I Hate Sports Club Letters, 2003
1 Jan 03
Outstanding! This subject reminds me of a guy I used to work with. We were both in the military stationed in Japan and worked in the same office. This guy was a Cowboys fan and that was his claim to a life. He had a Cowboys license plate mounted on his desk, a fuzzy Cowboys football, a Cowboys poster, a Cowboys rug -I forget what all he had but he had a bunch of crap with the Cowboys logo on it. It defined his life. When they won, it somehow confirmed, to him, that he was somebody and all was right with the world but when the Cowboys lost a big game, he became near suicidal -I am NOT kidding!
I never understood how people could identify themselves so closely with whatever team they chose to support (which is also a big mystery -how do they choose WHICH team they will fall in love with in the first place? -do the teams have reputations and characteristics?
Like, if you like the Browns (is that a team?), does that mean you're sober, level headed, and a good judge of character?
If you like the Bengals (I think that IS a team), does that mean you like to walk on the wild side and are not so smart but have a big heart?
How DO these people choose the team they will devote the rest of their life to? Surely ALL teams are pretty much alike:
non-citizens of the states they support hired because of their skill
athletes who give it 110% and do the best job they can
athletes who habitually commit crimes
I suppose college teams have some individuality. Some schools don't emphasize their sports programs but rather academics (which is what school is for anyway)).
---Rob
2 Jan 03
In response to your letter about John. I think you've proved yourself an idiot... You're saying that he is only hating you because you despise sports, when it is quite clear that in his first 2 paragraphs he stated that it was ok not to like sports. You complain that people don't like you because you don't like sports, yet you hate and despise people who DO like sports? That makes a lot of sense, think about it for 5 minutes, ponder the thought. You're a minority, a HUGE minority. Sports have been around since the ancient times and aren't going anywhere soon. So get used to it, you're pointless babying and whining is pretty pointless!
--Greg
13 Jan 03
Hello there Mr. Don, or whatever your name is. I know you told me to go away, but, well... I'm back. Tough. Maybe if you'd just give me a chance, I'll actually answer a few of your questions.
First of all, I'd like to make one point. I wouldn't expect any of you guys to be able to tell me who Del Unser, Quentin Richardson, Tyronn Lue, etc. are. You guys just don't know these athletes, and you don't care. I can understand that. However, I definitely would not be able to understand it if any of you couldn't tell me even one fact about Michael Jordan. If any of you told me that you seriously didn't even know who Michael Jordan is, I'd sure as hell give you a blank, confused stare. I mean.. I really hope that you guys know, at the least, he plays basketball, right? I really hope so.
I'm making this point because the fact is, there are a few athletes who are bigger than the game itself. Michael Jordan, for example, is an international icon. He's idolized and admired throughout the entire world. They took a poll a few years ago in a few foreign countries; they asked kids who their heroes were. Michael Jordan tied for the lead. With God. Pretty nice company, don't you agree?
Here's my point: The next time you guys are in the office, and you're asked by a fellow co-worker about Michael Jordan, and you don't even know the name... prepare to be laughed right out of the building or ignored for the rest of your years there. You'd really have to be living under a rock your whole life to not even know the name. That's how big a select few athletes become. And the whole "Well, I don't like sports so I wouldn't know" thing just isn't going to work in this case. Michael Jordan is an American original, a true legend. You may not like sports, but you just have to know Jordan. Just a fair warning.
Mr. Tommy --- You misunderstood a little. I have an unconditional love for the game of basketball. Basketball will always be one of my favorite hobbies no matter what form it takes. The athletes, though, are a different story. I don't have an unconditional love for them. I'm a fan of Allen Iverson, but do you really think I'd still continue to like him if he murdered 20 people? Hell no.
That's one other thing I want to point out. I didn't say anywhere that all athletes are angels. I never said that they are all kind, great, honest, flat-out cool people. The fact is that some of them aren't, and I'm sure a lot of you know this. There are some that deal drugs. There are some that are always screwing around, are arrogant, don't care about the fans at all, are self-centered, etc. It wouldn't be right to say that they're all great people. However, it also wouldn't be right to say they're all bad people. There are a lot of great athletes in professional sports, and if you just look, you'll spot the good guys really quickly. It's just like with any large group of people. Some of them are going to be cool and some of them are gonna suck. But you can't make a generalization based on one person and his or her actions.
