OK, this is actually a serious question..... I know a lot of guys around here are really into sports. What's the draw? I like to watch a little pro or college football or a little college basketball, but don't get into it like a lot of you guys do. If I didn't watch a game all year, it wouldn't bother me. So, what's the obsession with watching other people play games that you do not participate in yourself? (Talking about being a spectator)
In the south, college football is a religion. Saying we're obsessed is putting it mildly. And watching the games are only half the fun.
It keeps me off the internet, and away from you losers. I really enjoy watching college basketball. I like to think I know the game well, and I pay attention to the other things going on in the game, besides just the ball going in the basket. Michigan football was always big in my family. I've had a lot of relatives attend UM. I was too stupid, or too poor...I like to think it was the later, but it probably wasn't.
You can ask that question about just about anything in life. What's the draw in being really into music, sports, books, cars, hunting, etc? It's whatever you're into, whatever makes you happy.
Kind of like asking.....What do I see in you? I know you can ask it about anything....but I'm wondering what people find so interesting about watching other people play sports. I can see playing them, as you are a part of it, but watching and living for it.....I don't get.
I don't know about the living for it, I wonder about that also but, for me, it's about watching great athletic skills being used in action. I don't follow sports like I used to but I still enjoy watching any good athletic competition and the skills exhibited.
I'm sort of with you on this one Dan. I HATE, HATE, HATE basketball (love playing it, hate watching it, but won't go into that). I LOVE watching college football, and will pretty much watch any game that's one when I'm watching TV. Pro football is alright, not as exciting for me as college. MLB is a favorite of mine, only because baseball is my love. I played forever, and so it's the game I can relate to most. With that being said, I don't know how some people can have the capacity to retain so many players names, stats, etc, and retain those numbers for years and years. I wouldn't mind being able to, but I can't I played in my first fantasy league this year (baseball). Made two trades this entire season, and I'm in first place, haha:D For me, it's hard to keep up with it all. I enjoy watching it on TV, but I never make it a point to be in front of the TV for a particular game unless it's an evening (after dark) game.
I think it all comes down to social identity theory. It makes you feel apart of something bigger. I know when my teams win or lose, more so in football, it effects my attitude and the attitudes of people around me.
I've played a lot of sports. I like to watch people do things (sports-wise) that I can't do. My tolerance for sports ends when the discipline disappears (and the players/coaches begin to think they're bigger than the game). Consequently, I don't watch much NBA and very little NFL. I'm also not rabid about any team or player. I could ask the same question you did about fantasy sports. I just don't get it. I could see kids doing it. I don't see the draw for grown men.
Bruce eluded to the same thing....and I can appreciate that 100%. There are two other comments I don't get...... How they do......and why they do. Now this..... This is what I'm getting at. How can something that has ZERO bearing on your life, affect you? I can see being bummed for a few minutes....but let it affect your attitude?
Let me add, I get even more enjoyment watching extreme sports. Talk about athletes, and many are just doing it for the love of it. Freestyle motox is my favorite as well as my wife's
I was big into playing sports growing up. I never lived and died over a specific teams success on the field. I have a lot of friends that pretty much sit around and watch football all day Sat/Sunday. I would much rather be doing something fun myself or with my children. I kind of feel watching games that are 2-3 hours long are a waste of time. I was big into football for many years, yet these days if I miss the SuperBowl, it does not effect me that much. I was big into the UFC stuff for years, yet I have not watched a UFC type event in 5 years or so. That is just me.
Sports always has a different storyline.The ending is never the same.Sure,the same team may win more often than not but how they get there is almost always different. On top of that,you see the best and worst come out of individuals at any given time. To see a guy hit a baseball coming at 90+ mph 500 feet or a guy hit a half court shot as the buzzer sounds to win a game.To see if a person can come through in the clutch or pitch a no hitter going into the 9th not having give up that hit yet. In sports,to me,the storyline is always different. I never really got into Nascar until I started learning a little bit about the drivers,their attitudes and how well liked they were or disliked and how each would be raced differently by different drivers.You know if they push the wrong person,they were hitting the wall.
Again, it comes down to the social identity theory. The connection that fans develop towards their team or teams is a type of ingroup favoritism that helps a person develop a social identity by attaching themselves and attaining group membership that has value and significance to them. This topic has been studied quite a bit.
I will go all Al Bundy on you...I played on into college. I excelled and saw a level that few have, and learned the skills actually required to get to the final level, I did not get there myself, but a few guys did, one or two are guys I know very well and still hang out with when they are in town playing the braves. I am a rabid Alabama fan, born and raised...I love my braves, falcons and tolerate the hawks. I think it is amazing to see what these guys do day in and day out. we always get caught up in the attitude, or is he a **** or a good guy. I simply use them for enjoyment, much like a movie with a different plot or ending each time. Like Hooker said, college football is religion down here, we actually know guys at work by their favorite college football team, and if you are fair weather "we" don't really talk the sport with you. I know I have gotten way off topic, but I guess for me it is a vent, much like hunting. i was brought up doing both, so I really do not understand life without sports. I have been through periods where I played on a basketball league at the gym, worked out at the gym, played "travel" softball, local flag football, bowhunted for 5 months and started all over again in febuary. I was going to say I have gotten better at controlling the emotion over something I cannot control (your original question I think lol) but as I sit here watching the braves piss away another game against the Pirates and squander the division lead to the Phillies I really do not want to talk anymore
I'm kind of with Justin, you can ask that about anything a perosn does for fun. Most can't really explain it other than "they like it" I don't understand a lot of things other people do for fun, but I'm sure a lot dont understand the things I do for fun.
I've never understood how some people have the time to devote to following sports. They watch several games every week. Know everything about the players on multiple teams. All the stats. All the coaches and every team they have ever worked for and every team they ever played for. And the best prospects coming up through highschool. On and on and on......and bowhunt! When do they have time for work and family???
