I Hate Sports Club Letters, 2010
4 Jan 10
Subject: Ken and marsha
Well I have only known this website for 3 days but I have read all letters for 2009 already! I have always detested sports and sadly, it has led me to a sendentary introverted lifestyle. It is only in early adulthood that I took the time to realize there are unlimited options in life. Ken and Marsha made their points elegantly. The message needs to get out that hating sports is not an excuse to be lazy. I have not picked a physical activity yet but am anxious to return to bicycling this spring. Going places and scenery can bring life to your soul. Let us not forget about the natural endorphins and increased blood flow to the brain :)
Jason
7 Jan 10
Subject: Regarding Craig's Letter, Faking Sportsgasms
If you are only kidding around with this, your letter is quite humorous. However, if you really are "faking sportsgasms" in the workplace, you're not doing our cause any favors. I don't know about anybody else, but I want to work in an environment where I'm not responsible to know anything about sports, let alone every goddamn current event. I want to give jocks the cold shoulder and not live for their meager "bonding opportunities."
If I were to give in to their sports comments and respond with a sports opinion of my own, I would merely be spreading this retarded behavior. It's better to shut yourself down.. I'd rather be a loner than be a friend to the sportsoholics. Study these comebacks:
Howbout that game last nite?
The only game I played was with my wife/girlfriend when she played hide and seek with my ______ (insert word of choice)
It's a shame Dick Shrunkwell was traded to the Pissoffs.
The only trade I know about was when my wife/girlfriend and I traded undergarments.
When you use these approaches at work, you'll definitely be furthering our cause. Thanks in advance!
Ted
7 Jan 10
Subject: Faking Sportsgasms
I agree with you Ted. I don't want to have to study the sports pages every day of my life just so I will be ready with a satisfactory reply when the office bore confronts me with some sports garbage. Why should I have to conform to these narrow-minded bigots? Especially when I'm not the only one who doesn't like or keep up with sports. We are making progress in our movement and we need to hold our ground. We need to be there to support people like Craig who really hates sports but fakes it just to fit in.
Help free our brothers from this oppression and stand firm. When the office loudmouth bellows, "how 'bout dem dogs", just answer from your heart and say, "I don't know what the heck you're talking about. I don't watch sports!".
Ray
15 Jan 10
Subject: Brief letter for inclusion on your wonderful website!
First, thank you webmasters for giving a voice to the up-to-now voiceless!
I'd like to offer two concrete examples of some evil lessons that sports teaches, and they come from my own personal experience:
Sports Lesson # 1-Find the other team’s weakest link, and smash it!
In the 1970’s, my teen years, my parents sent me to a summercamp which in theory had multi-activities, but in reality was largely focused on sports. One 1976 volleyball game showed me some ugly realities. Now, in baseball or soccer, I was sent way out into the field and ignored, which was fine with me. But in volleyball, I was part of a team closely packed together on the court. As the game wore on, the other bunk kept serving the ball towards me. Of course, I kept flubbing and was frustrated and embarrassed . The other team had figured out that I was the one player who couldn’t hit the ball back, and deliberately kept sending the ball my way. As one of the other kids in my bunk told me “They’re aiming for the hole”.
Sports Lesson # 2-Turn someone’s ignorance or innocent mistake to your advantage!
In a football game around that same time, I inadvertently was on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped. Suddenly, a whistle-one of the other bunk’s kids had noticed it and gotten the bright idea to call “Offsides”! He’d seen my error, and used it to gain an advantage. Soon, the other team began to track my movements, and was able to get several more offside calls against me. Rather than winning the game through honest strength or skill, the other team decided to win by focusing on manipulation of minor rules.
We need to ask ourselves: “When these two lessons are taught to children, what kind of society does it create?”
Marshall
15 Jan 10
Subject: People Watching
I made an interesting comment to a fried in regards to why I will go to a sporting event and not watch it on TV.
Being at the game is a totally different experience than watching the TV. Last year I went with my brother-in-law to see a NASCAR race. I took a friend and both of use paid more attention to the fans then the actual race. We both don't understand the sheep like behavior nor do we understand the worship of the drivers. We do know that at the race when people drink too much beer it does become entertaining for use. We must have saw three fights in the stands that probably started out as someone talking bad about another fan's driver.
Chris
29 Jan 10
Subject: Soccer
Hey there man,
Good to see a site full of like-minded people who clearly have better things to do than those guys who pay a ton of money to go watch a bunch of over-paid loons doing nothing other than playing a game. My personal letter of aggravation however doesn't just stem from the fact soccer players (football as we call it but that's not important) are over-paid. I used to enjoy playing soccer with my little brother and his friends in my area, I live in England so that sport is particularly popular here. It was great to be able to get a bunch of kids together, stop them from doing anything anti-social and have a great time.
One day a friend who played with me suggested we go to a local sports place where we could play against guys our own age. I did and it was the biggest regret I've ever had. Each of the players there were so cliqué and if you ever made a mistake, everyone including the players on your team would have a go at you like it was such a big deal. To make matters worse it made alot of my friends stop coming to play every week and it made me hate the sport. What makes a bunch of grown men act like complete dicks and forget they're playing a game? It just seems like an excuse to gang up on people.
So for the reason, I'd happily stand up for your cause. Your site is proof that there's a place where people don't worship this rubbish.
Take care.
D.A.
29 Jan 10
Subject: news item
This just in: Federal officials stop bringing Haitian earthquake victims to Florida because they don't want to interfere with the Super Bowl
Really.
officials stop bringing Haitian earthquake victims to Florida
Joel
14 Feb 10
Subject:
This is definately one of the greatest websites EVER, and this is coming from a sports fan. I enjoy watching football, college basketball, and baseball. I also do not mind talking about it at a local bar with a few friends. I also enjoy Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, classical music, Star Trek, cooking ( I LOVE THE FOOD NETWORK) , playing drums and lifting weights.