In fact, as a sports fan myself, rooting against the arrogant jackasses is half the fun. Part of the reason I watch professional basketball is to see some of these guys lose. I have a complete list of athletes who are idiots, in my opinion. I'd name a few, but you guys probably wouldn't know them, so I won't.
However, that's not to say that a lot aren't great people as well. The problem is that the media only focuses on the negative stories. The media always forgets the good stuff. What about just recently when Tracy McGrady, a basketball player, hung out with a kid who was a victim of the sniper? He went over to his hospital room, talked for a while, and after the kid was released he and Tracy played basketball together and basically had a great time. Tracy even gave him and his family free tickets to a few of his basketball games, and considering the home team won most of them, it couldn't have been better. The kid was overjoyed. His favorite basketball player had done all this for him at the time when he needed it most. A great story.
What about the hours that Eric Snow, another basketball player, spends at children's clinics and hospitals helping them with reading and other schoolwork? What about Dale Earnhardt, a race car driver who was killed last year? He was the victim of a lot of harassment and jokes (people calling him a "hick" or whatever) but the fact is that he was a great guy too. He'd always stay after each race, and he'd sign autographs for every fan there, or as many as were possible. A few of the other drivers would disappear into the locker rooms, but not him. He loved the fans, and they loved him.
What about Michael Jordan's donating his entire salary for one year to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks? What about David Robinson, another basketball player, who, among many other basketball players, has charities and foundations that he regularly donates to?
You see, if you just take the time to look, you'll find that a lot of athletes are really great people, too. The sad thing is that the media just doesn't give respect to these guys. You'll never see "ERIC SNOW DONATES TO CHILDREN'S READING CLINIC!" on the front page of the newspaper. It's always "DARRYL STRAWBERRY FOUND WITH MARIJUANA!" or "DENNIS RODMAN ACCUSED OF ARMED ROBBERY" or whatever. It's really a shame.
It kind of saddens me that a few people here are resorting to the "If all else fails, call him gay" plan. I'm talking about the people who think sports are stupid, but can come up with nothing better than "If you like sports, you're gay". That's kinda sad. You guys had some pretty fair arguments going here, but you're going to ruin it saying stuff like that. Watching men in action doesn't make me gay, dude. I don't have any sexual desire towards any of the guys I watch in professional basketball. A basketball game isn't some sort of live pornographic show, it's a GAME. I watch them because the stuff they do on the court entertains me, not because I wanna get in bed with any of them. Jesus.
Someone above said that he didn't understand why someone had seemed to devote their life to the Cowboys, with all his Cowboys gear such as posters, rugs, etc. I don't think it's fair for anyone from this site to call that pathetic. You guys are doing the same thing. This site has Sports Suck bumper stickers, Cowboys fans have Cowboys bumper stickers. This site has Sports Suck t-shirts, Cowboys fans have Cowboys t-shirts. This site is part of a Sports Suck webring, Cowboys fans are part of sites with Cowboys webrings. Same thing.
The same guy above asked how people begin to like a certain team. Well, here's how it usually goes. You see, usually the only sports games that are shown in a certain area are games having to do with that area, and here's what I mean. I live around Philadelphia, so since this is the Philadelphia area, they're usually going to show only sports games here that have something to do with Philly. That's how people grow up rooting for the team closest to them. The team closest to them is the team that's on most of the time.
However, I have satellite TV, so I have access to all the games everywhere in the nation, so I've learned to like a few teams for other reasons too. Here's some examples:
If you like the Clippers, you like athletic, fast-paced basketball. You like young, athletic sports athletes who are always doing amazing athletic dunks and plays.
If you like the Celtics, you like three-point shooting. You like constant jump shots, and players making long, long shots from all ends of the court.
If you like the Jazz, you like experience. The Jazz have guys on there who have been around forever. They know the game inside out, and while they're kind of old, they're still deadly on the court.
If you like the Lakers, you like to be the best. You love to be number one; to always be the champions.
If you liked the Pistons from the early 90's, you liked it rough. You didn't take any crap from anybody. You wanted to play a guy, beat him, and rub it in his face. That was your outlook on the game.
