are you a sports spectator?

[drummergirlbk]

I think a question should be added to the list:

* Are you out of shape, fat, or otherwise unsuited for sports?

I'll answer this one first.

I'm not fat or out of shape. However, I have one leg that's slightly shorter than the other, and sometimes that causes back problems for me that are aggravated by excessive exercise.

 

[Rcs6r]

do you watch professional sports? which sports do you watch?
Sometimes; I will watch baseball, the World Cup and Olympics, and very rarely football - but only with friends.

do you watch sports being played on television, or on location?
I prefer baseball on location, if possible, but will settle for TV, as with the others above.

do you support particular favourite athletes or teams? if so, why?
Red Sox. They're the home team, and I quite like where I live so I will support them.

what is the role of sportspeople in society - are they heroes? do they deserve their monetary earnings?
Entertainers first and foremost, but they are also role models for discipline, leadership, teamwork, fitness, etc. I do think they're overpaid but I understand it's a big business.

have you always watched sports, or did you make a decision at some point to start watching?
I had always watched sports with friends/family because that's what they did and were into it, but once I stopped watching TV I barely made the effort to follow anymore.

if you dont watch sports, why not?
Despite what I've mentioned above, I almost never watch sports except on occasion. They don't really do anything for me, and beside the Red Sox I don't have any loyalties. I didn't really look up to athletes as a kid either and even when playing sports I tended to daydream or inject fantasy into the game... too imaginative to care. The only exception was when I was a runner for track and XC and Prefontaine was the only athlete I really looked up to.

what do you think of professional sports and sportspeople?
I think it's become a bloated parody of itself that's more about money than the love of sport, but that's business.

are professional sports just a bit of fun, do they provide a cultural release valve for inherent social aggression, or are they a blight on society?
Yes.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

1. do you watch professional sports? which sports do you watch?

2. do you watch sports being played on television, or on location?

3. do you support particular favourite athletes or teams? if so, why?

4. what is the role of sportspeople in society - are they heroes? do they deserve their monetary earnings?

5. have you always watched sports, or did you make a decision at some point to start watching?

6. if you dont watch sports, why not?

7. what do you think of professional sports and sportspeople?

8. are professional sports just a bit of fun, do they provide a cultural release valve for inherent social aggression, or are they a blight on society?

1. Not really, except the football world cup every four years. Sometimes I go with friends, which happen intervals of five years or more.
2. If on TV, preferably a pub. I would watch it live otherwise.
3. A particular ice hockey team.
4. As long as they have no secret bank accounts, they should be fine.
5. I came to point when I was bored of it, stopped watching.
6. Boring.
7. It is annoying when they make 30 s. interviews in front of sponsor stickers.
8. Fast-talking, high-pitched commentators are annoying and raise my blood pressure.

 

[somerandomISTJguy]

do you watch professional sports? which sports do you watch?

No. I am mildly amused by curling, though.

do you watch sports being played on television, or on location?

I have had the misfortune of being drug to an NHL hockey game. Walking into a bathroom where there was literally a mountain of beer bottles thrown in the corner (and this was on the fancy box seat restrooms, not the ones for the hoi polloi, mind you) was enough for me to see that I was plainly not among my kind of people.

do you support particular favourite athletes or teams? if so, why?

No. Although I did support the team that was playing against the home team at the aforementioned hockey game, because I was interested in what the look of defeat on many thousands of faces would look like in person. Sadly, the home team won, and I was robbed of this pleasure.

what is the role of sportspeople in society - are they heroes? do they deserve their monetary earnings?

Their role is what society allows their role to be. I hear many people complain about the prices of tickets and the salaries of players, but then turn around and subsidize the same things they complain about by purchasing tickets, jerseys, etc. If you don't like it, stop subsidizing it.

have you always watched sports, or did you make a decision at some point to start watching?

I have never watched sports, unless I am at someone else's house, and then I won't say anything just to be polite. That is until they yank my chain.

if you dont watch sports, why not?

I think it's silly putting your emotional eggs in someone else's basket. The Roman apologist Tertullian put it more succinctly than I can, so I will reference him here:

Look at the populace coming to the show–mad already! disorderly, blind, excited already about its bets!... Next taunts or mutual abuse without any warrant of hate, and applause, unsupported by affection...they are plunged in grief by another's bad luck, high in delight at another's success. What they long to see, what they dread to see, neither has anything to do with them; their love is without reason, their hatred without justice.

