I don't "get" sports fans - Page 4

Not really. Being a fan of a team is like being a fan of a movie series, not a studio.

Or at least a genre. Being a fan of a studio is like being a fan of a broadcasting company. I don't watch the Lakers, I watch ABC.

Sports fandom and movie fandom can not be compared on that level. They are just too different.

I know I, for one, have never heard of fans of specific movie franchises, let alone directors (I'm sorry, auteurs).

No, being a fan of a sport is like being a fan of a genre.

Being a fan of movies and being a fan of sports is just too different to be anything more than a reach. Movies have no comparison to the team concept. Comparing Fox to the Cowboys only works on a commerce level, it does not touch on the geographical element or bring into account that the Cowboys only play football. Fox makes a diverse amount of movies. You can try to make them work for some argument, but they do not hold up.

The team-studio connection doesn't work because movie studios aren't based in major cities across the country. There's an emotional connection when you have pride for your city. The same goes for a team.

I'll tell you what I don't get...Madden Nation on ESPN. Now, who the fuck sits in front of their TV and actually watches two morons trash talk each other while playing a video game?

I couldn't agree more. It's fun watching your buddy's play Madden in a back and forth game but watching two random douchebags just seems stupid. I guess someone out there watches it considering it's been on TV for at least the last couple years.

I have never got the hometown team thing either. Over here our Football teams invariably are filled with people who a) aren't from our city and b) don't give a shit about the city anyways. The transfer Market means that a lot of home talent gets shipped elsewhere. The only link to the hometown becomes the geographical position of the stadium which seems like a patently absurd thing to base a fandom on.

You sir have never met a "Cubs" fan.

Some brought up its similarities to nationalism. Its the name of the team that holds the sway. Players and coaches come and go, but the Chicago Cubs will always be Chicago. Who cares were the players came from, once they put on the sweater of Chicago, they are now part of the city.

I watch sports for the same reasons I watch movies -- the drama (Steelers); excitement (Penguins); and horror (Pirates).

Wouldn't that be someone who will watch anything by, say the Coen brothers and who gets excited anytime they hear they have a new movie coming out? Or Martin Scorsese? And for franchises, you need look no further than Trekkies.

I haven't read this entire thread, so I apologize if I'm repeating any earlier points, but I've found that my interest in sports is driven primarily by an interest in the story lines that run through a professional sports season/franchise/team/division/however involved you want to be.

If you are aware of the history between various players/teams, then the stories that develop over the course of a season, or over the course of a player's career can be more compelling than pretty much anything else you will see on television. The stakes are real, the characters are compelling and the drama is top notch.

The only downside is that in order to understand all of these story lines you need to be well versed not only in the particulars of the game, but in the histories of the players and the teams and the leagues.

The City of Calgary and the city of Edmonton HATE HATE HATE each other, and alot of that is helped along by the fued between the Oil and the Flames.

I totally understand these and others' points. And your last one is probably one of the reasons why I have never taken an interest in sports: I'd have to spend too much time and energy trying to figure out what the fuck is even going on and why certain things are big deals. Perfect example: my friend and I sitting in my school's student union, some football recap is on, everyone's going "ohhhhh!", my friend's like "Did you see that?!?!" and I'm like "...uhhh...ok....what?" I just really have no interest in it whatsoever.

And is this healthy behavior?

Three guesses what my answer is.

The advantage to playing the sport as a kid. Seriously though, it's not like you have to know the rules to Football to know what a great catch or a brutal hit is.

Yes, yes it would. My sorry attempt at sarcasm failed miserably.

Earlier in the thread I mentioned playing soccer and baseball. Knowing the rules even then does not seem to excite me in the least. And to be perfectly honest, I really DON'T know what a "great catch" is. I feel pathetic saying that, but it seems to me these guys are paid big money to catch a ball. You either catch it or you don't.

I guess that would be a LITTLE difficult.

I love how when both NFL teams left people were freaking out. But frankly we couldn't care less. Basically that fandom went to the college level and also the fact no one gives a shit about hockey in this town.

My friend and I were laughing about the Tyree catch the other day. Think about it the perfect season was broken on a catch that I bet you if Eli threw that ball to Tyree 100 times he wouldn't catch it on his helmet once.

