Are there any sports you simply don't "get?"

[DG_ThenNowForever]

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

you don't have to watch all the games

 

People complain about the length of the NBA season all the time too -- especially journalists and podcasters paid to watch the games -- and I hate that sentiment.

 

How do more games than you personally want to watch in a season possibly hurt you? No one forces anyone to pay attention to anything they don't want to.

 

I personally like that there are 7,000 NBA games in a season. It means that most nights there's a game on that I can watch; isn't that good?

[greyraven8]

2 hours ago, the admiral said:

 

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┻┳| •.•)    you don't have to watch all the games
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Believe me I don't, and I don't for any sport.
For my first sport hockey - I don't watch that many NHL games on television, but still believe the NHL season lasts to long. 
Stanley cup should be wrapped up by May long weekend.

To quote Ron MacLean's sarcastic comment at the NHL Awards ceremony on June 25, 1998:
"It's hard to believe the season's already over"

[CaliforniaGlowin]

Not a fan of women's sports except for team handball and the Olympics.  I watched a bit of a women's world baseball tournament last year, that was different.

[Dynasty]

I know there's many here that take much enjoyment in this "sport", and I'm sorry (not sorry) for saying this, but WWE is boooooring.

[Red Wolf]

23 minutes ago, Dolphins Dynasty said:

I know there's many here that take much enjoyment in this "sport", and I'm sorry (not sorry) for saying this, but WWE is boooooring.

 

Sorry, this thread is about sports, not sports entertainment aka the truest form of art.

[Red Comet]

56 minutes ago, Dolphins Dynasty said:

I know there's many here that take much enjoyment in this "sport", and I'm sorry (not sorry) for saying this, but WWE is boooooring.

It seems like the worst thing to happen to WWE was buying out WCW. 

 

Sort of like how Madden games have gradually turned to pure :censored: since they got the exclusive NFL license.

 

Its almost as if monopolies aren't just bad for the consumer, its bad long-term for the company that is monopolizing the market.

[Still MIGHTY]

On 4/6/2019 at 11:21 AM, RyanMcD29 said:

I think the E-sports divide might be around the millennial-to-Gen Z divide. I'm 28 and couldn't care less about watching it outside of FIFA Tournaments, but it's a huge hit for those in their early 20s. Also like to think the Dynasty Modes-to-Online/Ultimate Team divide runs around that line as well in sports games, and that's why pretty much everyone has punted on career modes from EA to Sony (2K at least pumps things into it, but also puts the most in the virtual currency crap).

 

I'm 29. I love watching Let's Plays of video games, but you couldn't pay me to watch a video game competition of any sort. There's a Let's Play channel that does a lot of Super Smash Bros., and I tune in for each new video and I'm entertained, partially by game play and partially by the personality. I've tried to watch these Super Smash Bros. grand finals, and I tap out like 30 seconds in. Just a snooze.

 

I'm not a wrestling fan, but I'd probably compare it to the difference between watching actual wrestling vs watching the WWE. Technical ability vs Entertainment.

 

While I don't watch them, as I said, I think I can understand tournaments for fighting games and sports games well enough. For the life of me, I just do not get competitive Overwatch. Of all the things to blow up and get that "ProGamer" backing, how was it Overwatch? How do Fortnite doofuses like this Ninja guy end up hanging with Neymar? And things like League of Legends? That's even more of a mystery, mostly because I just can not follow what's happening.

 

---

 

Anyways, for the non-virtual sports:

 

NASCAR is just wholly unappealing to me. If I had the time or interest in motor sports, I'd probably lean towards Formula 1. But the whole 500 giant circles thing doesn't grab me for NASCAR or even IndyCar.

 

I'll join the chorus of Americans on cricket. But as someone else mentioned, I'm sure those that grew up in cricket countries thing baseball is the weird one.

 

As for one we play over here... Water Polo. Look, I understand how water polo works. I've covered my share of Water Polo. It's not terribly complicated. (Although, I still haven't worked out the majority of the penalty calls.) It's a semi big deal in Southern California. But like... I don't get it. How as Americans can we take to Water Polo, but we can't get in on Handball?  (I fall in love with Olympic Handball every four years.) Who thought that Soccer or Handball were so fun on land that they'd be somehow better in the water? Like, sure, in some of the bigger matches, I've gotten caught up in the swing of the score back and forth, but I find it kind of terrible to watch. It's mostly splashing with like 70% of the action going on underwater.

 

[gosioux76]

On 4/2/2019 at 11:02 AM, the admiral said:

 

It's the difference between doing something yourself and operating within a simulacrum that other people have created. Someone making an amazing catch in football is performing on a different level than someone making an amazing catch in Madden. 

This is a great point. I tried to watch the NBA's esports league on Twitch last year — as a 42-year-old man, I can at least say I tried — and it felt a lot like watching an old SNES sports video game in simulation mode. I'd stare at it with curiosity for a few minutes, shake myself out of that trance and move onto something more productive. 