Cassiodorus, a later Roman statesman also had this to say, in the same vein:

However, this I declare to be altogether remarkable- the fact that here, more than at other shows, dignity is forgotten, and men's minds are carried away in frenzy. The Green chariot wins: a section of the people laments; the Blue leads, and, in their place, a part of the city is struck with grief. They hurl frantic insults, and achieve nothing; they suffer nothing, but are gravely wounded; and they engage in vain quarrels as if the state of their endangered country were in question. It is right to think that all this was dedicated to a mass superstition, when there is so clear a departure from decent behaviour

//rabbit trail//: I started reading Tertullian's works a few years ago while researching the history of the early African church. //rabbit trail//

what do you think of professional sports and sportspeople?

I personally have no issues with them. They are what society makes of them. So long as I am not required to participate in the masturbatory adulation of said persons/teams/whatever, I could not care less.

are professional sports just a bit of fun, do they provide a cultural release valve for inherent social aggression, or are they a blight on society?

It depends on the individual. The aggression I saw while observing some of those hockey fans wasn't a release valve so much as it was causing the social aggression.

My very generalized personal opinion is that they are, in general, fulfilling the "circuses" in "bread and circuses".

Are you out of shape, fat, or otherwise unsuited for sports?

No. I am of slightly below average height, roughly 140 pounds, and quite athletic. I think this is an important question, because it allows me to draw a distinction between watching and playing sports. I love to play sports. I don't know how I would feel about being watched, though.

 

[dang]

I love basketball, the NBA and the Boston Celtics. Go Celts!

 

[dang]

do you watch professional sports? which sports do you watch?
Sometimes; I will watch baseball, the World Cup and Olympics, and very rarely football - but only with friends.

do you watch sports being played on television, or on location?
I prefer baseball on location, if possible, but will settle for TV, as with the others above.

do you support particular favourite athletes or teams? if so, why?
Red Sox. They're the home team, and I quite like where I live so I will support them.

what is the role of sportspeople in society - are they heroes? do they deserve their monetary earnings?
Entertainers first and foremost, but they are also role models for discipline, leadership, teamwork, fitness, etc. I do think they're overpaid but I understand it's a big business.

have you always watched sports, or did you make a decision at some point to start watching?
I had always watched sports with friends/family because that's what they did and were into it, but once I stopped watching TV I barely made the effort to follow anymore.

if you dont watch sports, why not?
Despite what I've mentioned above, I almost never watch sports except on occasion. They don't really do anything for me, and beside the Red Sox I don't have any loyalties. I didn't really look up to athletes as a kid either and even when playing sports I tended to daydream or inject fantasy into the game... too imaginative to care. The only exception was when I was a runner for track and XC and Prefontaine was the only athlete I really looked up to.

what do you think of professional sports and sportspeople?
I think it's become a bloated parody of itself that's more about money than the love of sport, but that's business.

are professional sports just a bit of fun, do they provide a cultural release valve for inherent social aggression, or are they a blight on society?
Yes.

Boston is my home town. You down with Big Papi too?

 

[Persona]

I love basketball, the NBA and the Boston Celtics. Go Celts!

Who do you think will win the playoffs? Certainly not celts since hawks are kicking their ass.

 

[dang]

Who do you think will win the playoffs? Certainly not celts since hawks are kicking their ass.

Harsh. Are you telling me we both like the NBA, psychology and short girls with bubble butts? Are you my twin lost at birth? Yeah, doesn't look good for the Celts, losing Bradley and his 3 and D skills kills them. Too bad. They can still get Durant in July. Seriously though, to me Warriors vs. Spurs is the real finals. They are both great teams that can easily beat every other team. I give a slight edge to the Dubs if Curry is healthy. But the Spurs are dangerous. The Clippers and Thunder are both going down in the second round. The Cavs will lose in the finals again. Lebron will never get another ring. What do you think? Where do you live? Who do you rout for? Are you a bandwagon Dubs fan? Please say no. Glad you replied. I can talk hoops all day. I saw Larry Bird play in the Boston Garden in 1986. Memories.

 

[Sloe Djinn]

do you watch professional sports? which sports do you watch?

Yes, but not regularly. I like hockey, and American football

do you watch sports being played on television, or on location?

I'd prefer to be on location, but I rarely have the time/money

do you support particular favourite athletes or teams? if so, why?

Yes, to a limited extent. I don't give them any material support, and I wouldn't argue over them, but I will gravitate towards teams where I live. It's sacrilege to major fans, but I'll support whoever I live near, or even teams that are from where I have distant ties.

what is the role of sportspeople in society - are they heroes? do they deserve their monetary earnings?

Many of them can become role models, which is inherent to the selectivity of their professions. It takes a lot of devotion and hard work, which can involve being programmed (in a sense) and strenuously trained from childhood. They can possess heroic qualities, but some of them are anti-heroes, some of them are assholes, and some of them are nothing much special. However, the same could be said about any "ordinary" people. In that sense, no they are not automatically heroes just by playing pro sports. I can't say that anyone really deserves to be compensated like star athletes, regardless of what they do. Even then, I would hesitate to put them in the same boat as, for example, crooked business execs. They exploit themselves, not others.

have you always watched sports, or did you make a decision at some point to start watching?

