I don't get the interest in football (of any kind) or cricket, or any of the mass market spectator sports.
- You don't get to have a go yourself so where's the fun in that?
- Nothing much happens and the stuff that happens is a bit lame (guys running around with balls and bats and ****).
- The participants are all highly paid professional entertainers who go with the highest bidders so there's no real tribal loyalty.
- The sports are so dull they have to introduce a myriad of statistics to prove to people that something interesting is happening.
- The competition isn't really a personal struggle so there's nothing particularly inspiring about it (eg. lone marathoner makes it over the line after battling adversity as opposed to a bunch of rich guys poncing around a paddock)
- It's not inherently spectacular (surfing Jaws or skiing the Matterhorn)
As a good mate said, I would rather do something really badly than watch the best in the world.
I dont like soccer or rugby and Im more interested in motorsport than anything else but thats just me, and thing I like to do is surf and rock climb 
Personally I find all forms of cricket extremely boring to watch and to play, unless batting. Hopefully TV cricket will die out in my lifetime. Its on its way out and despite efforts to sex it up, its still the same old boring game. Perhaps the increased number of immigrants from the sub continent will be cricket's only saving grace. I can appreciate the tactics and strategy in cricket however I find more tactics in online real time strategy games.
With the various football codes, I don't mind Rugby League and Union. I wouldn't play either now as it would kill me. However its not bad to watch. I prefer to watch league as there seem to be less stoppages than in union. The union refs have too much power and there are too many obscure rules.
The other codes I don't care about. AFL is good to watch live but is crap on TV. Too much action takes place around the field in AFL that you can't see on TV while in League and Union the action is normally centred around the ball. I don't mind watching soccer live but find it very boring on TV.
To me, its all about competition. Two teams battling it out. Anything can be interesting if it is a good competition and you get involved in it by picking a side/athlete to support. I'm competitive by nature, so sport is a natural outlet for me.
Historically, we used to fight tribal wars against each other, now our "tribe" does battle on the field. I think this is what brings out such passion and emotion from the supporters.
The other thing I enjoy in sport is seeing a top level athlete/team performing at their best and smashing the competition. Except for Collingwood, will always hate those 2868's 
i agree with you gorgo, i completely understand playing sport but not sitting your fat arse in a chair for hours at a time watching somebody else do it.
what is even harder to fathom is people getting fanatical over sports they don't play, or never have played.
When I stopped by my mate's place they had not moved from the couch. Doing is always better than watching.
If it doesn't float your boat - don't watch it. Simple really.
I could sit and watch five days of a test match no problem, and love it - provided there was no wind
Watching the cricket/NRL gives me something to do whilst I consume large amounts of beer.
Not a cricket fan, and don't actually watch much footy either, but I did enjoy playing the game. Personally, I reckon a lot can be gained from playing a team sport when young.
I've helped out at Auskick over the past couple of years & found that the kids respond really well to playing in a team environment, & is one of the most important lessons that all kids should learn.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for "selfish" & "exclusive" sports like windsurfing, spending hours on the water, not speaking to anyone for simply self-gratification, not to mention the cost involved (ahhh, the joy
). But honestly, there's a lot to be said for joining your mates a couple of times a year in a beer-swilling and vocally opinionated day sitting in front of the idiot-box shouting out expletives at 'sportspeople' that we'll never know & couldn't care less about!
[end rant]
You can usually tell a person who has never played team sports. They are usually the first to bag it.
There is something special about being part of a team. For kids, lifelong friendships can be formed and self-confidence is definitely better.
You learn to rely on and trust in others. I think kids should play at least one team sport during youth.
Actually I was captain of the school basketball team. I played in a social team when I left school and we were C-grade premiers. It was the same league that a lot of AFL players used for their off season training. They tended to win a lot because they had better skills than everybody else, and they would slam people behind the play.
I was crap at basketball but I was taller than everyone else. I also played soccer a bit. I never had any luck breaking into the football team although I had offers later on when I grew taller. My real talent was running. I could run faster and farther than anybody else and won a few medals at State level.
I don't like team sports because they are exclusive and impractical. You can't do them without a huge infrastructure. They do exclude and isolate people who are not on the team. That is beside the point. I would understand if people loved footie if they actually played it. Nobody plays football.
I also dislike sports that keep score or use judging. A race is straight forward. The winner wins. Even if you don't win, as long as you have participated and done your best you get to have fun. I have participated in some world class sporting events. I never had a chance of winning but I got to be in the same field with the top guys and got to have some fun.
This is all beside my original point. Why do people care about AFL (or whatever) commercial team sports? People say "We" won, or "We" did this or whatever.