I cannot stand Sports fans that will not let it go, you know , the ones that the creators of this wonderful website detest. I truly confuse a hell of a lot of people at times because I can talk all about the super bowl, but I can also talk about my love for the bootleg 1977 Boston Pink Floyd concert that I have, and then I can go on about the history of the Florida Gators.
If you live your life full of hate, then people will hate you, and that is not good. Strive to be independent and positive. Being a sports fan is not bad, but being a heartless jock bully is.....
Mike
15 Feb 10
Subject: Yo, Mike
Good to see a fellow Pink Floyd fan here. Jock bullies indeed eat the yellow snow.
- Ted
18 Feb 10
Subject:
I am proud to say that I successfully avoided the football StuporBore a couple of weeks ago, and have seen not one solitary second of the winter olympiczzz drivel. Is it over yet? Do I care? A life delightfully free of sports effluvia is easy if you don't watch television and have some discernment when trawling the depths of the Internet.
Sports suck.
Two-Dog
19 Feb 10
Subject: My recent ban as "Hank" from the forums
So there I was just being Hank in the forums when all the sudden, I go to log in one day and it says, "PERMANENTLY BANNED". So I go to look at some of my old posts as a guest and it has me labeled as "SPAMMER". You are wrong. I am Bone Thugs N Harmony. I never spammed anything there. I was actually somewhat civil there and even supported some of the views that other members had about the idiocy of some sports. You make no progress in convincing people of your views if you try to eradicate them if they have a countering argument.
The internet is full of immaturity. I deal with it on an hourly basis, and in doing so, makes me stronger. Not in a physical sense that so many people from your forum are against. Rather in an intellectual or psychological sense. Isn't that what you guys preach? Mind power over physical power? What little harm you might have thought I gave to your online community was only what was posted there, which I don't find harmful myself.
Well it's your call. Let me back; don't let me back. Make my username pink; label me as "TROLL". Whatever. There is no physical bullying over the internet. The more restrictions you make to keep people with different views out of your forum, the greater the admission to being intellectually bullied becomes. To my logic, I wouldn't think that would set well in the minds of this forum's members.
Hank Hankula
25 Feb 10
Subject: I hate sports too.
I hate sports. Full stop, carriage return.
Last week in 'The Daily Telegraph' there was a letter from a doctor and he agreed with me. They didn't print my reply supporting his view, but I thought you might.
The Editor,
The Daily Telegraph.
Dear Sir,
I have followed the issue of compulsory games in schools with considerable interest and am entirely in agreement with the letter sent in by Dr. Austen-Baker.
School sport is the most divisive subject in the school timetable. If you're good at other subjects than sport, but bad at sport, you will be bullied. If you're good at sport but lousy at everything else, you are still looked up to, often by teachers and pupils alike.
The way sport is taught does not help, as the way it is taught is such that only way forward is to win at any cost, and if it means treading on your friends, cheating or whatever other means you choose to get there, it does not matter. Humiliation of the kids who are not sporty, also by sports teachers as well as pupils, is part of this and later on in life two things become apparent.
The win at any cost scenario is maintained and this could for example be linked to the banking crisis, as the 'I'm alright Jack' frame of mind they learned on the school playing field means that they continue to pay themselves large bonuses, and staff at sports clubs find they are constantly up against bad sports teaching in schools as many people will never go near a gymnasium or sports field again.
The unfit society now is linked directly to the school sports department. At the important tine when kids are finding out what they do and don't like, they are being turned off sport, for good.
By the 4th year of primary school, the kids who are good at sport and the kids that aren't are obvious. So, at secondary school, why not replace compulsory games with a sort of 'do what you're good at' type of lesson, where sport, the science of sport, photography, essay writing, maths, electronics.... a whole range of things are available, either inside or outside school.
The kids who like sport will do sport, the ones who don't will not go near the sports department again and school friends will steer those who can take or leave one way or the other. While we're about it schools, please don't make the entire school go and sit on the field or take part in sports day.
As for the discipline argument, if this is true then why do sportsman cheat and misbehave so much and why are our streets full of feral youths?
Yours Faithfully,
Steve Pendlebury
10 Mar 10
Subject: Hello, and a Song/Video for the Group
I thought you guys might be interested in this song I recently released:
"I Don't Like Sports"
The Scott Miller Three
Thanks!
Scott
30 Mar 10
Subject: Faking a Sportsgasm (the song)
Just wanted to let everyone know that I've posted a song parody that I've written on my blog. It's dedicated to all those sports nuts out there. If you're a sports un-enthusiast like me, I think you'll enjoy it. Take a listen.
Best,
Craig
25 Apr 10
Subject: much ado about nothing
The second coming of Jesus spectacle nature of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry has been turning me off for a long time now and the steroids and human growth hormone have finally put me over the edge and so I won't be watching any of the stuff this year. The world is burning and this stuff is held out as important and it costs 400 to 500 bucks for family of four to go to a Boston game. I remember those wonderful days when I payed $3.50 and the usher said, sure go ahead and sit behind the visitors dugout at Fenway Park. That seat is probably $250 now. I am sick to death of the hoopla and hype surrounding it all. I have all kinds of things to do around here and 3-4 hrs of baseball don't help. I have had it. We've got millions out of work, the glaciers and sea ice are melting like crazy, global heating is going badly and I'm supposed to give a shit about these multimillionaires who can hit a baseball. This is something I could do when I was about 8. I will enjoy my summer. I have watched nearly no NBA basketball (in actuality, probably about 15 mins all year), zero college bball (most of them don't graduate) and forget football. It causes players to have such brain damage that they suffer early dementia. Terrible. I vent, I vent and off the sports I go. I loved watching baseball and now I don't. There are a lot of things to do before I die. Sports: been there, done that.
Brian
29 Apr 10
Subject: Sports
Quite agree with the earlier poster about school games where those that are good at sports get an easy time and those that aren't, including me, tend to get picked on by pervy games teachers and school bullies. How come a lot of bullies seem to play rugby at school and how come a lot of rugby players seem to get done for violent offences, although some top flight footballers on huge wages seem to think they're above the law as well? Yet you never get a geek getting into bother in a nightclub or a group of geeks picking on other people like some rugby guys do. Similarly martial arts enthusiasts, whose skills are lethal in many cases, almost never seem to go along with the rugby herd and harass women in nightclubs and pick fights with smaller guys. Just some thoughts.