Like it or not, teams are not the same. Each team has its own personal identity or personality that the fans can connect with in some way or another.
Also, I want to acknowledge some of your sports quotes that you claim are stupid, but I think I can shed some light. Here's what I mean. Here's one of your quotes:
"I lost it in the sun!"
-Billy Loes, Brooklyn Dodgers Pitcher, after fumbling a grounder.
----- I want you to go do something. Wait until it's a bright, extremely sunny day, around midday or so when the sun is high up in the sky. Take a ball of any kind. Look right up where the sun is, throw the ball up right towards the sun, and try to catch it. If you're not lucky, it'll crash right down your face and knock you out. You know why you couldn't have caught it? Because you were looking straight up at the sun, and even though the ball was up there, the sun was so bright that you couldn't see it. It was messing up your vision. That's called "losing it in the sun" and it happens in baseball all the time.
"I've won at every level, except college and pro."
-Shaquille O'Neal, on his lack of championships.
----- College and professional aren't the only levels of sports, dude. There's high school, earlier school, recreation leagues, weird expansion leagues that no-one even knows about, etc. Chances are that's what he means here.
Well, that's about it for now. I really hope you post this and if you don't, you can at least give me a better reason than "I don't belong here, so just leave". That's not cool, don't you agree?
Peace. --JohnM2038
27 Jan 03
I think you have a great site! I agree with you 100 per cent and I played High School Football for 3 years! I look back on my High School days now (I graduated from a small Texas High School, where football is King, in 1979) and see that the funnest year I had was my junior year that I didn't play!!
I also strongly resent all my school taxes going for building gyms, new baseball fields and funding all the coaches that my school system thinks it needs.
Keep up the good work!!
---Joe
27 Jan 03
Thank you so much for this site and for keeping me sane whilst the Super Bowl is going on
- Trish
29 Jan 03
To the guy that likes basketball--
Commenting on your opinion isn't really worth my time so I'll be brief. You put a lot of emphasis on making the point that everyone knows Michael Jordon. I don't know why. I personally DO think I know who he is although I might be confusing him with magic Johnson. Both are basket ball players, right? Was the point that I have to be prepared to acknowledge that I've heard of him or maybe any athlete? I have. So what?
Point #2: You have an unconditional love for the game of basketball and NOT the players. Umm.. OK. I wouldn't be comfortable saying that but I'm not you. I'm fine with that. What else you got?
Point #3: Some athletes are not drug addicts or otherwise bad. OK.
Point #4: I don't think anyone was suggesting that if a person watches sports that they are gay. I think that they were pointing out the irony of the fact that most sports fans call people that don't like sports, gay.
Point #5: Devoting one's life to sports is NOT pathetic. Of course I disagree. I think measuring one's success by the achievements of people they don't even know is... a symptom of something lacking in a person's character. Self-confidence? I don't know --I'm not a psychiatrist. All I know is I have a life and it doesn't include loyalty to overpaid buffoons.
Point #6: (sigh) The stupid sports quotes are humor and not meant to be taken seriously. I've seen the same quotes on pro-sports sites. Sorry if your feelings were hurt. Lighten up.
There... feel better? I still think sports suck and just because you can point out a couple of names that just about anyone would recognize and a few instances of benevolence on the part of basketball players (who probably let the money go to avoid paying higher taxes anyway) doesn't lessen the fact that professional sports are LAME!
--Don
3 Feb 03
Your site rulez! And whoever wrote:
I think you've proved yourself an idiot... You complain that people don't like you because you don't like sports, yet you hate and despise people who DO like sports? That makes a lot of sense, think about it for 5 minutes, ponder the thought.
is an idiot himself. Isn't the most natural thing in the world to dislike people that dislike you? The opposite would be a truer example of an idiot: liking someone that didn't like you--something like the typical loyal fan refusing to stop loving a team that left town long ago.