"We" had nothing to do with it. "They" are a large commercial enterprise making huge profits and allow a small elite to live out their sporting dreams. "You" had nothing to do with it at all. Why do you care?
Why do you arbitrarily choose a team to support then expend time and money pretending it has anything to do with you? It would make more sense to buy some shares in BHP then go down to the stock market and barrack for them.
At school the position I played was "Left right out",
But my preferred position is really "Half full on the fence"
The school I went to [all boys tech school] struggled to get a 2 footy teams on the field on sports days.... BUT we could get 8 yachts + 4 canoes on the water @ the local sailing club.
I don't normally enjoy the cricket even though I played all of the way through school. Listened to the Ashes match that was on at the waca on the radio while at work and day 2 and 3 I was carrying the radio around with me so I didn't miss anything and I enjoyed it much more than I do watching it on tv.
Biggest problem with watching the cricket is the add breaks at the end of every over. Sure nothing much is happening then but the adds come on at twice the volume of the cricket so you get screamed at over and over.
Love watching other sports. It's real excitement and drama, not to mention a display of skill and the battle of skills and wills between two people or teams can be very entertaining if you let it.
What's the point of not keeping score?
I'm competetive, but not a bad loser. If I get beaten in a game, I still enjoy it and I take the score that I lost by and try my damndest not to lose by as much next time. Losing isn't what upsets me, it's if I play at less than my abilities or make bad decisions or silly mistakes. Whether someone's tallying up the marks or not you know whether you are winning or losing at something, why not quantify it?
And how is racing not keeping score? Come last in a race and score card say's you lost, you know you lost, time to go and do some more training. The winner is also probably quite interested in the score.
LOL at "pure racing" - Pure steroids maybe. Imho there is far more cheating going on in top level racing than in any team sports where a player might try and get away with the ref not seeing something.
I'm not a member of the GPSTC, but people seem to be enjoying the competition side of things, whether it's against their own pb's or against other teams.
I don't disagree with you on the idea of doing a sport for the fun of it, and not letting the competitive side of things ruin the fun.
I just don't think I'm getting my head around the no keeping score thing but nevermind. As for picking a team and following them, why not. Most aussies will support anyone who's playing against the pommes, unless it's the kiwi's and then they are just confused. For the people who enjoy watching the sport it's human nature to pick a team that you want to win.
Each to their own, but I really enjoy a close, hard fought game between two teams. I'll scream and shout at the tv and get all worked up. It's highly entertaining.
- You don't get to have a go yourself so where's the fun in that?
?? You can play any of these sports any time you like, people join clubs for fun at all skill levels.
- Nothing much happens and the stuff that happens is a bit lame (guys running around with balls and bats and ****).
^^Well that's the problem isn't it, you just don't seem to like the sport. I can't stand watching soccer, it is in my opinion as exciting as watching paint dry. I will concede that there is an enormous amount of skill involved, and I can certainly understand why people enjoy it. However a lot of the soccer fans can't watch rugby or hockey which I enjoy. Surfing is good to watch for about 5 minutes for me, but after that it gets repetitive, probably because I don't understand and can not appreciate the skill aspects of it.
The money in some of these sports is ridiculous to mere mortals, that I will agree with.
Have been having these arguments with the partner for ever, I think it's pretty black and white, you either enjoy watching sport or you don't. Bring on the Ashes :D
sport is fed to us to keep us amused + unconscious.
that said, i love watching sport on the box.
especially like watching the 2 wingers Gareth Bale + Aaron Lennon of Tottenham.
found this at henrymakow.com,
You need to shut out the world for set periods of time and focus on what inspires you. That means turning off the TV, Internet and media in general.
Just as you nourish your body with food, you feed your soul with thoughts, sights and sounds. Your soul reaches out for beauty, grace, harmony, truth and goodness. You become what you think about.
What lifts your spirit? It might be a long walk, nature, hobby, sport, or music. It might be time with your family or friends. It might be the Bible, religious writing or meditation.
"Do what you love," Henry David Thoreau said. "Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw at it still."
in the team sports he play, and it's nothing for him to walk up to one of his winning opponents to let them know how well they did. That gives me more pride than if he won! (at the moment, he's playing his little sister in the wii & encouraging her along.)
It would make more sense to buy some shares in BHP then go down to the stock market and barrack for them.
I did, day before yesterday they won, yaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Yesterday the lost
Lucky we live in a free society. We can blather on about all sorts and nobody to tell us "Ya cant write that you Zyloom!!. Weell we can blather on about most things without a wrap on the knuckles.
Merry Christmas yous lot.
