Introductions

Just made this to say who you are, why you hate sports and other general info.

I'm TWD, got the name from David Bowie's Station to Station. I always found sports to be dull and I disliked the cult-like following.

Well, I had some difficulty trying to register, so I had to send Skul my E-mail address so he could register me.

Thank you very much skul.

Hopefully the technical glitch will be cleared up.

Hi folks,

I call myself "Recovering Fan" because I am a recovering fan -- not to sound too Gump-like, I hope!

I watch very little sports now, but I used to watch tons. One day I got fed up and googled "I hate sports", and I ended up at the old version of this board.

--RF

I never got around to introducing myself before, so I suppose I should.

I'm not a nerd myself, but I'm not a nerd hater. I've played various sports, and I have a collection of trophies and awards for my efforts. (Don't hate me for that!).

But I've always found watching and following sport to be fairly pointless and uninteresting, and sports talk to be essentially verbal diarrhoea. And there's too much of it around!

So here I am.

Agent 47 wrote:I'm not a nerd myself, but I'm not a nerd hater.

I'm not a nerd, either. Frankly, I wish I had been one (well, specifically an iron-pumping nerd); but I wasn't because my study skills were poor, I lacked self-discipline, and I had no self-confidence. I once came across a post submitted in another forum on one of my Internet wanderings that was relevant to my comments here. I wish I had copied and pasted it in the old forum. I know there's usually no way to check online messages for their veracity, but I prefer to believe that the poster was honest in what he had to say about himself. He said he was one of those athletes who compete in matches that are held in one of those big cages where they beat each other senseless. He condemned people who put down nerds and said they were just jealous of nerds because nerds were smarter than they were. He's absolutely right! I thought this was a refreshing change from the typical response of sports fans who say, "You're just jealous."

Agent 47 wrote: I've played various sports, and I have a collection of trophies and awards for my efforts. (Don't hate me for that!).

I don't, and neither do any of the other members (including Big Fat Heretic). As I've just indicated above, I admire decent, tolerant athletes. But I firmly believe they're not made decent by participating in any sport. They're decent either because their parents gave them a moral upbringing or they formed moral convictions based upon some system of belief. I even wish my sister had married an athlete who was a classmate of hers at their out-of-state college! She told me about him years later. He sounds like he must have been a fascinating character. He played rough contact sports at the college (both football and hockey), but was a pacifist in his dealings with others. He would have been a great brother-in-law!

And now to say who I am and why I "hate sports" . . .

Of course, those of you who were regular members of the old forum already know about me. But first of all, anyone who might be interested in learning a few basic facts about me can check my viewing profile.

https://ihatesports.forumotion.com/u7

I've always had a problem with the label "sports hater." I consider myself to be a critic of the negative aspects of the culture that is associated with school sports. Although I have never had any interest in sports as either a spectator or a participant, I have never denigrated any guy for participating in a sport. If a boy will feel better about himself by participating in a sport, then he should do so; and I say more power to him, just as long as he doesn't denigrate those of his fellows who have no interest in sports.

I don't "hate" sports. I simply have never had any interest in games or other athletic events, although I can understand why many people are entertained by them.

What I hate is what the culture of school sports has done to nonathletic boys. These boys do not have an easy time growing up in a society whose culture is saturated with sports. Who speaks for these kids?

For example, traditional mandatory boys' P.E. has never been about physical fitness. I never got any exercise in P.E.! The old P.E. is dreaded every school day by the boys who have no interest in sports. Forced to take a class that is totally useless to them, they live in fear of being humiliated or bullied. In the United States and other countries of the "Western" world, boys who have no interest in sports are likely to be bullied. And to what end? What good comes out of that? The fact of the matter is that nonathletic boys have always been shortchanged by the old P.E. Even some boys' P.E. coaches today realize this fact and support some kind of reform, which is opposed by the sports crowd (including sports columnists such as Rick Reilly). When I was a boy, the policymakers claimed they were concerned about kids who weren't physically fit; but they were telling a damnable lie! They were nothing but hypocrites!

Nonathletic guys are mindlessly stereotyped, and their masculinity is questioned from the very beginning. I certainly don't deny that athletes are subjected to stereotypes; but IMHO none of those stereotypes are quite as demeaning as the stereotypes to which nonathletic boys are constantly subjected year after year as they are growing up, often before they're even teenagers. I'd rather be stereotyped as dumb instead of being stereotyped as effeminate.

The old P.E. was connected to the cult status of school sports such as football. In most high schools of the United States, the football players are considered to be the cream of the crop. They are the only ones who count. The fact of the matter is that some of the most anti-intellectual institutions in the United States are high schools.

Jock privilege has encouraged some, if not many, school athletes to have a "rule the roost" attitude. The culture is so bad at some high schools, colleges and universities that individual players are not held accountable for the way they treat others away from the game. Sports fans in the community will rush to defend individual athletes who have been guilty of wrongdoing, even if a crime such as rape has been committed! (Read Our Guys by Bernard Lefkowitz.) I suspect that has just happened in Steubenville, Ohio. I believe ChrisOH is quite familiar with this sort of sports culture in many of the schools in his state.

So, again, I refuse to be called a sports hater. I'm simply a critic of the culture of school sports.