You're a minority, a HUGE minority. Sports have been around since the antient times and aren't going anywhere soon. So get used to it, you're pointless babying and whining is pretty pointless! --Greg
Dude --I KNOW I'm a minority. We're the lucid core in an otherwise mad, mad world. But being a minority isn't an indication of being wrong. Majorities are almost always wrong. Think about it: crowds in Roman colliseums enjoying the dismemberment of Christians, the bleating crowd of witch burners, the crusades... unquestioning, fearful followership the hallmark of all crowds. On the other hand, minorities are often right (and always courageous) --Galileo, Martin Luther, Arthur Clark, Columbus, and numerous others.
For a person who is eager to call someone else an idiot, you are most unprepared. Your arguments are worse that your epithets. Your other argument was that sports have been around since ancient times. Do you mean to say that because they've always existed that that, in itself, qualifies them as acceptable activities? Lots of things have been around "since ancient times": prostitution, torture, feudalism... all of which are bad things. Just because something has been around a long time doesn't mean it's acceptable.
Sports SUCK!
---Ken
10 Feb 03
I like your site. Keep up the good work.
--Bill H.
12 Feb 03
I just want to say that I feel most honored and privileged to be the first Australian member of this club. Australia is truly the land of the of sport moron. The country is burning away in the worst drought in living memory; our cricket fanatic Prime Minister is sending us to war and yet there is very little in the way of intelligent commentary from our media. One thing you can count on though is the mindless ranting of battalions of sports commentators and the moronic bleating response of the smiling consumers.
On the album Shaved Fish John Lennon spoke of keeping them ("the masses") "doped with religion and sex and TV". In Australia sport is often touted as the official religion - so I think Lennon was spot-on. And they're all fucking brain-dead as far as I see!
Regards,
Bill
14 Feb 03
Please consider me a member. I agree with and understand most of the articles posted here.
I have often wondered why I don't like sports. I've suspected for a long time that maybe something is wrong with me. Maybe I'm not a team player. Maybe I'm selfish. Maybe that's why I don't like sports. Maybe I'm a natural loner who can't understand the camraderie sports offers to everyone else. Being a non-sports fan is a lonely thing and I've pretty much accepted that fact. I don't like sports and most probably never will. I still don't know why... am I too unwilling to share credit with a fellow human being? I don't think so... in other areas, at work, I always credit whoever deserves it. I'm a team player there. Why doesn't this transfer to sports?
Maybe it's because I grew up watching my overbearing dad scream at the TV on weekend afternoons... and swore I'd never be like him. Or because whenever I played on little league teams, bullies made the game their personal kingdom or maybe because in High School we adopted a snotty anti-sports attitude... hard to say. But, for whatever reason, I'm glad life's twists and turns delivered me to a place where I am an individual and not a sports drone like most of the U.S. population. If you have a mailing list, please add me.
Thanks.
Will
19 Feb 03
This site is a breath of fresh air. Good idea. It's about time somebody stood up to the sports clones.
--Jerry
24 Feb 03
March on, brother! Keep da faith! Don't let DA MAN hold you down!
Dort
2 Mar 03
Amen, brother! I wish the rest of the population would wake up and realize that professional sports today set a terrible example for everyone. When I was a boy, more years ago than I care to remember, sports actually were fun. No one was in it to get rich. If an athlete broke the law, he was locked up and certainly never played again. And athletes were gentlemen (at least publicly). In elementary school we were taught to be good sports -to lose gracefully and to be modest if we won. Braggarts were considered to be in the same class as liars. I miss those days and those values. Today, arrogant players scream at the cameras and loudly proclaim their superiority to anyone who will listen. Successful goals or baskets always result in obscene dances by boastful players. Am I the only one who thinks this kind of behavior shouldn't be tolerated? -that the average basketball player is an ignorant, self-centered moron?
I hate sports too.
-Thom
4 Mar 03
There's nothing wrong with sports themselves. I think almost anyone would agree with that. It's the sports culture, the expected participation in sports by any male, that I don't like. There's nothing wrong with watching a football game (if that's your thing) but there is also nothing wrong with NOT watching. But in our country (the U.S.), if you AREN'T interested in sports, you're... suspect... something isn't quite right... you're considered an odd-ball, anti-social -and that's the aspect of sports I don't like. Sports fans can claim all they want that just saying, "I don't follow sports" is acceptable but we all know that it isn't. I was stopped in the store just the other day by a stranger who said (with a smile) "you've got a lot of nerve wearing that." I was wearing a Dallas Cowboys jacket that my wife had won at a BINGO game. I don't know ANYTHING about the Dallas Cowboys. It just happens to be the warmest jacket I own. I didn't know what he was talking about until he went on to say something about the Cowboy's performance or something and then I got it -the jacket. That's the third time someone has stopped me and started talking to me about football. Of course every one of those encounters resulted in confusion and misunderstandings. The last time someone stopped me I blurted out right up front: "I don't know anything about football. I won the jacket at BINGO". That ended THAT conversation before it even got started. And branded me yet again as an oddball. I've GOT to get another jacket.
