Korean Job Discussion Forums

[BaldTeacher]

Sports have never been interesting to me at all. I can't stand watching them on TV, although I can tolerate watching them live.

I love physical activity and actually playing the sport is somewhat fun for me, but during gym class I always preferred games like dodgeball and capture the flag to straight-up football or basketball.

I never understood how someone could be excited because 'the game' is on TV. I also never understood how people could become ecstatic because 'their team' won, or depressed because it lost. What's the point of living vicariously through a bunch of rich guys who don't give a s*&t about you, playing a game on TV? It won't make me happy or sad if you win a game of Monopoly or Scrabble. The same goes for the teams of countries competing against each other. A handful of guys playing a little game has no bearing on your countries status. Those events are useful for building infrastructure in the countries that host them though.

Watching sports on TV is one of the most boring activities that I can think of. It's right up there with going to church in terms of how boring I find it. I hate when I'm excited to watch Family Guy and then I find that it's not on, it's some sports crap instead.

The one sport that I do enjoy is boxing. I can watch it on TV too, although I won't if Family Guy is on.

Is there anyone else out there who isn't obsessed with sports, especially other guys? I'm not an effeminate, artsy guy by any means but sports just never did it for me.

[Tundra_Creature]

I'm a chick, so this probably doesn't apply to the man opinion, but I do find watching sports on T.V to be pretty unexciting unless I'm watching the Olympics or the UFC.

I always do enjoy cheering teams on and don't see a problem with it. It's enjoyable getting swept up in the emotion (as long as you don't take it to the extreme). I used to compete in karate tournaments and it was always nice to hear people cheering me on, or getting feedback on what I did good or bad in a match.

[Louis VI]

The more you learn something, the more you get out of it.

If you are into classical music a lot, then you appreciate the performances of the orchestras of Vienna, Berlin, London and Chicago. You compare them. You criticize them. You know details that an outsider wouldn't find significant.

If you read novels a lot, or watch films, then a genre or author becomes the field on which you follow performances.

I really have a hard time believing that anyone who has had a passion in anything could not identify with sports fans. I find baseball less exciting than watching clouds (seriously, cloudwatching rocks in comparison for me) but I can readily identify with how interesting it is for baseball fans to watch the game.

I am not a sports fan. That is, I do not watch or follow sports on t.v. or in any way, except one sport. One sport I am fanatical about, follow several teams, have spent five hundred dollars buying hsitory books about this year alone, am on an internet discussion forum daily about, and twice every year manage as commissioner an imaginary draft (with 28 to 32 other guys participating online) of the game's greatest players extending back a century.

I am equally immersed in jazz, in literary novels, in beach bumming, (and to a lesser degree, in watching foreign films). All five of these things are my hobbies and passions. I know what I'm talking about with them, put maximum effort and attention into them because I find it rewarding and interesting at a fundamental gut level. The more you put into something, the more you get out of it. This is how I can identify with anyone who watches tv dramas or soaps. I personally don't watch them but I get it: how self-perpetuating and gratifying being a fan of something can be.

So, my question to you is: What are you passionate about? Sports doesn't do it for you. What does? What can you spend hours talking about? What do you know a lot about and get pleasure learning more about and have strong opinions concerning it. For some guys it's politics, for others cars.

Then there guys who don't care much for anything.

[metalhead]

Yeah, I absolutely hate sports. I don't see the point of watching sport, unless you're placing money on it. I can tolerate cricket though, but there's a specific reason for that, one which I am not keen to divulge on a public forum.

[Stalin84]

My dad watches all the normal sports on TV regularly. Hockey, baseball, football, curling and so on. I've never had the patience to sit through watching any of those on TV because I don't really see the point in watching people chase after a small, circular object for three hours.

It's totally different if you actually go to a game though. I could never watch hockey on TV but when I went to a friend's game once I got really excited watching her team try to win.

I like playing sports a lot more than I like watching them and when I play sports, I usually like the weird sports that normal sports people don't even know exist. Sports where there isn't a huge amount of pressure to play by specific, standardized rules or where people try to emulate famous players.

I used to play floor hockey with my cousins when I was in High School and their family was huge into sports (they only talk about sports and don't like people that aren't as into sports as they are). When I played with them, they were always arguing about rules, fouls, missteps and there would be several heated arguments/near-fights after every play. No one actually seemed to be enjoying themselves. I didn't see the fun in it.

My favourite sport to play by far is paintball which should say a lot. I'd also watch it on TV if it was actually on TV.

I also watch the Olympics on TV because I find the events there a lot more interesting.

[BaldTeacher]

[metalhead]

[BaldTeacher]

[metalhead]

Well if we're going to include paintball then I also like darts, playing pool and kicking cats, so I do like sports, sorry, I enjoy lying too.

[jennad]

YES. I zone out and my eyes start to glaze over as soon as anyone starts talking sports. I can't help it!

[johnnyrook]

I'm a huge sports fan, but I guess I can relate to people who can't feel any emotional connection with it because I feel the same way about music. I enjoy listening to music, but it's nothing more than a diversion to me, if it's got a good beat or a pleasant melody I'm happy. To me music is just something to have on in the background, or used to enhance the emotion of sports highlights or a scene in a movie.

I often feel this distances me from others; a shared interest in music is a great way of connecting with people, but I just can't get into it. I can't fathom how people can fill 100GBs plus ipods with music, can people really listen to that much music? And on social network sites, the space to list your favourite music always just seems to be an invitation for people to name-drop as many bands as they've heard of. And I've heard of none of them. This makes me feel somehow inadequate, but not enough to really care.

From my pretty dispassionate standpoint I can't understand the appeal of certain genres of music that, at least superficially, don't have any aesthetic appeal, like metal. Just seems to me that the appeal of such genres is based on a social identity or ideology, and not the music itself, but maybe there is something I am missing. I understand how important music is as a means for many people to construct their identity, relate to, understand their emotions with etc, but I can never really profit from it in that way. I guess if I need that kind of satisfaction I'll read literature or watch a movie or something. But music I just don't get.

[conrad2]

A sports game or match is unscripted drama. Two outs, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, full count... tense. Fourth and goal, down by six, with seconds left... Penalty shoot outs. Sports can be dramatic without being contrived.

[BaldTeacher]

[erasmus]

I don't understand why people are so interested in watching people pretend they are some person they are not and speaking words and acting out stories made up by someone else.

[redaxe]

I like baseball and (American) football but I only care to watch if my home team is playing.

No interest in basketball, soccer, rugby, etc.

However I'm obsessed with MMA. I watch almost every UFC fight. It's a lot of fun to go to a bar with some friends, drink beer, cheer on your favorite fighters, and predict who is going to win by submission or knockout. The fights are totally unpredictable and there are so many ways they can end.

I also really like watching Judo and BJJ/submission grappling championships but they're never on TV, I have to watch them online or buy DVDs.