[gosioux76]

On 4/1/2019 at 7:48 AM, Seadragon76 said:

Cricket. No matter how much I could watch, I still don't understand the rules of this sport.

 

About 15 years ago, while traveling in Europe, I experienced another culture's mania over soccer. So I came back from that trip, determined to learn everything I could about the game and fall in in love with it — and I did. Madly. It's now easily my favorite sport, and I've never played the game once. 

 

A few years back, I figured I'd give cricket the same treatment. But the rules for understanding even the basic fundamentals seemed so dense and complicated that, despite my best efforts, I gave up on it. 

 

Then this weekend I stumbled across the Netflix docu-series that takes you through an Indian Premier League season with the Mumbai Indians. Talk about a useful primer. I started watching it, still somewhat confused by the scoring, so I watched a brief YouTube tutorial, then went back to the doc, and it all made a lot more sense. Watching it in action from behind the scenes was really eye-opening.

 

I doubt I'll become an ardent fan of cricket, but at least now I have a working understanding of the sport. Or at least that version of it.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

Team handball isn't just in the Olympics, I watch the Euro and World Championships online.  

 

I loved WWF in the 80's and 90's but didn't like the "extreme" route it went.

 

Add to my list indoor/arena football.  Normally I like altered major sports, but the short field is too weird for me.

[Seadragon76]

5 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

 

About 15 years ago, while traveling in Europe, I experienced another culture's mania over soccer. So I came back from that trip, determined to learn everything I could about the game and fall in in love with it — and I did. Madly. It's now easily my favorite sport, and I've never played the game once. 

 

A few years back, I figured I'd give cricket the same treatment. But the rules for understanding even the basic fundamentals seemed so dense and complicated that, despite my best efforts, I gave up on it. 

 

Then this weekend I stumbled across the Netflix docu-series that takes you through an Indian Premier League season with the Mumbai Indians. Talk about a useful primer. I started watching it, still somewhat confused by the scoring, so I watched a brief YouTube tutorial, then went back to the doc, and it all made a lot more sense. Watching it in action from behind the scenes was really eye-opening.

 

I doubt I'll become an ardent fan of cricket, but at least now I have a working understanding of the sport. Or at least that version of it.

Funny that you mentioned cricket because I actually watched part of a game over the weekend.

 

It was an IPL match between... let me see if I get the names right... the Punjab XI Kings and the Chennai Super Kings. Curious since my cable provider (Xfinity) is showing this, I thought to myself "What the hell, why not?"

 

The game was live. It was on a channel called Willow and I was confused... All I could grasp was this: There's one guy who runs up to throw the ball and the guy with the paddle can hit it in any direction he wants.

[Dynasty]

21 hours ago, Red Wolf said:

 

Sorry, this thread is about sports, not sports entertainment aka the truest form of art.

 

But, but... but I don't think it's entertaining. 

[BigRed618]

I don’t mind esports being a thing, but I don’t get that you have whole leagues based on just one game, like Overwatch. I think it would be more interesting if an esports "match" were to use a different game each time, or a few different events in the same match. Championship Gaming Series, an earlier team-based esports league, got it right in my opinion, by supporting several games from basic genres. You had a shooter, a fighter, a racing game, and FIFA.

 

I feel like I’m describing an e-lympiad, now that I think about it.

[Sykotyk]

On 4/6/2019 at 10:25 PM, DG_Now said:

 

People complain about the length of the NBA season all the time too -- especially journalists and podcasters paid to watch the games -- and I hate that sentiment.

 

How do more games than you personally want to watch in a season possibly hurt you? No one forces anyone to pay attention to anything they don't want to.

 

I personally like that there are 7,000 NBA games in a season. It means that most nights there's a game on that I can watch; isn't that good?

Because it devalues the individual game compared to the overall season. A team losing one baseball game doesn't usually matter much because it's 1 of 162. Basketball or hockey it's 1 of 82. Football it's 1 of 16.

 

That 1 of 16 is a much more hyped and important game. Teams go all out to win that single game because how crucial it is to the season baseball might sit some guys against a good opponent just because. 

 

You see the intensity of baseball change in the playoffs. How every pitch is scrutinized. Regular season, people could go days barely even following the box scores and it not affecting much. 

[infrared41]

On 4/1/2019 at 4:09 AM, Quillz said:

For me, it's curling. No matter how many times I watch it, no matter how often the strategy is explained to me, I just cannot possibly find curling interesting or engaging.

 

I have no Earthly idea what the hell is going on in Curling, but I'll watch that for hours. I love it. Who knows? If I actually knew what was going on, I may not like it as much.

 

On 4/1/2019 at 7:54 AM, Gothamite said:

E-“sports”.

 

Why any adult would want to watch another adult play video games is beyond me. 

 

I've seen clips from E-Sports events where the crowds are pretty large. That said, I can't imagine a bigger waste of money than buying a ticket to watch people play video games on a TV monitor. I'm with you, why anyone would want to watch other people play video games is beyond me.