Bart
4 Mar 03
Televised sports isn't the terrible problem it once was. Now with cable, much of sports gets diverted to the sports channels but even so, there's still way too much of it on MY TV!
Karen
7 Mar 03
You're right on target. Sports fans are the type of guy that grew up wanting to be just like dad. They imitated dad... drank like dad... didn't do drugs... stayed out of trouble except for the "acceptable" kind of trouble their dads secretly took pride in: roughing up and generally tormenting skinny, unathletic, or "different" kids, high school pranks, and getting promiscuous girls "in trouble". And they adopted their dad's redneck views on life. Jocks suck!
10 Mar 03
Jocks can hang around locker rooms if they want to but personally I don't need to be so close to my comrades and don't enjoy the company of naked men.
-Commander Cody
12 Mar 03
Just a note for all the cheerleaders out there -get a life, princess!
Alicia
13 Mar 03
Sports Suck! You might as well throw away the last 6 or 8 pages of the newspaper. When will publishers realize most of us don't even read the sports section and automatically throw the entire section in the garbage?
Don
19 Mar 03
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19 Mar 03
I don't care how infamous -umm..Michael Jackson -I mean Michael Jordan -is. The sports fan -forget the name -claims that everyone on the planet has heard of him. I seriously doubt it. Most people in the U.S. have but everyone in the world? I don't think so. And even if the name is widely recognizable, so what? What significance does that have? I can only suppose the sports fan thinks that because the name is widely known, it justifies or validates the game of basketball. Whatever that means.
I think the point of this site is that basketball and other professional sports are an annoyance. The "game" consists of a bunch of guys running back and forth for an hour or so. I suppose it must be fun for them but I fail to understand how it can have much attraction for anyone else. I cannot understand how anyone would PAY to watch someone else play. It just boggles my mind.
What's even worse is when people pay to watch a televised event! They don't even get to be near the action! And what's even worse yet is when people will pay for a newspaper or a magazine to read about a game that happened YESTERDAY! These people have serious, deep-seated issues. And no matter how eloquently the sports fan describes the athletic miracles of the players, I'm sorry, I cannot relate. If someone claims it's merely a past time, OK, I can understand. But to be devoted? Whoaaaaa..
I think the "game" satisfies some deeply rooted short-coming. What, I can't imagine. But don't hate those of us who don't need this artificial ego boost. We're like sober people who can't understand the junkie's need for drugs. And yes, sometimes we're a little rude but no ruder than the average sports fan is to those who like a team he doesn't like. And no ruder than the sports fan who discovers we don't like sports. At least you don't have to LISTEN to us like we have to listen to the sports drones -all day, every day.
Roger
5 Apr 03
To John, the basketball fan,
Why the need to convert the sane to an appreciation for basketball? I know you skirted around several sports but you are clearly motivated by your basketball jones. There's plenty of people who already like it. You have less chance here than a Christian in Iraq.
Steve
7 Apr 03
I'm with you brother! Burn the stadiums!
-Clay
11 Apr 03
ha ha ha ha ha ha Whenever I see those morons racing around town with flags on their cars, I think the same thing. A nation must be missing its idiots!
