The point I want to emphasize is that the traditional mandatory P.E. of my generation (which, by the way, is still around in many school districts today) did not address the physical fitness needs of nonathletic kids. Playing an athletic game may be an enjoyable way for some to keep active physically and stay in shape; but the fact still remains that a sport is a physical contest, not an exercise program. In order to succeed as a participant in a sport, a certain level of physical fitness is a given; and certain skills (such as knowing how to throw… Read more »
Sports matter to those who love them. There’s no debating personal preferences. She likes chocolate, but he likes Neapolitan. Who says which is the best flavor? To each his own … but, unfortunately, this is not the attitude of some people when it comes to sports. I’m now 61 years old. (Yes, my name in person is Bill.) I never had the slightest interest in any sport; but I have always respected the dedication and self-discipline that is involved in becoming proficient in a sport, just as I’ve also respected concert pianists (although I’d never be interested in going to… Read more »
I’m not convinced that people concerned about the trend of obese kids, increasingly sedentary lifestyles among youth, and things like juvenille diabetes would agree that gym class (P.E.) should be optional. They may feel that the good outweighs the bad. However, an similar argument can be made that classes such as Art and Music, which are also mandatory, should be optional. How many people really benefit by being forced into those classes beyond the 3rd or 4th grade? If kids want to do art or play an instrument, let them; but why kids to waste their time in those classes… Read more »
Guest
Jameseq
12 years ago
watching sports now plays a minor role in my life, i only watch the big games. i used to love watching football(soccer) and rugby union, but over the last 20yrs the skill level of both games has markedly decreased (the lost art of close control ball dribblers in footie, or twinkled toed backs in rugby union) and the emphasis on athletic physicality has increased, to the detriment of skill. i never really watched cricket, it’s a bit long. olympic sports ,winter and summer, i mostly watch during those times. of the sports i used to watch, only men’s tennis equals… Read more »
I was never a sporty person, I sailed a bit and played rugby for a while but I just didn’t get the idea of running around a field after and kicking balls (it probably didn’t help that I was very very bad at both). Then I started playing jugger. Its a really oddball game from an Australian film written by David Webb Peoples (blade runner, 12 monkeys). Stars Rudger Hauer too. Its the bee’s knees 🙂 Lots of running around, hitting people with things, I’m so busy fun I don’t realise I’m excercising. Plus the company is great, its a… Read more »
Also its the reason I go to Germany once a year, I owe alot to the dogskull.
Guest
Archy
12 years ago
Sports was fun, but when my local culture celebrated it above academic or scientific achievement, started calling them heroes, etc it felt a bit over-done. I dislike watching most sports, just bores me, but I can see it’s entertainment value. I prefer to play them though.
Guest
Eric M.
12 years ago
I loved playing basketball, football, baseball, and skiing growing up. The older I get the more I watch and less I play but still love sports. It’s the entertainment I enjoy the most.
Is sports important? Of course not. Neither are TV shows, movies, plays, or any other form of entertainment. In reality, the list of imporant things is very short. But, I do enjoy watching sports.
Would LOVE to see a Manning vs. Manning Super Bowl.
Ice hockey accounts for ~70% of my social life, if not more — playing, not watching, though I enjoy watching if my favorite team is in contention. As for playing, I’m a full-time dad with a not-very active social life or wide circle of friends, so hockey is my most consistent get-out-of-the-house activity, and one of the few that’s just for me. I play on a beer league team that loses a lot more than we win, but it’s a fun group of guys. I also play once or twice a week in casual pick-up games that are usually all… Read more »
I rooted for the teams my kids were playing on. I can’t get interested in sports in which I did not participate. Three very obscure sports, lax, judo, fencing. Lax has come along, but is pretty much non-existent on television except for the NCAA finals. The other two…. For the rest…rather nap. As Seinfeld is said to have said, ultimately, you’re rooting for laundry. Was at a wedding reception a couple of years ago. The Detroit Lions had a QB at the time who was known, for some reason, as “Joey”. Standing in line at the bar. Some moron two… Read more »
Guest
assman
12 years ago
I never used to like sports. Then I watched the anime Slam Dunk and I understood why competitive sports are important. I recommend it.