 

 

 

[Sykotyk]

45 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

I have no Earthly idea what the hell is going on in Curling, but I'll watch that for hours. I love it. Who knows? If I actually knew what was going on, I may not like it as much.

 

The concept of curling is incredibly simple. But I just don't understand the strategy. To me, I can't understand how every game doesn't just end 1-0 or 0-0.

[infrared41]

On 4/6/2019 at 10:25 PM, DG_Now said:

 

People complain about the length of the NBA season all the time too -- especially journalists and podcasters paid to watch the games -- and I hate that sentiment.

 

How do more games than you personally want to watch in a season possibly hurt you? No one forces anyone to pay attention to anything they don't want to.

 

I personally like that there are 7,000 NBA games in a season. It means that most nights there's a game on that I can watch; isn't that good?

 

1. In the mid-90's part of my job was covering the AAA Syracuse Chiefs. That meant I got to sit in the press box, eat free food, and watch baseball. I was astonished by how many media people complained about having to do the same thing I was doing. They bitched and moaned every single night. I thought that maybe they hated it because it was AAA baseball, it's a long season, there isn't much fan interest, etc." Nope. Turns out a lot of media people who have to go to games don't like their jobs. After my first season of covering the Chiefs, I started covering Syracuse University Football and basketball. Now we're talking covering D-1 football (and the team was pretty good back then) and a top tier college basketball program. Working at the Carrier Dome meant a much nicer press box and way better free food. For basketball games, I had a court side seat. You'd think anyone getting paid to do that job would be thrilled, but the media people bitched and moaned almost as much as they did at the Chiefs games. To this day, I don't get how these people can be so miserable doing a job that most every sports fan would be thrilled with. We were getting paid (and fed) to watch sports. My guess is the folks working at the factory down the road would have traded places with us in a heartbeat.  Anyway, the point of that long-winded reply was to simply say that I also hate that sentiment.

 

2. I feel the same way about baseball. And yeah, it's a good thing.

 

 

[Red Comet]

36 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

1. In the mid-90's part of my job was covering the AAA Syracuse Chiefs. That meant I got to sit in the press box, eat free food, and watch baseball. I was astonished by how many media people complained about having to do the same thing I was doing. They bitched and moaned every single night. I thought that maybe they hated it because it was AAA baseball, it's a long season, there isn't much fan interest, etc." Nope. Turns out a lot of media people who have to go to games don't like their jobs. After my first season of covering the Chiefs, I started covering Syracuse University Football and basketball. Now we're talking covering D-1 football (and the team was pretty good back then) and a top tier college basketball program. Working at the Carrier Dome meant a much nicer press box and way better free food. For basketball games, I had a court side seat. You'd think anyone getting paid to do that job would be thrilled, but the media people bitched and moaned almost as much as they did at the Chiefs games. To this day, I don't get how these people can be so miserable doing a job that most every sports fan would be thrilled with. We were getting paid (and fed) to watch sports. My guess is the folks working at the factory down the road would have traded places with us in a heartbeat.  Anyway, the point of that long-winded reply was to simply say that I also hate that sentiment.

 

They hated being in Syracuse more than hating their job I bet. Anything that isn't the New York Times, Boston Globe or LA Times (and maybe the Chicago Tribune) might as well be flyover country and to these elitists who went to Ivy League Schools that might as well be the equivalent of being reassigned to Hell.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

56 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

1. In the mid-90's part of my job was covering the AAA Syracuse Chiefs. That meant I got to sit in the press box, eat free food, and watch baseball. I was astonished by how many media people complained about having to do the same thing I was doing. They bitched and moaned every single night. I thought that maybe they hated it because it was AAA baseball, it's a long season, there isn't much fan interest, etc." Nope. Turns out a lot of media people who have to go to games don't like their jobs. After my first season of covering the Chiefs, I started covering Syracuse University Football and basketball. Now we're talking covering D-1 football (and the team was pretty good back then) and a top tier college basketball program. Working at the Carrier Dome meant a much nicer press box and way better free food. For basketball games, I had a court side seat. You'd think anyone getting paid to do that job would be thrilled, but the media people bitched and moaned almost as much as they did at the Chiefs games. To this day, I don't get how these people can be so miserable doing a job that most every sports fan would be thrilled with. We were getting paid (and fed) to watch sports. My guess is the folks working at the factory down the road would have traded places with us in a heartbeat.  Anyway, the point of that long-winded reply was to simply say that I also hate that sentiment.

 

2. I feel the same way about baseball. And yeah, it's a good thing.

 

 

 

Thank you for this. There's a lot of cynicism in journalism (political journalism is WAY worse about this) and it's so damaging. If these people really, truly hate their work, why not do something else? You can totally hear it in their coverage too.

 

I know familiarity breeds contempt, but that's why other careers exist.

[Wade Heidt]

I'll never get racewalking.  Frustrating to watch footage of it when Olympics are on.  I just want them to start running!