I've always been a casual, non-regular observer. I never really made a conscious decision to start watching.

if you dont watch sports, why not?

n/a

what do you think of professional sports and sportspeople?

It's entertaining, and occasionally inspiring. I don't like how people who watch sports are often stereotyped by introverts as raving idiots and hooligans, in the same sense that anyone who sets foot in a bar without instantaneously running away screaming and vomiting may be stereotyped as a loud, obnoxious, shallow idiot.

are professional sports just a bit of fun, do they provide a cultural release valve for inherent social aggression, or are they a blight on society?

They are any of these, depending upon the fan.

 

[Persona]

Harsh. Are you telling me we both like the NBA, psychology and short girls with bubble butts? Are you my twin lost at birth? Yeah, doesn't look good for the Celts, losing Bradley and his 3 and D skills kills them. Too bad. They can still get Durant in July. Seriously though, to me Warriors vs. Spurs is the real finals. They are both great teams that can easily beat every other team. I give a slight edge to the Dubs if Curry is healthy. But the Spurs are dangerous. The Clippers and Thunder are both going down in the second round. The Cavs will lose in the finals again. Lebron will never get another ring. What do you think? Where do you live? Who do you rout for? Are you a bandwagon Dubs fan? Please say no. Glad you replied. I can talk hoops all day. I saw Larry Bird play in the Boston Garden in 1986. Memories.

We just like great things my friend. And I'm definitely not a dubs band wagoner, but I do admire that vicious 3 point scoring the whole team is capable of proposing. Plus I have to have some admiration for about the only real that can constantly kick my teams ass. My team is the great San an SPURS baby! Favorite player is by far Kawhi Leonard. I predict he will be one of the greats in the future. His outstanding balance on both offense & defense is incredible. And I live in NC so If I was going by that, it would be the hornets. But I move states occasionally so. Like you said, I also believe it'll be the Warriors and Spurs in the end. Dubs are probably up in the series overall in them vs the Spurs, but I believe the Spurs will play more precise and tactful given it be the playoffs. And yeah the Thunder actually has the potential to be a great team, they just don't make the best choices with their gameplay, especially their 4th quarters, statistically speaking. And how was seeing Larry? My aunt is a die hard Celtic fans, once they are equipped with more decent starters I believe they'll have a chance again. But how about that KILLSTREAK win vs the warriors?! Please tell me you saw that.

 

[MrSquared]

I like watching e-sports for some reason. But I'm nearly always multitasking during said viewership. Cooking, working out, cleaning, etc.

 

[dang]

We just like great things my friend. And I'm definitely not a dubs band wagoner, but I do admire that vicious 3 point scoring the whole team is capable of proposing. Plus I have to have some admiration for about the only real that can constantly kick my teams ass. My team is the great San an SPURS baby! Favorite player is by far Kawhi Leonard. I predict he will be one of the greats in the future. His outstanding balance on both offense & defense is incredible. And I live in NC so If I was going by that, it would be the hornets. But I move states occasionally so. Like you said, I also believe it'll be the Warriors and Spurs in the end. Dubs are probably up in the series overall in them vs the Spurs, but I believe the Spurs will play more precise and tactful given it be the playoffs. And yeah the Thunder actually has the potential to be a great team, they just don't make the best choices with their gameplay, especially their 4th quarters, statistically speaking. And how was seeing Larry? My aunt is a die hard Celtic fans, once they are equipped with more decent starters I believe they'll have a chance again. But how about that KILLSTREAK win vs the warriors?! Please tell me you saw that.

Glad you are a Spurs fan. Great franchise. I met Pop in Santa Monica a few years ago. Really cool dude. Going to the Boston Garden in the 80's was very dope. All the seats were good. And the teams were great. That was the golden age of hoops. I agree with you about Leonard. He is a beast. The Spurs will be awesome forever. If Curry isn't healthy the Spurs should win it all this year. They are great. The Warriors are just a little bit better. Hope the Celts win game 3. They better not get swept. Warriors vs. Spurs should be an epic series. Can't wait. I am sure you will be psyched for that series. If the Spurs win the Warriors will be devastated. It could happen. Pray the Spurs stay healthy. They need their depth to win. With Parker at his best they are amazing. We'll see. Happy to discuss hoops, psychology and booty any time. Three of my favorite topics. Can't live without them. Wouldn't want to try either. Later.

 

[Tin Man]

Nope, I just don't find them interesting. I watched a lot as a kid, but then my dad and older brother liked sports so I had little choice.

