The situation in Syria?? I dunno much 'bout that, but did you see that play in the third quarter of the Jets game?"

i think a lot of people dont pay a lot of attention because they dont know who to believe and feel that other than voting they cant really do anything about it. lots of people's lives are rough so when they get free time do they want to see more bad news? i think a lot of them want an escape.

pucenavel

why not ***** about actors who make 30 million dollars for 3 months work?

I think we have a serious problem in this country when we pay entertainers tens of millions of dollars a year to play "pretend" while simultaneously complaining bitterly about having to pay an extra $5-10 a week in property taxes to ensure proper funding for fire departments, police and municipal facilities. We (yes, we, I am guilty to) will blindly drop $100 at the movies, but we don't seem to understand the value of maintained streets, well-funded first responders, and expansion/upgrades to municipal infrastructure.

Is that good for you?

Alehmer

Sorry about the misspell in the title! Supposed to be Men, not Me, but everyone figured it out.

So happy to see some of my fellow racers in here! I did SCCA autocross for a few years, had to take a break when we had our son, would like to get back into it, especially since I got a fun car again (E36 M3), but Judo/BJJ has kinda taken over all my free time.

I am competitive and love challenge, even took up an e-sport while I was laid up recovering from ACL reconstruction (6 months no grappling, so tough to live with!), and I have probably watched more professional Starcraft than any popular sport. For those of you really angry at athletes being paid what they are, I almost hesitate to tell you that there are people making 6 figures playing video games as professionals.

Glad to see that I'm not the only one. Knew I wasn't, but it's so pervasive that it really feels like it a lot of the time. Funnily enough, it's always the out-of-shape office workers who seem the most likely to live vicariously through their team, never hear anyone at grappling practice talk sports... though we are there for a purpose and usually just talk about new & better ways of choking each other.

As for the pay, there are a LOT of jobs that pay far more than what a soldier or fireman or many very worthy people make. Seven figure athlete salaries are simply a reflection of their ability to bring in big-time advertising and merchandising money for the people who make the REAL money in sports. It's capitalism and it's a two-edged sword...

CubanSammich

well in between baking, gardening and shopping for shoes, I have to stop and watch some kind of sport. I have a gambling problem. Problem is that when I bet, I win, a lot. So it encourages me to cpontinue watching sports,ALL of them. Ive even betted on tennis.

weightedfootsteps

Sports and me....No! Unless I'm playing. I don't mind going to a game but if I don't know someone who is playing to root for then I'm not that interested.

figgyskater

true

nblais06

Only thing i follow is nascar everything else i find boring!

ninerbuff

I think we have a serious problem in this country when we pay grown men millions of dollars a year to play games when teachers have to pay for their own classroom supplies, soldiers returning from war have to wait months or years for proper medical care and a person working sh---ty jobs for minimum wage have to work 60-80 hours a week just to put food on the table.

^^ This ^^

Seconded.

Did you guys know the the Iraqi and Afghan wars cost 4-6 trillion? http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-03-28/world/38097452_1_iraq-price-tag-first-gulf-war-veterans

I hope you're not mad at sports but rather your government. Athletes deserve every penny they get because we gladly pay the ticket prices so we can enjoy ourselves. I scratch my head at how so many Americans are "patriotic" and support the troops yet they will boycott sports and entertainment because they get paid too much. Why not boycott your gov't?

and many of those serving overseas WISH they could watch their sports team play. You know how happy troops are when they get a rare chance to catch a game??? sports is more than just grown rich men tossing a ball.

How about we pay the troops what sports figures get paid.... now there's an idea!

Not really. Troops are paid through taxes. Sports figures are paid through revenue. Unless people are willing to pay more in taxes to support troops (which about 45% of taxes right now are for Defense budget), then it ain't a good idea. A much better idea would be to get countries that want our troops there to pay for it.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

CMB1979

How many of us are there?

I don't care about sports either. I'd rather go hiking or watching a good drama on tv rather than watching any sport.

ninerbuff

The pros are paid based on how fans flock to watch them.

That was kind of my point....

Our society puts more importance on sports than just about anything else.

What's not to like though? People who root for the same team can become fast friends. Team sports like football teach teamwork. Many families get together at sports events. Major sports events create revenue for food/beverage services. KIDS love to play sports (as well as many fit adults). For many it's a chance to get away from the stresses of daily life and bask in pride for their team(s).