Yup, Karma's a bitch for the Pats.

OK, just from this past weekend, the "Quarterbacks getting fucked up edition":

That first sack was crazy. He flew ten different directions in one leap.

Oh, and also...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Reception

It's in the style of play. Certain teams are known for "hard-nosed football," (more so for the cold weather teams), while others have always thrown the ball all over the field. And yes, for teams like the Steelers, Giants and Bears, this spans 30 years. The fans expect their individual teams to play a certain way.

Ownership and how they manage. Steinbrenner of the Yankees is going to spend money on A-list (often over the hill) talent, while the Rays developed a killer farm system that is just now bearing fruit, for example.

I don't "get" Rock Band/Guitar Hero/Banjo Warriors. Somebody explain that.

Your rhythm sucks?

You know what's interesting? I can't exactly explain why, but one of the first thoughts I had when reading all the anti-sports posts in this thread was: These are probably all the same people who fill up the videogames forum with passionate talk about "playing" songs on their little fake, plastic guitars.

Except that it seemed like a stupid argument, so I kept my mouth shut. But it's a bit fascinating (to me, anyway) that I'm not the only one whose brain went there.

No, I can actually play a real guitar.

It's not a stupid argument, because it isn't an argument at all. It isn't negating anything, or countering with a point of view. It's just saying "You don't like something I like, so I'm going to insult something you like".

Unless there really was a point being made in that one-sentence post that I somehow missed. I don't get Catholicism either, but since it has nothing to do with this subject, it didn't bear mentioning.

Thing thing is I recently posted in the Rock Band thread that I am actually considering giving the game a try. But I would never mistake "fake-playing" music as a serious endeavor, like so many seem to do. And to have those folks wondering how others can take sports so seriously strikes me as ironic.

Of course, I'm only guessing that the anti-sports people and the pro-fake-music-playing people are, in many instances, the same people. That may not be the case at all, which renders this all moot.

Again, I'm mostly just shocked/amused that someone else had almost the exact same thought.

And, uh ... let's go Pens!

Well I reckon it is the other side of the coin so to speak. Someone can be bewildered and just not "get" sports fans while someone else may not "get" videogame fans. I am one of those people. Not that I don't get video gamers, I just have zero interest in video games and my friends can't fathom that. But that also isn't to say I can't see why they'd be appealing to someone else. That's just the way things are, some people can muster no desire to sit and watch a football game while others have zero interest in staying up all night to beat a video game. Nothing wrong with either past time. I knew people who thought I was nuts for sitting 3 + hours of LOTR: ROTK. Their exact words were, "I can't imagine spending 3 hours seeing a move." Those same people would think nothing of parking their ass in front of a TV for 4 hours to watch a sporting event.

That said I like sports be cause they give me a reason to drink beer with my friends. That is also why I like rock n' roll, TV, Tuesdays, and mornings.

Joking aside, it does raise some valid points if you really think about it.

Is there really that much difference between those that spend their time pouring over expansion packs, talking about future releases and trading tips and tricks for Guitar Hero and say those that play fantasy sports or devote themselves (as brought up before) to playing Madden? What's the difference between the average guy at a concert and a guy at an NFL game? Both are there probably because it's something they enjoy and to take in an experience.


Sports, film, music, video games...all these things serve different purposes to different people. For the great majority (the casual fan so to speak) it's entertainment, a diversion. To me, personally, I don't "get" Guitar Hero beyond that entertainment factor. I'd rather pick up my old acoustic and play a song for my son or friends than play Simon set to Aerosmith. That doesn't mean I begrudge you playing it though or I put my love of sport above your love of Guitar Hero.

I have no interest in sports OR videogames. And I play guitar lol

So basically I'm interested in whatever interests me, and sports happens to be one of the things that don't interest me. I don't badmouth it or its fans, I just don't care. Plain and simple.

Please point me to these people who take music games as a serious endeavor, because they're certainly not in that thread. This sounds to me like a preconceived idea that you've implanted in your head, and don't want to let go of.

And Agee, the big difference is that when we talk about sports fans, we aren't talking about people who actually play sports. I'm not a fan of people who play videogames. I just play them. I don't follow tournaments. I don't root for anybody. I play the games because they're fun. That's rather a big difference. Maybe it's the difference between actually engaging in an activity, and vicariously engaging in that activity. I don't know if that's part of what sports fans are doing or not.

