One of the odd trends that I’ve noticed among online gun enthusiasts is a frequent and vocal disdain for organized sports, which I’ve never really understood. I like sports; I follow college and professional football, baseball, several different types of racing, and MMA all with relatively avid interest. What’s interesting to me is that when gun people are disdaining sports, combat sports such as MMA and boxing almost always get a pass, and their dislike is usually reserved for team sports like hockey or football.
It always struck me as an odd kind of virtue signaling: “I’m so tactical I don’t have time to care about foosball” or something along those lines. As if your disdain for a popular thing that the “sheeple” like makes you cool or something. Like I said, I’ve never really gotten it, but then again I like sports. I have since I was a little kid. I’ve always wondered what it was that motivated people to be so vocal about that.
I’m not talking about people who just aren’t interested; those people usually just don’t post about sports. I’m talking about the people who are so uninterested in sports that they have to post about how uninterested they are in sports on Facebook or YouTube or wherever so that everyone knows how uninterested they are in sports. Like the vegan who has to tell you about their dietary choices, or the crossfitter who…well, you get the idea.
Mostly, I just don’t get it. But, like I said, I enjoy sports. I don’t see why people need to get riled up over someone else’s harmless diversion. Maybe someone can explain it to me in the comments.
Trolling for “I dont like sports” comments is see.
Well, soccer sucks, so there you go!
I mean, soccer does suck, that’s a fact. But I’m actually just sort of curious about this.
Yeah! Soccer sucks but the NFL is awesome with its pitiful rules and the existence of the Patriots and Roger goodell! And college football is awesome too! I love watching a four hour game between an essentially pro team and a trade school! Murica!!!!
Proper football is awesome and you all suck. 😉
I like hockey best.
I never understood that either. I got another dose of it during the run up the The ‘Bowl’
I have noticed a schism between individual and team sports people too
Some people I know who don’t like team sports never played, don’t understand the feeling of competition, or never could compete in those types of arena’s.
This may happen with a portion of every social group. I see the same from a certain stripe of my nerdy professional friends. It just so happens you see it in gun people because that’s who you’re friends with on Facebook.
That’s probably true.
– Having loyalty to a bunch of arbitrarily chosen ‘roided up millionaire thugs that cycles every year is dumb.
Actual conversation I had with a coworker who was an enormous Tennessee fan.
“Hey Tim, what did you major in at Tennessee?”
“Oh, I didn’t go to college.”
“Really? Did you grow up near the school?”
“No, I grew up in West Virginia.”
“So why are you a Tennessee fan?”
“I dunno, when I was a kid I decided I liked Tennessee.”
This behavior is just plain puzzling to normal people.
– Sports should be something you do, not something you spend 6 hours a week watching while slouched on your couch and stuffing your face.
– It’s boring to watch.
– The incessant torrent of zero-content hype and publicity is like nails on a chalkboard. You can’t even escape it at work. “DID YOU WATCH THE BIG GAME HURR DURR?”
– I strongly resent millionaires and billionaires raiding my wallet to build their stadiums. Build them yourselves you fucking leeches.
– When Penn State’s football coaches were caught raping young boys in the bathroom, and covering up these rapes, the fans rioted. Not because of the rapes, but because their coaches were caught. Team sports fandom is a mental disease.
Playing sports is fun, most of the time.
Watching other people play them, talking about other people playing them, basing large parts of your life around those people’s schedule and performance, thats the stuff I don’t get about sports and sports fans.
Go Sports!
i’ve never cared about sports.
but if someone wants to waste their time with that its up to them 🙂
I shoot and I disdain spectator sports but in my case it is a coincidence I think. Disdain of sports goes with my disdain of most of popular culture-TV, movies, anything celebrity, malls, etc.
tbh I think this behavior shows up in Internet Gun Nerds not because they’re gun enthusiasts, but because they’re nerds. Sports are associated with the people who gave them wedgies in high school.
Ok. Please explain the essential difference between a bunch of dudes reading comic books and playing D&D compared to a bunch of other dudes watching a game or trading sports trivia back and forth?
Neither group can truly be what they are following but still enjoy it anyway.
Answer: They’re all nerds.
A game at any arena is comic con for sports nerds. Proof? They all dress in costume of something they wish they could be.
Fantasy Football…writes itself.
Whoever you are, whatever you follow..embrace your inner nerd.
Oh, yes I played organized sport and enjoyed it. Excellent prep for the game of life.
I used to watch sports. About 7-8 years ago I got tired of millionaires bitching about what the billionaire team owners paid them. I’m all for making what you can, but in the case of sports, you’re grown adults playing a game. You should be happy you earn any type of living off of it.
I like playing the games, and did play in middle and high school, but I have better things to do with my limited spare time.
People who are so uninterested in sports that they must talk about how uninterested in sports they are…those people are certainly not exclusive to the gun world. It’s like people trying to be counterculture to the point that they fall into a “culture of counterculture.” Hipsters all wear he same clothes and listen to the same bands (the ones we’ve never heard of) but there are gun hipsters, sports hipsters, geeky hipsters…the list goes on ad infinatum.
Hell Caleb, when The Force Awakens came out, there were a huge number of facebook posts about people proudly proclaiming “I’ve never seen Star Wars, I don’t get what the big deal is.” My basic question was not “OMG were you sheltered?” because I don’t seek to engage these people. They’re looking for attention so I simply don’t give it.
TL;DR:
It’s not because they’re uninterested, it’s because they want everyone to think they’re a special snowflake.
Nailed it!
It’s because people are stupid.
When I was a grunt, or when I’m playing paintball or doing FoF or Airsoft, I wish I had played more team sports as a kid. The guys who did have a better situational awareness and ability to shift focus on the fly.
Religiously following a team, I don’t get.
It’s all part of our culture’s current mania with assigning values, positive or negative, to people who like the same things we do…or don’t.
I honestly don’t give a shit whether someone likes watching football more than they like shooting guns. As long as they don’t try to stop me from shooting guns, and I don’t stop them from watching football, who cares?
This is the essence of American republicanism and liberty that we’ve forgotten…mind your own business, until someone tries to interfere with yours.
Watching sports is an absolute boor — unless you’re playing on a team yourself.