16 Apr 03
FROM THE FINE PEOPLE AT www.uttertrash.net:
Someone who didn't include their name in their message wrote a response to staff writer Kip Amore's football article:
You guys have to be the most laziest, fattest, dorkiest guys in the world if u hate sports. You guys keep playing dungeons and dragons, find girlfriends on internet chatrooms, and have the athletic ability of a cheerleader. You guys just remember in all the movies that the jocks will kick the shit out of the dorks and u are no exception
It always warms my heart to know that this website has really affected someone. Now, even an unrepentant film geek like myself knows there's a big difference between real life and the movies. Someone ought to tell this guy about The Trenchcoat Mafia. Not that I'm condoning that sort of thing, but it's good to keep in mind that in the real world sometimes the dorks fight back. The ones who make it through the " best years of their lives " in high school without letting the abuse of dumb ass jocks get to them usually wind up with decent jobs and real lives. The goons that picked on them usually wind up pathetic losers stuck in jobs they hate dreaming about their past glories on the football field that no one else cares about anymore. I'm sticking with the dorks.
17 Apr 03
Ya'll have a great site. But can I ask why you allow sports fans so much space? They just say the same thing over and over. I think they have the idea that the most text wins. Maybe you should limit that kind of rambling to 500 words or less or something. Just a suggestion.
Leo
19 Apr 03
John I couldn't agree with you more dude! Im 15, live in Texas where footballs HUGE and more love the game. I love watching collage football! my favorite team is Texas. i don't know all the coaches and players names of sports teams, but i know most of them. but i love watching football, basketball, hockey, baseball (only live though. i love playing baseball, but i cant sit down and watch it!) its great to watch! i remember when i was 10 and watching Michael Jordan play and I was like WOW! its fun to watch sports. I also play sports. Football, some basketball even though I suck at it! baseball, and wrestling (not pro). Its fun to play them, its great and they make you feel good! im going to play high school football this year. I played football in 7th and 8th grade. Pretty much everything i wanted to say, John said it already. but its just really stupid you made a site dedicated to hating sports. also people that play sports aren't stupid, most of my friends that play football make straight A'S or B'S. and playing sports require a lot of strategy it isn't just about catching a ball! if you want to argue with me my screen name is Rabidsquirrel63@aol.com.
see yall later
Trey
21 Apr 03
Here's another letter from a sports nut named Matthew. This guy is so stupid, he posted his letter to the wrong website:
www.geocities.com/ antisports. If you want a good laugh, take a look. Way to go, sluggo!
Don
26 May 03
The thing I hate most about sports, more than any ad campaign, obnoxious opinion, or other such unwanted influence is how it dominates the TV networks. I watch TV all the time, probably much more than I should, and nothing is more irritating than checking out the TV guide and seeing one of my favorite programs on directly following a sports event. I might as well find something else, cause I know damn well that I will either get an already in progress glimpse at the end of the program or it wont come on at all. Why can't they schedule a good amount of time. Most of these games are pre-recorded to begin with. Come playoffs I'm glad I have recorded forms of media to entertain myself.
Has anyone ever seen a good movie go in overtime and cut into the the retarded 70's sci-fi flick on after it? I think not. I have seen many movies torn apart to fit in a two hour segment. Oh wait, make that an hour and 20 minutes, considering the guaranteed 20m/h ad saturation offered to us by our loving networks.
Just once I would like the see a football game start 40 minutes into it (already in progress).
Christopher
27 May 03
Nirvana!!!
I had no idea you existed. Where were you when I was in Junior and Senior High? (rhetorical question) I just found your pages and will be savoring them.
Thanks,
JJ
10 June 03
I just can't let this go unmentioned. Here in Nebraska there exists an abomination called University of Nebraska football. Each fall into early winter the entire state goes spastic with red and white flags (which some people mistakenly believe is the official state flag) and likenesses of the mascot--a pathetic fictional character called "Herbie Husker". Herbie Husker is inadvertently a perfect clone of the average fan who screams "gobigred". A dopey looking guy dressed in blue overalls and a straw hat often shown holding an ear of corn (Cornhuskers).
I don't know if Cornhusker football or myopic brain death came first here, sort of like the question of the chicken or the egg. I think it might be that Nebraska just doesn't have much to offer anyway that folks escape into the team.
Conversations just aren't all that stimulating during a winning season. "How 'bout them Huskers?" All one hears on radio, TV and from the fans are endless descriptions of plays and interceptions, etc. ad nauseum. Pity anybody who wants to converse about anything else. The entire state is very ugly if there's a losing season, that is if the team didn't make it to the championship game. Everywhere...bad moods, domestic violence, and endless questioning about how could the team disappoint the state.