Glenn.
3 May 10
Subject: Sports suck! Thanks for a great site
This is the greatest website ever. I thought I was the only one so it’s very nice to see other like-minded people who are sick of having their nose rubbed in sports all the time. These are my top 5 sports pet peeves;
It didn’t used to be this bad when I was a kid. In the pre-cable days there were only six TV channels total. Sports were only on TV once or twice a week and only on one channel at a time. Now sports are on TV 24/7 and it has taken over the cable and internet airwaves. I recently itemized my cable TV lineup out of curiosity. There was one Science Channel, one History Channel, one Arts (A&E) Channel, one Comedy Channel, two old movie channels and two cooking channels. There were no less than 87 ESPN and sports related channels. Not to mention HBO, Pay Per View and others are not sports channels but do feature high profile sporting events. I’m sorry but that is ridiculous. Do people really need almost 100 sports channels in their line up?
Sports injure & kill kids, it’s not good for them. Go to any hospital emergency room on a weekend. You’ll see several kids between the ages of 6 and 17 with broken bones, fractures, concussions, bruises, cuts, etc. Some injuries are so bad the kids are crippled for life. Some die. Of course the parents think their little Johnny is a hero because he got hurt for the team. The same parents would have a complete meltdown if they caught their kid smoking a cigarette. How’s that for hypocrisy?
Sports fans assume everyone in the whole world shares their interest in sports. They have no concept of any person not having an interest in sports. They have a narrow minded, opinionated and distorted view of the world that unfortunately is becoming more widespread. When I tell them I really don’t follow sports and I honestly don’t have any idea who won the super bowl or whatever, they can’t believe it. They blink & stare at me as if what I just said is totally impossible. That kind of reaction is very insulting and offensive. It only shows how completely stupid and ignorant sports fans truly are. I don’t care if people have an interest in sports, that’s their right. At the same time, it’s my right to have no interest in it. I’m not a freak because I don’t follow sports but I’m treated as if I am.
Women sports fans. When I was a teenager, the girls I dated didn’t know a thing about sports. The very few girls in my high school who did have an interest in sports were the kind of girls who weren’t interested in boys, and it was obvious. The boys weren’t interested in them either. I never met a girl or a woman who had an interest in sports until the late 1990’s. It was then that I first began to notice women who would bring up sports or initiate a sports conversation. Before, only men would say things like, “How about those Dodgers?” Now, the women sports fans have become as bad as the men and they are equally obnoxious. Then there are the women who fake an interest in sports because they feel they have to. In order to fit into society, they feel they have to watch sports and follow the teams & game scores whether they like it or not. There are a lot of people, both men and women who feel that way and that’s sad. I also don’t understand the gender bending trend in advertising. We’ve all seen an attractive young girl posed with a football wearing full shoulder pads and a men’s jersey. Is that supposed to be sexy to men? Would it be sexy and attractive to women if a burly man was shown wearing a dress and high heels?
There is no escape from sports. No matter where you go or what you do, it’s everywhere. Sports flags & stickers on cars, people wearing sports clothing & team jerseys, it’s on the internet, the news, on TV, the newspapers, on the radio and it’s a constant topic of conversation among people everywhere. For those of us who really don’t have an interest, it’s a constant and unrelenting source of annoyance.
Thank you for having a great site!
JW
14 Jun 10
Subject: World Cup
What does the World Cup mean to you? And why is everyone in such a spazz about it? To me, it means one universal genital protector, that's all. And that's enough of a reason to celebrate. I raise a toast to the person who invented the crotch cup so that all male organs can be protected.
-Ted
16 Jun 10
Subject: From Australia
Hi All,
Well try being a male in Australia that cant name anyone in any of the national sports teams ( why the heck would I want to any way? ) and only get involved in following sports because my father follows a sports team. I did follow the winter olympics only because I love skiing. But I'm not competetive, and I cant stand the neanderthals who seem to inhabit the beer, urine & seemingly lobotomised world of sports mad people.......
And as an Australian ( "Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi ...") .......*cringe*.....
I just dont get it. Did I miss some DNA that provides the neanderthal gene? Would I stay up and watch the world cup? Hell no, thats what the record function on Fox is for ....
I find the sports world is shallow ( but well meaning) and there is NO WAY I could spend HOURS talking about shallow sports drivel in a pub or bar somewhere......there are way mopre interesting and meaningful thngs to do. I did Engineering at Uni and played sport ONLy so I could go skiing. I'm a team player ( I dont like to let people down ) but just dont get the sport thing.
Can maybe someone explain it to me?
I dont pathologically hate sports, I just dont get it....
Cheers
Z.
16 Jun 10
Subject: Mail
I unfortunately was born in Australia, and am still stuck here in this Sport loving hell hole. This moronic, mindless love of sport, makes me hate my country. You would not believe what we have to put up with here... in Australia, unlike in normal countries, our nightly TV news broadcasts actually dedicate a whole ten minutes to sports news, it is horrible. In other countries, as I've learned with travel and reading on the internet, there are two separate shows, TV news, and a separate show for sports news. Many times, very often, the TV news LEADS with sports stories and fills the first five minutes with whatever is considered the massive sports news story of the day, followed by ten minutes of real news about world events, and then back to ten minutes of everyday sports news and weather. It is horrible. I just hate it.
Australians don't care about global poverty and wars, injustice at home, politics, they just care about sports. If you are a man and you don't like sports, you are a social outcast. Every time a major sporting event is on, you cannot get a car park anywhere in the city.
Just to outline something I heard today, two days ago, the lousy and pathetic losing Australian world cup soccer team, embarrassingly named the 'socceroos', lost 4 nil to Germany, this game aired at 4 in the morning, yet 2 million Australians tuned in to watch it live on TV. There are 21 million Australians, only 10 million of which are young to middle aged adults, the rest are infants, children and the elderly. So essentially, 1 in 5 Australians got up at 4AM to watch this garbage. This is an example of how mindless Australians are.