I think the old guards here would remember me. Also, completely missed the moving notice (last active was 2011 or 2010 I think(

Hey, Imperialist! Good to see another oldie here! Sorry it's so quiet here. Dunno what's up with the others.

Big Fat Heretic wrote:

Hey! I like the pipe smoking guy in your avatar. Is that a photo of you? I'm a pipe smoker myself and I also smoke cigars.

Sadly no. However, I have an interest in pipe and cigars since the last time I had a little brush with it. Have no intention in keeping it up as an active hobby until later in life. It is however, a picture that is generally associated with 'snob' (as a meme) but I found it on a British cigar shop's website and I have a nagging suspicion that that is where the actual source of the picture came from but I have no way in confirming that.

Regarding Obama, I am not American so I guess it is slightly less important, but I think that he should be more forceful and give the Republicans a few more slaps but he has been giving concessions to them which I find to be puzzling (a friend of mine is a Democrat supporter and finds Obama to be weak willed and a traitor for negotiating with the Republicans so some of my acquaintance's opinions have rubbed off on me)

I think the reason why this place is unusually quiet is because it is not associated with sportssuck.org any more so people find it hard to find this place. (I personally had to look around for quite a while until I finally reached here and found some familiar names)

The Imperialist wrote:

Big Fat Heretic wrote:

Hey! I like the pipe smoking guy in your avatar. Is that a photo of you? I'm a pipe smoker myself and I also smoke cigars.

Sadly no. However, I have an interest in pipe and cigars since the last time I had a little brush with it. Have no intention in keeping it up as an active hobby until later in life. It is however, a picture that is generally associated with 'snob' (as a meme) but I found it on a British cigar shop's website and I have a nagging suspicion that that is where the actual source of the picture came from but I have no way in confirming that.

That reminds me of one of my friends from uni, he has a passion for cigars. He got a few Cuban ones for his birthday.

I have a historical anecdote for the 'snob' reference. Former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, in public smoked cigarettes as it made him appear more relateable and in touch with the public (take note Cameron!). While behind the scenes he liked to smoke cigars, a habit he had picked up from Winston Churchill.

Imperialist, I wanted to extend a hearty "Welcome back!" sooner; but I simply have not felt like posting.  Two days ago I learned that a close friend of mine had suddenly died from brain cancer after only a few weeks since he was diagnosed.  Our friendship began in 1959 when we were both in the third grade.  His death has been quite a shock to all of his friends and loved ones.  He was like a brother to me.  I hope you will understand why I have not felt like posting.  Sorry for the late response.

Welcome to the new forum Imperialist, how'd you manage to find us?

Also I'm very sorry to hear about your friend Earl, I'm sure everyone understands that dealing with a friend's passing is much more important than posting here.

Condolences to Earl, and may his friend pass to a better place.

Regarding how I found this place, I searched sportssuck.org first and then looked around for 'sport' 'hate' 'forum' and finally got here after finding familiar names.

Thank you, BFH.  Thanks to all of you fellow forum members who read these comments.

As is true of most people, I've had several close friends over the decades; but if I ever had a single "best friend," the one who died last week would have been it.  This is not to say that we never had any disagreements.  When his first marriage came undone in the 1990s due to his wife's background of childhood abuse, he stopped communicating with me.  I had thought at the time that he was jealous of me.  About two decades later I would learn the real reason.  

About one or two years ago, I requested to become a "Friend" at his Facebook "wall."  He was delighted to hear from me, but did not want to say why he had stopped communicating with me in the 1990s.  All he would say is "It's all in the past."  I assumed the reason had something to do with the breakup of his first marriage.  Mostly because he had moved to another city more than 200 miles away, I never got to see him in person again; but we had very positive, repeated exchanges via e-mail.  We seemed to be reconciled.

On the very day I found out he had died unexpectedly, I discovered the real reason he had broken off communicating with me during the 1990s.  He had taken a religious path that he knew I would not approve of.  Perhaps he knew that if I had found this out while he was still alive, it would have put me in a very difficult, emotionally painful situation.  

I realize this doesn't make any sense to the reader.  I would have to explain in detail.  Perhaps I shouldn't have even posted these comments.

But this one fact prevails:  He had a greater influence in my life than any of my other friends.  He was loyal to me as a friend when I was chronically depressed.  Because of him, I became a Christian, although he himself would end up leaving the church.  Well, this is what I was alluding to above.  He and his first wife played Cupid between me and my future wife at a time in my life when I was so shy and lacking in self-confidence that I didn't date at all.  Today Mrs. Earl and I have been happily married for over 30 years.  Oh, I'll go ahead and mention his first name, which is a very common one (although he himself was not common):  David.  He even was best man at out wedding.  Like every other human being (including yours truly), David had his share of faults and weaknesses; but he was always a positive influence, until the late 1990s.

Man, our friendship went all the way back to 1959 when we were third-graders!  We grew up together.  I have many happy memories of him with his very positive attitude (most of the time) and his goofy sense of humor.  He was like a brother to me.

It's okay, BFH.  As David would often say, take care.

My condolences, Earl. I hope you and your friends family are coping. He sounds like a wonderful person.

Thank you very much, Imperialist and ThinWhiteDuke, for your condolences.  They are much appreciated!

I admit I've been in a bit of a funk over my friend passing away.  I'll get back to work in this forum this week.