And yet, I'm sure you wouldn't mind watching a favorite band play. There isn't this split between people that do and people that watch, everyone does both. I, for one, have no interest in following celebrities, or loitering around a shoot whenever I stumble upon one in the city. These are personal decisions that work on a personal level, these aren't logical decisions, as contradictions abound whenever one tries to treat decisions such as these as anything but their own.

It's thinking otherwise that causes hostility, or defensive responses, in this thread.

Invariably these discussions boil down to comparing elements of the activity in question with elements of some other pastime. One side lists how they're similar, the other counters with how they're different. Even within people who like sports there can be opinions that don't match up. For instance, I cannot fathom how anyone could give a shit about cars driving in a circle. I've tried arguing against it, but somehow no Nascar fan ever sees my point of view. It's all very dull.

Experiencing joy and agony over events in a game that you're not participating is obviously a vicarious thing. Identifying yourself with a team based on something arbitrary like location is illogical. But there is drama to be found in these competitions, and they can be spun into the fabric of a larger narrative: be it the team's history, or the stories of the personalities involved. That's really all there is to it. It's not complicated.

I haven't read all the thread yet, so if someone pointed this angle out already, apologies. I'm not a big sports fan (enjoy a good fight though), but I have been to some events (football games in HS due to being in the marching band, college football due to my buddy going to Penn State, and pro baseball games due to my brother and friend being fans). Going to a game can be exciting and I can see being caught up with the dynamic of the crowd. I certainly don't follow any typical pro sports, turned down several offers to play Fantasy Football, and typically change the channel if a game's on.

But, I also would rather watch a well-crafted story than reality tv everytime (I do like an engrossing documentary here and there), and I struggle to find interest in politics (I've been educating myself more and more the past 2 elections). Most of my interests (that don't involve friends or family) and escapist entertainment, whether reading, watching, or playing, are centered around fictional characters in fictional stories.

I may not be a "sports fan", but, I do love a good sports movie. Inspirational, comedy, etc. The Rocky films are some of my faves (my father and I would bond watching them as I was growing up). I think that some of the appeal to the sports fan is, amidst the plays/statistics/maneuvers/positions in a real world game, there are real stories taking place down on the field, real human conflict, struggle, drama. I just prefer the sports film medium because it edits out most of the boring parts, often inspires or makes me laugh, gets me right in the middle of the action, requires less time investment, and occasionally shows me boobies.

EDIT: Despite what anyone might think of Jimmy Fallon or romantic comedies (or the Sox), FEVER PITCH does a good job of showing why sports fans do what they do. I could easily relate to the healthy and, unfortunately, unhealthy fan behavior.

I've never been more than a casual sports fan, but a couple of things helped this extreme nerd get even that far:

1) Played in the high school marching band. Going to every game for four years in a row helped me learn the rules and to appreciate the drama of individual games and entire seasons. My parents became lifelong football fans after this too.

2) Going to a large college with a rabid fanbase and good rivalries. Texas has great enemies, great fans and a great stadium (Especially now. Holy shit, 98,000+ people at once? Crazy.), so even when the team was less-than good (see: all of the years that I actually attended school) it was easy to get caught up in it.

Also, sports is full of larger-than-life personalities. Even the coaches can be ridiculousy entertaining. See: modern-day Yogi Berra and all around crazy dude, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.

Just a sampling of the wisdom of Leach: http://video.google.com/videosearch?...um=4&ct=title#

The Dating Tips video is the best.

Is someone watching their favorite band play really all that dissimilar from someone watching their team play? What's the difference between music and athletic performance? It seems they fit in the same category for the most part.

In the end this can just be summed up by the title of the thread; it's generally interesting to think about, but the bottom line is people get it or they don't. As Bailey said, it's not complicated.

I like sports. I find some value and community in watching, attending and talking about sports event.

But ... I'm embarrassed when people compare it to any form of art. You make me want to switch sides.

Bands are not competing. You don't root for one band to destroy another band. The analogy doesn't work at all.

Unless you're into some kind of gladiatorial combat rock or something, in which case, give me a link, because that sounds awesome.