When the Olympics is on, the country practically shuts down, and I'm talking about Olympics in China or Greece, but ten years ago, when the Olympics were in Australia, the country shut down for months. You could not turn on the TV all year without being bombarded with sports garbage.
Australia makes no good films, no good TV dramas, and it is all because these morons are too occupied with sports. I find it so horrible, I wish this was not the case, I wish I could be proud instead of ashamed of this country.
Every time you meet somebody new, they resort immediately to small talk about sports, I HATE having to fake caring about sports. Sport is for mindless morons, who even remembers the score from a sports game a few weeks later? Nobody. It is just a mindless thing to be interested in, there is so much more interesting things to spend your time on.
This is a good site, and I call on the site owner to start a challenge to find the least sports infected country in the world, because wherever it is, I want to move there.
Andy
18 Jun 10
Subject: Sports theory
I have a theory about sports.
Based on my observations of sports fans as well as non-sports people over the past 30 years, it’s obvious the sports fans are people of lower or severely limited intelligence or ability. Additionally, I believe sports are so prevalent, widespread and successful because they appeal to the lowest common denominator.
Public school testing has already established that people with an IQ of 120 and lower far outnumber the people with an IQ of 120 or higher. In other words, there are far more stupid people than smart people. This is why sports are so popular. Watching sports in person or on TV does not require any practice, effort or skill. There is no thinking involved in watching sports and remaining in a sitting position does not require any physical effort or movement. Being a sports fan is easy and it offers bright colors, flashing lights, loud noises, clapping, yelling and cheering. These are all things that people of very low intelligence respond to with fascination. Even apes, chimpanzees and other animal primates react positively to similar visual and auditory stimulation. Sports are no different from any other visual stimulation or tangible object that appeals to very low intellect people. Throughout history, things like repetitive songs or music, ridiculous fashion trends and worthless trinkets or toys have captivated the attention of millions of people. It’s like dangling a shiny object in front of a gorilla. The gorilla will abandon his food, his mate and his offspring to chase after the shiny object despite the fact that it is of no value to him (he can’t eat it or mate with it). This same logic, or lack of logic, applies to sports fans. The sports are of no value whatsoever yet it is a shiny object that they are unable to resist due to their low intelligence. Consequently, sports hold little or no interest in people with higher intelligence because they see the worthlessness and waste of time involved in being a fan. In other words, smart people simply have better or more productive things to do.
It is tragic and sad indeed that the people of the world with lowest intellect rule the world simply because of their numbers. The world will never change for the better or improve in any way because the billions of ignorant people prevent it and the more intelligent people can’t force them to change.
JW
18 Jun 10
Subject: Re: Sports theory
I agree about the moronic masses spoiling it for the rest of us. A good movie describing that very effect is Idiocracy. In short, because stupid people don't practice birth control while thinking people do, eventually the world is over populated with dim wits. It's a must see!
Ray
25 Jun 10
Subject: Finally!
Hello. I am a highschooler who will become a sophomore next year. Me and my friends have always been opposed to people like "jocks" and sports. I,though, have been given a fit body, making me a target for invitations to join the football team from the coach. Now i always say no, but he always says i will go. I DO play some sports, but only "skill" sports like archery and fencing. But it is good to know that there are other people who have not fallen under this useless idea that sports are the best thing scince sliced bread.
Thanks for existing,
CH
26 Jun 10
Subject: Sports vs. Video Games
I am a total Nerd. I love video games but hate sports. Thankfully God has gifted me with three weird friends and we can all agree sports suck. We have facts that prove that video games are far better. For one sports offer little or no creativity whatsoever unlike some video games (like Spore or Garry’s Mod). Another thing is video games spark the imagination. They immerse you in many amazing and creative worlds while football only shows how much ours suck. Making video games also requires a lot of skills in math and science which are both much more valuable than physical fitness. Puzzle solving games like Portal encourage use of the brain and require intelligence. Another thing it is understandable to get excited and yell if a character you are controlling gets killed or something but it makes no sense to get all angry and yell over what someone else is doing! Besides the smart and intelligent people are the ones who invent and make things and thus deserve attention and yet the dumb jock, gangsta, and celebrity consumers get all the attention! Why? Some people would argue that video games get people addicted and make them into immature addicts. DUH! This world is all about sports not video games! They are afraid of getting beat up or made fun of and hide in the video game world where that usually doesn’t happen! They wouldn’t be so afraid to get out there and be nerds if the world wasn’t so hostile to them! I thus prove that video games are better using facts and I could probably come up with more but I want this letter to be heard as soon as possible.
David
26 Jun 10
Subject: I'm listening to my neighbor drill his son about his football plays
He was practicing some drills w/ his son, his son supposedly did something wrong, his dad is like "you do that in the NFL your ass is out, I don't want to see that shit again". Is it really that serious? Damn, it's like that's what football brings out of you? The need to cuss at your off spring for a wrong move? I've just come to the conclusion that I'm just not interested in it, and after listening to my neighbor today, I say they can keep it. And when is this soccer shit going to end?
Why don't swimmers get any love? That's a sport and it's far more enjoyable IMO.