I’ve always felt like I might one day have to renounce my American citizenship due to my general inability to watch team sports on TV for 5-10 hours a week like so many of my male (and female) friends. Sure, I’ll catch the Super Bowl, or the NBA Finals, or maybe the World Series (if the Sox are playing), but other than that, I take a pass. I don’t have a Fantasy Football League, I don’t “work up a bracket” for March Madness, none of that. And I half feel like my friends might disown me for not sharing their… Read more »
By that measure, I waste a good amount of time watching my favorite TV shows like Walking Dead, Happy Endings… and my favorite terrible shows like the new 90210 and Real Housewives of All Sorts of Horrible Places…
I ignore sports coverage. I don’t care what professional athletes do, on or off the field: I just don’t have any interest. You may as well tell me what television executives, orthodontists, or Catholic cardinals do for work and play. I’ll read what other amateur enthusiasts do to challenge themselves, when I’m throwing myself into some new sport, but I want literary quality, not news.
Joanna, you obviously don’t drink enough beer; that’s clearly a Bud bottle.
Speaking of the King of Beers, the first time I tried beer was at one of my father’s Sunday softball games. I couldn’t have been more than six years old. Even now, whenever I have an icy cold Bud on a hot, sunny day, I think of that ball field.
As for me, and I know I’m not a guy, but I’ve always preferred playing sports to watching them. I will always take you up on an offer for great seats at a Laker’s game, but I might skip the Dodgers… Would depend on the weather. But I’d always take you up for a game of softball or basketball.
I was always confused, myself, about the stereotype that all men must be into sports by definition. I certainly never was. With age, I’ve learned to enjoy watching some sports–the rhythmic poetry of baseball, the fast-paced grace of basketball, the elegant simplicity of soccer–but it’s not something I go out of my way to do.
The point I want to emphasize is that the traditional mandatory P.E. of my generation (which, by the way, is still around in many school districts today) did not address the physical fitness needs of nonathletic kids. Playing an athletic game may be an enjoyable way for some to keep active physically and stay in shape; but the fact still remains that a sport is a physical contest, not an exercise program. In order to succeed as a participant in a sport, a certain level of physical fitness is a given; and certain skills (such as knowing how to throw… Read more »
Sports matter to those who love them. There’s no debating personal preferences. She likes chocolate, but he likes Neapolitan. Who says which is the best flavor? To each his own … but, unfortunately, this is not the attitude of some people when it comes to sports. I’m now 61 years old. (Yes, my name in person is Bill.) I never had the slightest interest in any sport; but I have always respected the dedication and self-discipline that is involved in becoming proficient in a sport, just as I’ve also respected concert pianists (although I’d never be interested in going to… Read more »
I’m not convinced that people concerned about the trend of obese kids, increasingly sedentary lifestyles among youth, and things like juvenille diabetes would agree that gym class (P.E.) should be optional. They may feel that the good outweighs the bad. However, an similar argument can be made that classes such as Art and Music, which are also mandatory, should be optional. How many people really benefit by being forced into those classes beyond the 3rd or 4th grade? If kids want to do art or play an instrument, let them; but why kids to waste their time in those classes… Read more »
watching sports now plays a minor role in my life, i only watch the big games. i used to love watching football(soccer) and rugby union, but over the last 20yrs the skill level of both games has markedly decreased (the lost art of close control ball dribblers in footie, or twinkled toed backs in rugby union) and the emphasis on athletic physicality has increased, to the detriment of skill. i never really watched cricket, it’s a bit long. olympic sports ,winter and summer, i mostly watch during those times. of the sports i used to watch, only men’s tennis equals… Read more »
I was never a sporty person, I sailed a bit and played rugby for a while but I just didn’t get the idea of running around a field after and kicking balls (it probably didn’t help that I was very very bad at both). Then I started playing jugger. Its a really oddball game from an Australian film written by David Webb Peoples (blade runner, 12 monkeys). Stars Rudger Hauer too. Its the bee’s knees 🙂 Lots of running around, hitting people with things, I’m so busy fun I don’t realise I’m excercising. Plus the company is great, its a… Read more »
Also its the reason I go to Germany once a year, I owe alot to the dogskull.
