This sums it up well, too:

Anything is better than watching sports on TV. And the sports nuts have this feeling of entitlement: that game is more important than anything, so if it pre-empts something informative like "60 Minutes," so what: tough it out.

On the other hand, I can tolerate superbowl parties. Friends get together, there's lots of junk food and beer, and really you can just pretty much ignore the game and have a good time.

To pretend to be paying attention, I shout "Defense! Defense!" at random points, which is apparently good enough to fool the few people there watching the game.

There was a charming English comedy some years ago called something like "One Foot in the Grave" - we all have one foot in the Grave no matter our age. How we spend our time before the other foot joins it is surely each person's decision and any attempt to alter it or create scorn over a particular activity is simply judgemental obsessive compulsive personality disorders driven behaviour no better or worse than insistence on belief in a god?

I personally dislike sports - but I understand the "family" it creates for the fans. When I think of all the money that is spent and made by the teams, venues, bars, etc., I feel there are higher purposes for that money, but it's something that excites folks and creates community for large groups of people in a local.

For me, I know that during a big game, I can be left alone to do as I please.

Depend on the type of sports

What about if you talk about sport while spending time with family and friends, or read a book about sport?

I originally created a poll with this so everyone could vote, but somewhere along the line, it disappeared.

Personally, I don't watch sports unless I'm with someone that's watching and I don't have anything else to do and even then, I'll probably be on my phone most of the time.

But I don't think it's a waste of time. Many people enjoy watching all kinds of sports and I think that is fine. My only objection applies to "professional" sports business and the players. There is way too much money paid to the players and costs to attend events keep getting higher and higher, making it difficult for many people, especially with families, to attend.

I knew a guy like that in college

Each person is free to spend their time as they wish, after-all we have a finite and ever reducing amount of it.

Yes!!! That is me! Sports are big, and I mean BIG business and don't do a damn bit of good for the common person. I've never been athletic, I'd much rather read, sew, shop, or anything besides be forced to watch sports.

Rant Ahead - That hit several nails on the head… Sports, like religion, appears the opiate of the masses.. I’ve not wasted a millisecond of my adult life playing or watching sports. Granted, I had to experience them as a child, but it seems that’s when that should happen. And though an ‘allstar shortstop’ in my youth, I had no delusions or aspirations to continue with it..

Being the son of a Sportaholic definitely framed my conclusion, but finding obese adults worshiping a ..game they couldn’t last ten minutes playing has always puzzled me… Then, cuz I watched it happen, women began ‘experts,’ too! So not only did I have to dodge the party jocks, but had to do the same with the female experts.

I work with twenty-somethings likely wondering how many lifetimes I’ve lived, from the many life experiences I’ll describe, and though I’ve thought about it, have never described it as ‘that’s what can happen when you live life and not waste it on following (or playing) Sports

Hate it, and couldn’t tell you who’s the ‘world champion anything’ with a gun to my head! It’s very much like religion, which always injected a bit more energy into whatever outside activity I’d do on a Sunday.. Dad? He continues to watch VHS tapes of 20 year old sporting events … guess if enough time goes by, he may have forgotten who won? Mom did politics, me too

What can be more conceited than 'sports relief' having only read about it and seen snippets of it.
And the uk public go wild for it instead of doing a bit of volunteering or raising money themselves.

Well, to be fair, it belies its bias by showing the "sports fans" as incapable babies. It correctly provides one perspective on the truth. What it misses is the "Joie de vivre." But, crediting the creator, that is made obvious by the Goth "Freshman Philosopher."

I personally love sports and get a great deal of entertainment from them. I do often have real connections to "my team" but that is somewhat beside the point. If I adopt a team, and I often do, I am empathizing. This is an integral part of human psychology. If you don't relate, your loss.

How you use your time is your business. I once had a girlfriend who immediately wanted to give me something to do if I turned on the TV. I was not signalling that I had nothing to do. I was signaling that I wanted to watch TV.
On into why sports are dumb. My school could not afford uniforms and equipment. That meant touch football and we could not play real baseball. Basketball was the only real game we could play in my school days. We did have a gym outfit. As a result of that I don't care about people hitting a ball with a stick. Running and jumping on top of a guy carrying a ball doesn't thrill me either. I'm not even into European soccer (football) much. Sports just doesn't get any of my time.
If they get your time that's great. Remember that how you use your time is totally your business.

i like watching ufc, fighting, golf, olympics nd anything other than american football and baseball. but neve am obsessed with any ......whoo''s with me on NOT watching american football - waste of time and wayyyy to much money alotted.

Live and let live. Back in the days of only 3 TV channels, and the BBC showing Wimbledon on 2 of them, it was an issue. Now, if you don't like it, go and watch something else from the hundreds of TV channels and various streaming services available.

Sport only becomes annoying for me when I'm trapped in a situation with people discussing it. Five of us waiting to start a conference call a few weeks ago, when someone pipes up "We won't talk about football, then." Foolishy, I breathed a sigh of relief. Somewhat naively, I assumed this didn't mean "Let's talk about football... lots... specifically focusing on how badly one of our party's team had performed in a recent game." We soon set that straight.

I don't mind if I can walk away from it or change the subject, but it was one of those situations where I couldn't.

The video? Yes, it's a sketch, but in real life it'd be the perfect example of people being douches. The lone guy for not leaving the others alone and going off to watch Spongebob on his own. The group for being so incredulous that someone might not want to sit and watch the game. The bar touts in Spain used to be like this, Get a whiff of you being English, and they'd be all "We've got the football on Sky TV." They struggled to comprehend that we hadn't flown all the way out there just to watch television.

Anyhow...

It is commonly believed that all games are won by superior tact, skill or ability. That is only true in very limited circumstances, viz, I step into a boxing ring with Mike Tyson, the outcome can easily be predicted.

All games have deliberately skewed odds that favour a winnng outcome as in the best of 3, 5 or 7 sets. However, when you have two players of equal skill or ability and you change the odds to the best of 4, 6 or 8 sets or games, a different outcome emerges, it is called a draw. Of course, for "winners" this does not count and is called a stalemate.

The only way that anyone can win in any game or gamelike situation is by taking advantage of the other person's mistakes or inducing a mistake that gives you an advantage.

See Winners and Other Losers in War and Peace by Arnold Arnold

[facebook.com] Sports being dumb

Go, Broncos!!!!!

I think people should be doing whatever the hell they please.
I don't like anyone telling me what to do with my time. If I want to watch
a baseball game, that is exactly what I'm going to do.
It's Spring, bitches! Batter up!

I personally think that being a spectator to anythng is pretty much a waste of time other than for the purpose of learning or increasing your knowledge of something. We all waste time from time to time for various reasons.

I don't agree. Various sports are entertainment for a lot of people. They enjoy it and it keeps their mind off their troubles for awhile.

Sports aren't my thing but I'm not going to say it's a waste of time either. I like to read books and crochet blankets, people could easily say that's a waste of time.

The big team sports that get shoved down people’s throats has turned into a social control mechanism, like religion is.

I agree, I used to be a big hockey fan, grew up in Flint, Mi. playing it, went to Red Wings games, moved to L.A. saw the RW when they played the Kings even touched the Stanely Cup on The Tonight Show at NBC in 2008, but now I realize the drama, the ups and downs, highs and lows and I am sooooo over it.