Joel
1 Aug 10
Subject: Sports suck
Used to be a very casual sports fan ( except for football...US....which I always hated ) in my preteen/early teen years but now I have grown to hate all of it. Took about a dozen years to get to where I am now. I have to endure sports hater's hell at work. Lunkheads blathering on and on about not even a particular game, just BS politcs and minutia involving players, coaches etc. Not just talk...you really oughtta hear them; a tone and urgency to their voices like they were discussing shit that really matters. They go right to the sports section and ignore the rest of the newspaper and seem revel in their own ignorance. Real "bread and circuses" types if ever their were. The breakroom TV nearly always tuned to some 24/7 sports channel ( and LOUD! ) and from what I've noticed it sure seems like the seasons are longer than they were in decades past...no doubt deliberately in order to fill the airtime demanded by a 24/7 operation and need to hawk more crummy watery 'Lite" beer and fast food. Even then, in the very short pre/post-season void of a particular sport, they have to fill it with talk and speculation regarding said sport. Nobody is/was a soccer fan ( other than one who travels abroad often to watch games ) until this world cup thing hit. Hell on steroids. Rapid fire blah blah blah, with horns to boot. Even the less vocal and fanatic fans began to be glued to the TV. I asked one ( who is generally intelligent and well-read ) why all the sudden interest. "I didn't know you were a soccer fan" I said. He started to answer, paused, stammered, then just snapped "Sports fan!" in an annoyed tone. "So you don't like the game, as such, but like it because it's a sport?" More annoyed tone "It's really big right now". I replied: "I see. You like it because it's on TV and everybody's talking about it". Others heard the exchange, and one asks me why I don't "get on board" and support my country's team. Great. "Bread and circuses" wrapped in a flag.
Enough of the rant for now. Maybe more later.
~S~
5 Sep 10
Subject: Ugh, football season
Damn it it's football season, get ready for these idiots screaming at the television.
Joel
13 Sep 10
Subject: oh the humanity
I love this site. I knew about it for a year and found it doing a google search for "sports suck". LOL As a kid, I never understood what the big deal about sports was. Especially Pro Sports. I mean why is it that people who are paid millions of dollars just to throw or kick a ball around?Doesn't our military,firefighters, and policeman deserve more. I mean they put their life on the line for us everyday! They stare death in the face everyday saving people. They should be getting paid millions a year, not athletes. What do athletes do? They're for mindless entertainment. They are big celebrities that don't help make the world a better place or pass on new knowledge and discoveries for our future generations.
Why was it that my brother and parents would shout at the TV like the world depended on it! If your team wins why celebrate, you did nothing to support their victory. If they lose, you just get angry and it makes your life more horrible and depressing. You blame the players, coach, owner, etc for the loss, dont even bother its not your fault so get over it. I (GASP) used to be a sports fan,but I slowly I knew this was pointless watching pro sports. I starting questioning why people do this. At high school all I could hear the guys say is" how bout them dawgs" or about how "whats his face scored three touchdowns in a game". Who gives a damn. I rather hear Jimmie Fred saved three people's lives from a burning house, things like that deserve more to mention. Plus what's the point watching each season, you're team plays and wins the championship, oops well you gotta do it again next year. It gets redundant.
Another thing that bugs me is people say the players love the team, well if they really love the team why do they go with another team they played years for and go with another just because of a larger salary. If they really were for the fans they would stay. TO this day I have seen no athletes stay with the lesser paid team, even if they won the championship!
I can't support athletes, I can support elementary, middle, and high school teachers, after all,they have to deal with annoying, bratty children all day. I honestly dont know how they put up with it. Put them in a class room with 60 students that have family, emotional, and learning problems and deal with them for nine months. I bet you most of them couldn't handle 1 hour! School is for training kids to become responsible and pronductive members of society, not to make athletes. I am thankful that at the school I went to that pep rallies THE SCHOOL ROBOTICS TEAM would be honored, it was awesome getting cheers for having our robot go on stage and assemble a model plane in less than 60 seconds. It .was mainly for the athletes, but the geeks got attention too. You know what they say, a wins a win
Bottom line is,I am glad I freed myself from this nonsense and am happy I am not alone. Cheers for this great site and I hope it continues to survive and thrive.
lol I can rhyme anytime.
Sincerely,
Fred
22 Sep 10
Subject:
Sorry about the last message, I hit the wrong button. I just wanted to say that I have only discovered this site 15 min ago and I love it! I am an 8th grader and I am being forced to play football, vollyball, basketball, soccer, baseball, and all have one thing in common, they are sports and I HATE sports with every ounce of blood pumping through my veins. I HATE sports with every fiber of my being. All sports have gotten me are hurt feelings, bullies, a concusion, broken bones, 5 back eyes on my right eye one right after the last was starting to heal, and friends who say it's MY fault when THEY threw the football that hit me in the head 3 times because I couldn't catch, and even worse, they are rubbing it in my face that they can and they think I want to but can't, but really it's because I don't want to and have no interest in learning how, and that's how sports made the first 13 years of life for me look so much like $&@! That suicide really looked painless, but I won't do that, to extreme.
Harry
27 Sep 10
Subject: Sports in totalitarian nations
I don’t typically spend much time watching TV but I did happen to see something interesting recently. It was about sports in Nazi Germany. Nazi propaganda produced a government funded film called “Triumph of the Will” in 1936 which included footage from the 1936 summer Olympics held in Germany that year. I slowly began to realize that “Triumph of the Will” was actually the first sports related media extravaganza. Prior to this, sporting events were reported only as wins, losses and final scores with maybe a highlight or two. These were announced on the radio and also featured in newsreels shown in movie theaters and were usually kept under one minute. “Triumph of the Will” was a 2 hour film focusing on sports and glorifying athletes as well as glorifying Hitler and the Nazis. We don’t have to look too deeply to notice that all totalitarian governments stress and glorify sports. Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, China, they all shoved sports down their people’s throats to take their minds off of how miserable their lives truly were. It’s a diversion and it’s no accident. The government of any country would like nothing better than for people to forget all about political problems, unemployment, corruption, etc., so here’s a note to all the sports fans out there; go watch that ball game and stop thinking for yourself.
JW
17 Oct 10
Subject: Sports fans
Hello again Sportssuck.org. Man I cannot express how blessed I am to have found this website. Thanks for making feel like I am not an alien. But I am confused. Most of the people on the website have been bullied or mocked by sports lovers. But my school is obsessed with sports and everyone loves and respects me. What’s up with that? And I am not sure how to react to sports lovers. Everyday I have to go to supermarkets, school, television, newspapers, and all such and endure torture. I can’t even go to church without hearing crap about sports. My own church where I go for comfort and spiritual help has aligned with the enemy. I once wrote how much I hate Lady Gaga on YouTube(no offense if u like her) and I got a response that told me shut up and called me an a**. Perhaps that was rude of me, but I really hate normal stuff including sports. It’s just how I feel. I will say I dislike sports, but should I go as far as to say I loathe them and explain how unnecessary they are? Should I show my anger and hatred towards them? I don’t want to be rude, but I want to the world to know how I feel and why. How far is too far?