The sports department at the U of Nebraska is a drain on our already hurting economy. Endless plans and dreams about expanding the stadium, new gym facilities, etc. etc. At the same time, our legislature is forced to eliminate education programs, cut back building plans and fire professors to make ends meet. It's a sad misdirection of priorities that hurts and will continue to stunt growth of the vitality of this state.
Again, thanks for this site.
--J Johnson
27 Jun 03
Watching sports sucks. It is the ignorant sports fan that keeps making these professional athletes rich. I have no heros. I don't live through someone else and especially, screw kentucky basketball. Kentucky wildcats do not represent me. Now a good basketball game to see would be one in Rupp arena where the whole building collapsed during the game destroying in total an IQ of about 50.
-unsigned
7 Jul 03
What really shows how our society has something wrong is pro athletes. I will never watch a sports channel or even a game. I will never buy a ticket, merchandise, or anthing supporting million dollars of salary for one person to play a GAME...Why should some dumbass get millions of dollars salary for playing a game, when I know people who work a hundred times harder and make only 20 grand a year. Lets cut off these morons' salary, and maybe put that money into cancer research, or aids in Africa programs. There is a huge problem in this world, and something needs to be done. Who agrees with me? DON'T SUPPORT PRO SPORTS IN ANY WAY! TELL YOUR FRIENDS PEOPLE! LET'S DO SOMETHING!
-Brandon
17 Jul 03
Hello all!
Great site! Like everyone else here, I thought I was the only one who thought that our culture puts too much emphasis on organized sports, and resented the pressure placed on all males to be pro sport fans.
FYI, I discovered a while ago that if you do an internet search for the phrase "sports build character" about 8 out of 10 items in the results are studies and essays that make the point that sports DO NOT build character.
Dan
12 Aug 03
Dude, your site fuckin' rocks! Im only 12 and I realize how freakin' stupid these lunk headed hate monger jocks are! I made myself a shirt that said: "Sports Suck!" on the front, showing a football with an big "ANTI SIGN" around it, and on the back it said, "Is this what you call teamwork?" Anyway, I wore it to the local mall and these two big highschool kids (obviously jocks) came up to me and said, "You fucking twerp, If i ever see you around here again, I'll kick your fucking little ass!" Is this who kids should be looking up to? Bullies? It's good there are people who agree with me!
~Garrett~
16 Aug 03
Albert Einstein arrives at a party and introduces himself to the first person he sees and asks "What is your IQ?" to which the woman answers, "241". "That is wonderful!" says Albert. "we will talk about the Grand Unification Theory and the Mysteries of the Universe. We will have much to discuss".
Next Albert introduces himself to a man and asks, "What is your IQ?" to which the gentleman answers, "144". "That's great!", responds Albert. "We can discuss politics and current affairs. We will have much to discuss".
Albert goes to another person and asks, "What is your IQ?" to which the man answers, "51". Albert responds, "How 'bout them Kentucky Wildcats"!
-bh
24 Aug 03
I had a pretty big follow-up letter typed up, but I'm not going to send it. Instead, there's only one point I want to address.
I just don't understand you people. You claim that it's pathetic that anyone could possibly sit and watch a professional sporting event, and this doesn't bother me because you can think whatever you want, but why are you dwelling over the fact? Anti-sports sites remind me of all the anti-Pokemon and anti-Britney Spears sites that are on the Internet, with people focusing on things they DON'T like. Why can't you guys just accept the fact that you don't like sports and move on?
You call me pathetic for continuing to like something that I honestly like and have liked all my life. But come on, man. You're the one making an entire website dedicated to something that you hate. At least I focus on my hobbies and interests... don't you people have things that you DO like that you should be focusing on?
What's even worse: You seem determined to try and spoil it for the people who do like sports. There's just something a little unnerving about having something that you honestly like, and then finding a website online with the text at the top reading "DEDICATED TO THE ERADICATION" of that thing. You ask people to "join us and support the cause". What cause? You act like this is some battle or something.
One of the most-repeated quotes that sports haters use at this site goes something like this: "I don't understand why they like sports" or "I don't understand why I don't like sports" or "I don't understand what they see in athletes" or something to that effect. That's exactly right. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I understand because I like sports, but you will never understand because you don't like them. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's the truth. And making this website isn't going to help you understand that any more. Nothing I or any sports fan can say is going to help you understand, because you don't WANT to understand.