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Alehmer

I do think sports are great to play, especially for kids. It's so very easy now to become totally insulated in your air-conditioned home with computers and tablets and TV and whatnot. Human beings are social creatures and we have deep psychological and even physical need to be out in the world with our fellow humans competing and cooperating. There's no denying the positive effects that come from engaging your social animal, science has mounds of evidence to show how much we were built for it.

It's the most natural thing in the world for kids to run and play, but for some reason so many people lose this as adults. It's not just a kid thing! Then again, I am definitely a big kid myself, always end up running and wrestling with the neighborhood kids while most of the other adults are talking.

Even if you don't watch, that sure doesn't mean you can't get out there and do something for yourself. Corporate marketing tie-ins and the social effects of entertainment in a recession simply don't figure into playing soccer with the kids or playing in a local softball league.

I did want to put it out there that the Olympics changes everything for me. I am an Olympics fanatic, would watch 24/7 if I could. Variety, excitement, and the obvious passion of people who have worked their whole lives for this one brief moment without any expectation of extrinsic reward. It's pure and fabulous. It's also very short, so it's got that going for it.

I can totally understand peoples feelings on the politics and socio-economic effects of athlete pay, but that's it own whole discussion and I would like it to be discussed elsewhere if possible.

dawn_h_d

Two of my best friends (both are big, athletic guys) hate sports. They could care less about them. So you are not alone. I, though, am one of those chicks that will scream at the TV louder than my boyfriend and know more about football stats than he does.

As for the discussions about players being paid so much, I feel they shouldn't have such high paychecks, but I don't think actors should either, and they are TV as well.

sweetcurlz67

Whoa! And in the city in which you live... A HUGE college football town!!!

I'm with ya though. I live on the east cost of the same state but have a son who is a HUGE sports fan and have to hear about sports from him and his peers as well as my peers. So I've had to somewhat fake it but they know I'm not a big fan. I have certain loyalties but to call me a true fan... Naaaa.

Just be you and don't worry about what your peers think. They will get use to you! ????

flet2

I think we have a serious problem in this country when we pay grown men millions of dollars a year to play games when teachers have to pay for their own classroom supplies, soldiers returning from war have to wait months or years for proper medical care and a person working sh---ty jobs for minimum wage have to work 60-80 hours a week just to put food on the table.

^^ This ^^

Seconded.

Did you guys know the the Iraqi and Afghan wars cost 4-6 trillion? http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-03-28/world/38097452_1_iraq-price-tag-first-gulf-war-veterans

I hope you're not mad at sports but rather your government. Athletes deserve every penny they get because we gladly pay the ticket prices so we can enjoy ourselves. I scratch my head at how so many Americans are "patriotic" and support the troops yet they will boycott sports and entertainment because they get paid too much. Why not boycott your gov't?

To be clear, I don't think anyone is talking about 'boycotting' sports. I simply am not at all interested in them. I realize the gov and sports are completely unrelated (except when congress was somehow involved in steroids and baseball...that happened right?) I'm just troubled by the fact that people can reel off every statistic for their favorite sports jocks but don't generally have a CLUE what's going on in the world. So it's more the fact that many (not all) people are fine with spending absurd amounts of money pouring their money into sports and other entertainment, but are pretty oblivious to the real world happening around them. I'm not here to point the finger, I'm guilty too. I blow tons of money on big TV's and fancy stereo equipment to watch movies and play Xbox on, but this wasn't about that.

mheebner

My name is Timmeh and I am a sports fanatic. When I get home from work the TV instantly goes to ESPN so I catch up on any breaking news or stories :laugh:

So professional players make good money, yea so what. Think of it as a lifetime worth of money in that short time they play.
They are the best at what they do, and put their bodies on the line so to speak to entertain those of us who like sports.

Robert Downey Jr. made 75 Million last year. 75 MILLION !! What professional athletes make is peanuts compared to that.

QFT

I don't see people complaining how Zuckerberg or the guys that own Google are worth billions while our teachers and soldiers are not paid as much as they are worth. Are you not using Facebook or searching with Google because of it ? Sports provide very real benefits in society.

latenitelucy

I live in North Carolina so it is mandatory that all men, women and children choose a college basketball team to pull for (Usually UNC or Duke with NC State coming in 3rd)

Other than that I like NFL and I enjoy baseball if I'm at a game, live.

Football is pretty big around here too.

Does anybody care about pro basketball anymore? Anybody?

Elliesque

I loooove hockey, rugby, lacrosse -- you know, the kinda hardcore interesting ones lol. My hubby doesn't really like any sports (unless you count motorcross and pro-skating a "sport".)