David
18 Oct 10
Subject: Sports fans
David,
Although there is a vocal group of members who have been bullied, many of us have not and just hate sports because of the mindless devotion it encourages. I was never bullied but even so, I thought PE was the worst idea ever. I don't have strong feelings either way about Lady Gaga but she is an excellent example of how people are sheep willing to devote themselves to the latest televised fad. I never heard of her --or barely heard of her --and all of a sudden she's famous. I think she is more the product of relentless promotion (as was done for other made-up-for-business-bands such as the Backstreet Boys) than talent. But I don't really know.
How far should you go? I'd say just standing up and quietly admitting you don't watch sports is enough. You won't believe how much controversy that one simple statement will generate. One warning though: the sports addicts will work like overzealous missionaries to convert you.
Ray
20 Oct 10
Subject: God this is boring
Why the hell do I have to even try and sell out to obsessives who will sit and discuss football( English variety) just to keep the peace? I know feigning an interest is a way of trying to be sociable, but I really find it dull and my limited knowledge of this catches me out. FFS my brother wants me to spend £ 100 on a day out to be bored rigid in a freezing stadium just to be "sociable" when I'd rather be at home in the warmth on the internet.
I have no gripe with exercise and fitness, but not the way football is shoved down your throat 24/7 and everyone is expected to conform to this or face ridicule from the fans, who seem often to have few interests in life beyond Sky Sports. Tonight there are two big games and I don't even care and won't pretend to fake interest.
An English fan of this site.
23 Oct 10
Subject: Another greedy sportsman
In England some braindead money obsessed footballer called Wayne Rooney( don't know if you've heard of him in America) had a hissy fit this week because he claimed his wages of £ 100,000 a week were too low. Threatening to walk and calling his team unambitious, this greedy jerk noted for his like of high priced prostitutes and anti social attitude finally settled for a record breaking salary of £ 250,000 a week. Hell, he's not even that good and tends to stand about a lot on the pitch when he's bored.
Meanwhile England has suffered an emergency budget this week due to the economic crisis that will see cuts of £ 81 billion and this idiot Rooney is totally oblivious to it, claiming £ 100,000 a week is too little to live on, while people with life saving skills like nurses and firemen have to survive on less than £ 30,000 a year. Not quite sport related, but another money obsessed berk famous in America for American Idol and over here for the X Factor ( similar concept and equally crap), Simon Cowell, has recently been offered £ 40 million a year to keep the X Factor going for another three seasons. This is on top of the £ 50 million he makes from his American co productions and another talent show. Like Rooney, Cowell is another individual who, if he quit his profession tomorrow and cancelled his shows, would not have advanced civilisationn or music one iota. Football and reality television, huh, definitely the opium of the masses.
Glenn, definitely not on £ 250,000 a week.
24 Oct 10
Subject: Awesome website.
I enjoyed reading the letters on your website and knowing that there are other like-minded people who don't obsess over some men getting paid millions of dollars to kick around a ball of leather on a field.
People at my work constantly have inane conversations about sports, and drag me into it for some reason, even though I've made it clear many times that I don't like sports. Sometimes I ask them why they care so much about the Superbowl or the World Cup or whatever, and their response is usually something like "well, because some of us have LIVES, unlike you!"
I run, swim, lift weights, shoot guns, play an instrument, cook, mix drinks, enjoy reading about several historical subjects, and hang out with friends regularly. With that in mind, I just find it odd that I am being told that I have "no life" by people who, as far as I can tell, do nothing but sit in front of the TV watching other people play a game.
Great website; keep it up. Other uninfected people need to hear the news that they are not alone.
- Akira Konya
24 Oct 10
Subject: It is everywhere!!!!
I have always hated sports on television, I played baseball as a kid and loved it, I'd cheer my kids on if they ever wanted to play, assuming I have kids eventually, but just the sound of the loud, obnoxious, sports announcers makes my skin crawl.
I have been able to avoid it for most of my life, I would never attend any event whatsoever if I knew football/basketball/baseball/soccer or any other sport was the main or any part of the event. Even if the TV is on mute, I can feel my blood pressure rise by the second.
Football is the worst. How can a box with colors and sounds turn men, and now women into such assholes? colors and sounds, it will never cease to amaze me, colors and sounds can make a person completely ingore another person. It is appalling. The fact that now women are becoming just as obnoxious as men are about it makes me lose faith in humanity in a way that I thought I never would. I think we lost it when we tried to do everything a man does, Not all men of course, the men here who hate sports are truly heros to me.
I married a man who likes sports. I love him to death, but I think we have fought about sports more than anything else in our marriage, today in fact, which is how I found this site. I find it so difficult to respect any man or woman who can get so upset when a man swings a stick and nothing happens. (I went to my brother in-law's b-day party last night, and of course did not know there was a huge game that night, which I was made to watch, and after the game was over, This pathetic group of people continued to watch as other people talked about it?! What the hell!!!) Oh but I cannot play a game on my phone while the game is going on, that is rude, not engaging. WTF can someone feel my pain?!!!
By the way, I was nice about it, joking with them about how lame it it was, that they were so into it, friendly bantering back and forth to try and get through it. Because other than their love of sports, they are a nice family. That must be said. They are good people. At least until the box of colors lights up.
I told my husband, I would rather not have kids at all than to raise kids who grow up to be sports fans, and I mean it, am I crazy? He looks at me like I am some sort of lunatic for holding that view. He left for work angry. The thought of my own children, something that came from me, yelling because a round object was dropped, or having such a strong emotional attachment to a group of people they don't know makes me sick. I would hope I could raise children to have strong emotional responses to important things, like slavery, prostitution, injustice.
But this is something he wants to "share" with me and our children.