There's a lot of things that I don't like, believe it or not. I'm a guy just like anyone else - I have likes, I have dislikes. And those certain things that I don't like... I don't understand how anyone could possibly like them. But I'm not going to dwell on the fact. Instead, I'm just going to ignore those things, and focus on the things that I am passionate about or interested in. Why can't you guys do the same?
Hey, I've got an idea. How about you guys let sports fans like sports. Let them have their games, their page in the newspaper, their shows on TV. Now here's the good part: How about all of you ignore the games, don't read the sports section in the newspaper, don't watch ESPN, and just IGNORE THEM? Go about your lives, do the things that you like to do, and stop dwelling over things you hate.
You know, I'm starting to think that you people deliberately turn on sports shows every once in a while just so you can laugh and ridicule the sports fans on them. If you just ignored everything sports, and went about your lives, you'd find things to be a lot easier for yourselves. (JohnM2038)
EDITOR'S NOTE: The above letter rambled on without making any significant point and was cut to 500 words in keeping with our editorial policy of not boring our readers. Besides, it's the same sorehead sports fan who writes in occasionally to tell us how wrong we are.
25 Aug 03
This site has taken what I consider to be a mere annoyance and shown me that it is really a social illness that stems from and promotes the following: jingoism (Olympics), anti-intellectualism (this one is so inherent that no example applies), racism (name one of a handful of roles that a black person is allowed to be in), sexism (IT'S THE...MAN SHOW!), class-based inequality (preferential treatment towards atheletes), addiction (i.e. sports bars, 8 hour to 14 hour binges) (greed ( i.e. salaries of any sportsman), crime (i.e soccer hooligans and riots), a politcally inactive lower class (remember the bread and circus theory) murder (guess who played in the first stadium ever built) emotional and mental illness (Childhood truamas in gym class?), Cultural brain-drain (i.e. football scholarships), violence (If crime and murder on this list, well then...), WAR (Name the only two places in society where the phrase "give me 50" has nothing to do with your wallet), poverty (Bad day at the track?), Columbine (see article on this site) , unnecessary and excessive conformity (i.e. sports fans being the norm), mob mentality (See conformity), Vigilanteism / Lynchings ( See mob mentality or Columbine) evil (See all above), Satan (See evil), and, worst of all, societal endorsement of all the above!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (see pro-sports arguments)
Oh, and they suck too. Sports are as icky as Republicans and candy corn.
-Jesse
15 Oct 03
Why do you think a bunch of men watch a bunch of other men (in soccer and basketball) run around on a field in their underwear? I think it's obvious? They won't admit it because they're "strong men". Why don't they just come out of the closet?
-Bill D
15 Oct 03
I recently talked to someone who, here in Spain, admitted that he hated sports. Our voices went into conspiracy mode, because it's like having leprosy to deny the IMPORTANCE OF SPORT.
I mean, what justification is there in putting on TV a bunch of men-children running around for an hour and a half on a fake field? And the greatest insult is that they bill this as part of the news, along with major political decisions, natural disasters, accidents, tragedies, etc. No wonder so many people take world and local events (that really affect them) so lightly.
Two of my favorites are when once I saw somebody watching a golf tournament on a 10 inch portable black-and-white TV (imagine what the ball against the sky and against the grass looked like); and the highlights from basketball games on evening news when they show about half a dozen shots out of the many that are taken: they all go in! How exciting.
Did you ever look at the faces of sports "figures" (hardly players anymore) when they are on screen: the dead seriousness they display over a missed goal, a flubbed return in tennis, etc.? Some of them actually cry! My question is: what do they do that is proportionately appropriate when one of their loved ones die? I mean, if you get flustered over a ball...
Well, Noam Chomsky really shocked people when he was here and was asked what he thoughyt of the Barça fotball club and he said he could care less about sport and that he thought it promoted false hate against a false enemy.
Sorry. Just got to get this off my chest.
-Bill D
12 Dec 03
Sir -
Me and my football buddies are going to find you and beat you up. And if you really are two dogs and a cat, you are in for some MAJOR nose in poop pushing.
