Sports and authors

[Phy]

I noted today that both Walter Jon Williams (http://walterjonwilliams.blogspot.com/2008/02/not-caring-xlii.html) and John Scalzi (http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=337) were unimpressed by the spectacle of the Super Bowl. Is that something common among authors, or are there as many authors wild about sports as there are who'd rather do almost anything else?

I do like what one commenter posted in the WJW thread:
What is it about non-football fans that makes them self-righteous in their dislike? Some of us like the game, some don't. But why the need to proclaim one's dislike?

I don't take the time to proclaim my profound distaste for the World Cup (soccer, or football of another sort played by everyone else around the world). I don't care for it, I don't watch it, I don't hunt down every positive thread about it I can find and proceed to poison the enjoyment others feel with my own distaste. I simply don't watch it, and I keep my mouth shut. Is that so hard? There is a sort of schadenfruede I see from some who don't care for the NFL that I don't see for other things I'm interested in. People are polite enough to simply not watch space opera without making a big, fat, hairy deal about it. As a Firefly fan, I can question their taste when they stay home in droves, but at least I don't have to defend my personal passions to the degree I do as a lifelong Packers fan.

[Ransom v. Unman]

Well, Phy, speaking strictly for myself, I can say the main reason I do get "into it" with American football fans so often is precisely because I am a self-righteous, sanctimonious zealot. I am trying to get better. Friends of mine at the Lord of the Rings Online forums can vouch for me being able to "play nice" in regards to the American football issue! And in this latest round, as I already pointed out, I didn't start it! :D

For once. :o

But anyway, as to the more pertinent question of why authors as a general rule have a distaste for sports, I have some theories based on my own personal experience, though must confess I have no scientific data to back these claims up.

First, I think the high school caste system in the States is in large part to blame. As illustrated in movies and shows from Revenge of the Nerds to Freaks and Geeks, it seems true to me that in American life there are the soft(er) spoken, less-physical-more-mental artists and intellectuals in most high schools, and on the other end are the "jocks", the football stars who seemngly get by on nothing more than athletic talent and having their mom and dad know everybody. More often than not, the nerdy poindexters who turn into the future writers of the world receive a good deal of verbal, if not physical, abuse from the malevolent strains of these jock types. My own relationship with the best of them was tepid, and I ultimately saw myself in more than a few scraps with party-kegging, football loving bullies. I know these are not representative of the majority of football fans in America, but it does have a tendency to leave a bad taste in one's mouth, y'know?

On another level too, I feel as though I'm something of a "convert" to the joys of European football (and to a lesser extent, ice hockey and rugby.) Though I was raised playing "soccer" as a kid, I never knew about the fan culture, the rich and terpsichordian movement of the ball, and the excitement that watching a game with a crowd of dedicated fans could be. For me, as someone who typically detested sports through most of his life (save street fighting, but that's another story) soccer was a revelation, and I think for many Americans who discover European football, they feel the same way. With that in mind, they adopt a very zealous mentality, and feel an inherent sense of superiority over the unwashed masses still enjoying American football.

I am (hopefully!) calming down the rabid edge of my football fanishness, and to be fair, I actively try to sympathise more and "let live" with American football fans, as well as baseball fans. I probably don't do well enough at it (as this thread did have to be made) but I hope I'm getting better.

I really do.

...

Anyway, errm, sorry for going on the piss about your favourite sport all the time. I am a sanctimonious jerk though, so you needn't take any of it too seriously. :o

[jacks girl]

Phy you said what I would say if i could write as well as you. On this topic your thoughts are my thoughts. I was surprised how people seemed to think my problem was
with sports in general or that i thought football was the toughest sport out there. My complaint though i might not have stated it well was exactly what you just said.

When we NFL junkies are huddled around taking about a sport we love to watch with our families why they feel the need to try to push their way into the huddle with some negative comment. I know that it is an open forum but as you stated earlier i don't run into the rugby forum and state how lame i think it is or how boring it is to me.

I just don't get it and have to admit it really hurt me that people misunderstood me and my point so badly. May be I'm not good at speaking my thoughts but I never was saying football was the most important thing in my life, nor do I think it's the roughest sport going. i was only trying to say. if I like football and it's my favorite sport does it really make you feel better to try to ruin that for me.

jacks
Thanks Phy again and again
for saying so eloquently what i was feeling.

[Xenia]

More often than not, the nerdy poindexters who turn into the future writers of the world receive a good deal of verbal, if not physical, abuse from the malevolent strains of these jock types.

Speaking as a Poindexter (my maiden name) who is a writer I can testify to the truth of this statement, albeit from a female point of view ;)