I liked wrestling (the WWE kind), don't think it's considered a sport though.

 

[Persona]

Glad you are a Spurs fan. Great franchise. I met Pop in Santa Monica a few years ago. Really cool dude. Going to the Boston Garden in the 80's was very dope. All the seats were good. And the teams were great. That was the golden age of hoops. I agree with you about Leonard. He is a beast. The Spurs will be awesome forever. If Curry isn't healthy the Spurs should win it all this year. They are great. The Warriors are just a little bit better. Hope the Celts win game 3. They better not get swept. Warriors vs. Spurs should be an epic series. Can't wait. I am sure you will be psyched for that series. If the Spurs win the Warriors will be devastated. It could happen. Pray the Spurs stay healthy. They need their depth to win. With Parker at his best they are amazing. We'll see. Happy to discuss hoops, psychology and booty any time. Three of my favorite topics. Can't live without them. Wouldn't want to try either. Later.

Yeah i hope the celts don't get swept, and I'd actually like them all to be healthy in the win so it's a fair fight for if the Spurs do win, warriors fans can't say it's because they didn't have curry and so and so. And yeah Parker is a pretty quick player, he'll be doing great if he keeps consistent. And indeed the 3 essentials of lives haha.

 

[dang]

Yeah i hope the celts don't get swept, and I'd actually like them all to be healthy in the win so it's a fair fight for if the Spurs do win, warriors fans can't say it's because they didn't have curry and so and so. And yeah Parker is a pretty quick player, he'll be doing great if he keeps consistent. And indeed the 3 essentials of lives haha.

The Celts and Hawks are now 2-2. Best of 3 series now. Can the Celts come back and win without Bradley? Hope so. The Spurs are sitting pretty. Curry got hurt again. The Spurs will win it all again if Curry is not healthy. You lucky bastard. The Spurs have been good for about 100 years. Does it ever get boring?

 

[Persona]

The Celts and Hawks are now 2-2. Best of 3 series now. Can the Celts come back and win without Bradley? Hope so. The Spurs are sitting pretty. Curry got hurt again. The Spurs will win it all again if Curry is not healthy. You lucky bastard. The Spurs have been good for about 100 years. Does it ever get boring?

It would be nice if Celts won. Proud of them with that 4-0 sweep on the grizzlies but I'll be even prouder if they win vs the Thunder. Curry's knee and ankle sprains are probably gonna lower his performance for the rest of the season which gives us a better chance. And it never gets boring seeing a million unpredictable strategic plays they can perform. It's always spontaneous filled plays with them.

 

[Deleted member 10171]

I prefer to play than watch.

Football - never.
Rugby - occasionally, if it's a good feisty game.
Formula 1 - Love the red button function and all the preamble before and after the race
Tennis - specifically Wimbledon - Yes.
Red Bull cliff diving - Yes
Gymnastics - Yes

 

[dang]

It would be nice if Celts won. Proud of them with that 4-0 sweep on the grizzlies but I'll be even prouder if they win vs the Thunder. Curry's knee and ankle sprains are probably gonna lower his performance for the rest of the season which gives us a better chance. And it never gets boring seeing a million unpredictable strategic plays they can perform. It's always spontaneous filled plays with them.

This just in. Curry out for at least two weeks. Could be done for season. I am calling it. The Spurs win the title and Duncan and Manu both retire this summer. Pop and Parker will stay with Leonard for at least one more season to go for the repeat. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than to be good. You must be psyched. Duncan could get his sixth ring. Wow.

 

[Persona]

This just in. Curry out for at least two weeks. Could be done for season. I am calling it. The Spurs win the title and Duncan and Manu both retire this summer. Pop and Parker will stay with Leonard for at least one more season to go for the repeat. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than to be good. You must be psyched. Duncan could get his sixth ring. Wow.

I'd hate to see Duncan go, as he's such a nice player to have. He has slowed down a bit, but he still puts in his 2 cents. Giniboli is also great, it would be sad to see them go.
And Duncan finally passed 1,000 winning games! And if Curry is out for two weeks, the Rockets may actually have a chance winning, even though they are 1-3. They'd have to win 4 straight games though which is probably not going to happen, but we'll see.

 

[dang]

I'd hate to see Duncan go, as he's such a nice player to have. He has slowed down a bit, but he still puts in his 2 cents. Giniboli is also great, it would be sad to see them go.
And Duncan finally passed 1,000 winning games! And if Curry is out for two weeks, the Rockets may actually have a chance winning, even though they are 1-3. They'd have to win 4 straight games though which is probably not going to happen, but we'll see.

I can't believe the Spurs are done. I definitely thought they would beat the Thunder. Good thing I do not bet.