HELP
RG
24 Oct 10
Subject: Every Fucking Day
I work with lawyers, and they ask the same things day in and day out -- dja see the game last night? How about them Yams? What was the score? Who traded who? Unfortunately, since I have to remain professional, I say no, I didn't see it and offer a polite smile.
Tonight was different, though. I was off the clock in line at the supermarket, and this twerp in front of me turned to me and said, How about them Eagles.
I said I don't follow that shit.
How about baseball?
No.
Basketball?
No.
Soccer?
No.
Anything, he said, giving me a look as if I might be a member of a religious cult.
I watch Animal Planet, I said.
Then he took two steps away from me and restarted his sports bore conversation with the cashier and left the store. I was so grateful. But that wasn't the only sports related thing that happened this weekend.
Saturday I walked into my favorite bookstore to look upon a life-size poster of late basketball star Wilt Chamberlain. To the right of the poster sat an elderly gentleman selling copies of his book, I Was Wilt Chamberlain's High School Coach. He wasn't doing too well. Maybe one person an hour asked him about his b-ball days with Wilt the Stilt. So here he was, desperately trying to make a buck from a basketball star whose fame died out in the mid-70s. The author motioned me over, wanting to tell me his dull, overembellished stories, and I brushed him off.
I'd rather be sipping a pumpkin latte and reading Rue Morgue, I said.
-Ted
12 Nov 10
Subject: a day in my life
Every Guy: "hey did you catch the game last night?"
me: "I don't have cable."
EG: "get one of those digital antennas, pretty cheap."
me: "I don't own a television"...(not really)
EG: "well you don't go to a friends to watch sports?"
me: "I don't have friends"
EG: "well let me spill the statistics of every player ever to you now so you can get caught up"
me: "No habla ingles"
EG: "Michael jordan fue el más grande jugador que nunca vivieron"
D
17 Nov 10
Subject: Sports Suck
Just some dialogue I had with somebody:
He said: guess what I just saw on TV!
What? I asked, genuinely interested since I had no idea and the excited tone he used.
He says So-and-So ( I don't remember the name ) just got a triple play ( or 3 time....something to do with 3 anyway ) play. There hasn't been one in years!
Triple? I asked. Baseball? No no no, fottball! He then enthusiastically babbles about it describing it.
I paused....respond deadpan "And this would mean WHAT to me?"
Blurts out, nearly bug eyed. "It's a rare play that almost never happans"
"But you know I am not a sports fan at all, let alone football" ( My own note: In my preteen/early teen years I was a baseball and hockey fan...but casual )
"Yeah yeah I know but..........." Proceeds to babble on exitedly describing the play again.
"Why would that interest me. I mean, If I don't give a shit about sports...a detail or sub detail about it would interest me even less, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah but........." Proceeds in the stepford sportsfan babble mode again, detailing the play.
Getting annoyed. As much bored as irritated in his absolute inability to "read" people or see my logic. I went on a tirade. "I don't care about sports. At all. Pro, college or whatever else. I don't care about the players, what they say or what they did in game or out. I don't care about the coaches, what they say or do. I don't care about the politics of rules changes" "I don't care about what city they play for, even if it's my childhood home town, and you know as well as anybody it's all just marketing bullshit and most players don't even LIVE there, let alone born and raised there...so don't ask me to care about building a new stadium to attract a team or keep this one...and don't ask ME to pay for it" "The only interest I'll conceed to is, if someone wants to follow that path and make it big, they'll get all of a 'I wish you well' from me". "You don't hear me babble on about old cars and engines to you, because I know you don't care, and I don't want to bore you or anybody else that doesn't care". "Drop it, Okay?"
"Yeah but.................."
Sigh.
This is the level of thinking I have to deal with on the job and off.........
~S~
21 Nov 10
Subject: sports suck
Hi, after looking at your sports suck site, it is clear that you's are the saddest group of people I have ever heard of.
Me and my dad go and see our favourite football team every week, with thousands of other football fans.
Football brings a lot of people together, international football brings whole countries together. In the 2010 world cup it got the whole continent of Africa together.
It brings a lot of money into communities and helps charities for the less fortunate. It can be vital in schools as it encourages young kids to keep healthy. It helps kids develop socially by coming in on a Monday morning to talk about their team which stays with them when they grow older and going down the pub to talk about football.
And the point of football being on the television too much is rubbish. There's plenty of other channels on sky and even with digital, if you don't like it just turn over to something else.
So why are you trying to ruin it for the majority. I can understand people not interested in it but trying to ban it because it's simply an inconvenience is ludicrous. I know the money that goes to the players is over the top but it means a lot to a lot of people. If it makes so many people happy then why is it so terrible? Stop wasting your time trying to bring down sport and do something useful.
Yours sincerely
Euan Carlton
28 Nov 10
Subject: sports song
Hi,
I'm 17, and I'm so glad I found your website. It's so true and I'm in agreement with almost everything you guys say on there.
There is a song called "We Like Sportz" by the "Lonely Island" which makes a mockery of sports. I suggest maybe putting it on your website. The youtube link for it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEVdca9U9LM
Anyways, thanks again for your website.
Your biggest "fan,"
Mike Shaw
Chicago, IL
28 Nov 10
Subject: sports suck
if i didn't know better, i swear that it was me that wrote the introduction on your home page. i did not know there were any like minded indviduals such as yourselves.
there is nothing worse than sports in this world, except for one thing. that is people talking about sports. i hate it above measure.
thank you for making my day. keep up the good work...
lewis chappel
3 Dec 10
Subject: No Peace In The Bathroom, Either
When I go to a public restroom, I look forward to people in that tiled, dingy, crackling fluorescent space ignoring each other as they do their business. Silence is optimal, and even the occasional plops, tinkling, farts, grunts and belches are inoffensive. If there is no graffiti to read, I am disappointed.
Today I had instant, unwelcome company. A guy was talking into his cellphone in the stall next to me. If that wasn't annoying enough, it was a casual, sports-based conversation. To me, this was more off-putting than the sounds of vomiting, so I went on the offense. I decided to drown him out.