Sports was fun, but when my local culture celebrated it above academic or scientific achievement, started calling them heroes, etc it felt a bit over-done. I dislike watching most sports, just bores me, but I can see it’s entertainment value. I prefer to play them though.
I loved playing basketball, football, baseball, and skiing growing up. The older I get the more I watch and less I play but still love sports. It’s the entertainment I enjoy the most.
Is sports important? Of course not. Neither are TV shows, movies, plays, or any other form of entertainment. In reality, the list of imporant things is very short. But, I do enjoy watching sports.
Would LOVE to see a Manning vs. Manning Super Bowl.
Ice hockey accounts for ~70% of my social life, if not more — playing, not watching, though I enjoy watching if my favorite team is in contention. As for playing, I’m a full-time dad with a not-very active social life or wide circle of friends, so hockey is my most consistent get-out-of-the-house activity, and one of the few that’s just for me. I play on a beer league team that loses a lot more than we win, but it’s a fun group of guys. I also play once or twice a week in casual pick-up games that are usually all… Read more »
I rooted for the teams my kids were playing on. I can’t get interested in sports in which I did not participate. Three very obscure sports, lax, judo, fencing. Lax has come along, but is pretty much non-existent on television except for the NCAA finals. The other two…. For the rest…rather nap. As Seinfeld is said to have said, ultimately, you’re rooting for laundry. Was at a wedding reception a couple of years ago. The Detroit Lions had a QB at the time who was known, for some reason, as “Joey”. Standing in line at the bar. Some moron two… Read more »
I never used to like sports. Then I watched the anime Slam Dunk and I understood why competitive sports are important. I recommend it.
I’ve always felt like I might one day have to renounce my American citizenship due to my general inability to watch team sports on TV for 5-10 hours a week like so many of my male (and female) friends. Sure, I’ll catch the Super Bowl, or the NBA Finals, or maybe the World Series (if the Sox are playing), but other than that, I take a pass. I don’t have a Fantasy Football League, I don’t “work up a bracket” for March Madness, none of that. And I half feel like my friends might disown me for not sharing their… Read more »
By that measure, I waste a good amount of time watching my favorite TV shows like Walking Dead, Happy Endings… and my favorite terrible shows like the new 90210 and Real Housewives of All Sorts of Horrible Places…
We all waste time on something.
Next you’re gonna tell me 2-3 hrs of Facebook a day is unhealthy or something crazy like that… 😉
I ignore sports coverage. I don’t care what professional athletes do, on or off the field: I just don’t have any interest. You may as well tell me what television executives, orthodontists, or Catholic cardinals do for work and play. I’ll read what other amateur enthusiasts do to challenge themselves, when I’m throwing myself into some new sport, but I want literary quality, not news.
Joanna, you obviously don’t drink enough beer; that’s clearly a Bud bottle.
Speaking of the King of Beers, the first time I tried beer was at one of my father’s Sunday softball games. I couldn’t have been more than six years old. Even now, whenever I have an icy cold Bud on a hot, sunny day, I think of that ball field.
As for me, and I know I’m not a guy, but I’ve always preferred playing sports to watching them. I will always take you up on an offer for great seats at a Laker’s game, but I might skip the Dodgers… Would depend on the weather. But I’d always take you up for a game of softball or basketball.
But on TV? Nah.
I was always confused, myself, about the stereotype that all men must be into sports by definition. I certainly never was. With age, I’ve learned to enjoy watching some sports–the rhythmic poetry of baseball, the fast-paced grace of basketball, the elegant simplicity of soccer–but it’s not something I go out of my way to do.
I’m not sure Budweiser is too psyched about this free advertising.
The label is covered, Jamie!