"Well, Tom Crotchworth was down in the enzone, but he made up for it with a stunning catch"
FAAAAAAAAART!!
"that put him yards ahead of his teammate, the inferior Bob Buttmungus. But I think his yardage"
RAAAAUUUULLGHHHHHHAAAA!!
"He's all around more seasoned than most because he played with the Oafs during their championship year back in '04"
UUUGAAAAAHRLPHFLAGGAAAAAAH!!
"Where am I at? Oh, I'm in a restroom"
(Good. I made him admit to his friend that he talks on his cellphone in the men's room.)
HOWAZZZZZAGHLABGRRRRRRAAAGLL!!!
"Can I call you back"
And to sum up the character of the bathroom sports-bore chatterer, I bellowed this word upon leaving so his friend on the other end could clearly hear:
D O U C H E!!!!
- Ted
10 Dec 10
Subject: Sports addiction - wanting to recover
Hello everyone!
I just discovered your site about one week about ago, and have been devouring every morsel on it since!
I read a book about ten years ago called "Not Now, Honey, I'm Watching the Game" by Kevin Quirk, about recovering from "sports addiction." After reading that book, I cut down on (but didn't eliminate) televised sports. Upon meeting my now-wife nine years ago, I cut back even further, as there were more things to do with her, and she wasn't all that interested in sports (she would/will tune in for the occasional "big game" such as OSU-Michigan, the Super Bowl, World Series, etc., but she usually gets bored with it after a short time and finds something else to do).
However, at a job I took soon after I moved in with my wife, all the guys I worked with seemed to be sports-crazy. We live in Cleveland, so it was talk about the Indians, Browns, and Cavaliers seemingly nonstop ("didja see that Cavs game last night?" "Gonna watch the Browns kick the Steelers butts this Sunday?") They were constantly obsessing over what the players were doing, what the coaches/managers were doing wrong and why they should be fired, which guy "we" should draft or trade for, etc. When I'd respond that I didn't see the game, or that I watched something else or did something with my wife instead, I was made fun of and told that if I were a real man, I'd be watching the games and just tell my wife that was how it was going to be.
So to fit in, I started watching almost every game for the local teams, as well as playoffs. This took up a considerable amount of time, and weakened my marriage as I was always retiring to another room to watch a sports game instead of spending time with my wife. I no longer work for this company, as they closed the local office last year, but the addiction to sports I had developed continued. I've found the games often aren't very interesting (most of them are mind-numbingly similar -- the same plays, same strategies over and over again, the "rivalries" are repeated so often they become stale, etc.) I also realize that in the time I spend watching sports, I could be focusing on my wife, developing new skills and looking at new career opportunities, and engaging in stimulating hobbies (I enjoy birding and hiking as outdoor activities, as well as coin collecting and model railroading for the not-so-great weather times).
This past year, I became very disenchanted by the LeBron James situation and how it was covered in the local media. When James announced he was leaving Cleveland, all the local TV stations broke into regular programming to cover the story (as if it were a presidential assassination or terrorist attack) and the next day, an entire hour's newscast was devoted to "The Traitor leaving Cleveland and betraying his fans and his city." Um, when did he ever *care* about the fans or the city, other than how they could make money for him? And since when did an overpaid, self-promoting jerk leaving town qualify as a tragedy that required countless hours of news coverage? It was all so inane.
So, in summary, I think it's time to break my personal sports addiction. My question is, are there any members/readers who were one-time sports junkies and kicked the habit? Is it best to go "cold turkey" with cutting out TV sports, or just do it a little at a time? What kinds of activities did you use to fill the void left by sports fandom?
I'm interested in any and all opinions!
-Chris
14 Dec 10
Subject: Chris’ letter
If you really want to break this shameful habit, my advice is to stalk it like prey. Learn its habits, its quirks, its vulnerabilities and then lie in wait for it and KILL IT!
It might help to keep a notebook and take notes as you observe your opponent.
Good luck,
Ray
16 Dec 10
Subject: Recovery from sports addiction, responses
I wish I could be of more help but I think that only someone who has experienced this particular type of illness can really give you useful advice. But even so, I'll give it a try. I think it's a step in the right direction that you have identified the times when you're most susceptible. And substituting activities is just what I would have suggested. But, even though I personally get a headache from just hearing the background noise in sports broadcasts, I have to ask: is it really addiction if it doesn't interfere with any other areas in your life? If you only resort to this secret vice when your wife is not around and for entertainment, what's the harm? If, on the other hand, you associate watching sports with belonging, or some sort of required license in order to be one of the guys, then that is a misunderstanding that should be addressed.
Sports are not required viewing. Most people don't watch sports. You can be one of the guys even if you didn't watch "the game" or know who won. Sports are a social crutch for a lot of people. If you really want to break this bad habit, you have to start viewing it as such: People who walk into a room and change the channel to a sports broadcast and turn it up full blast without asking anyone and justifying their actions with "HEY THE GAMES ON WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU GUYS" are jerks. People who dedicate their conversations to sports and other men's activities are weak (despite outward appearances), ignorant, and shallow. You know how people tolerate the unpleasant smell that smokers drag around with them? That's how people view sports fans: unpleasant, obnoxious buffoons. We politely ignore their offensive behavior in the interest of peace which is more than we can say for the sports fan. I'm sure you don't want to be offensive --you sound like a nice guy --so try to cut back on your viewing. And never bother people by watching sports when other people are around --they hate it! Only watch in secret. And most importantly of all, don't get young people started with this hard-to-break habit. Because some people can't break the habit and are addicted for life!
Hope this helps,
Ray
P.S. The kind of guy who ridicules you for not watching the game, not knowing the score, or not know lebron's panty size have self-identified themselves as giant horse's asses. The next time an overweight, immature horse's ass criticizes you for not watching the game "like a real man", take comfort in the fact that you are not that socially handicapped. Tune out their words and imagine them with a horse's ass on their shoulders -the way the Water Boy imagines his opponents as something he doesn't like -this one's for Captain Insano! :)
