The Earth Day 2000 was managed in Seattle. The office was on my way home from work so I volunteered. There were mostly young, idealistic people working the program and the theme was energy. Many felt that if we solved our energy problems everything would be fine (Enron was the problem). At the same time the famous Kingdome had been demolished and a new baseball stadium was being built (along with a parking garage and convention center). Most of the guys were sports fans and I asked them if they thought there might be an environmental impact for sports. They all thought I was crazy but here was a huge building(s) being built, an old one being taken to a land fill. Not to mention the traffic, garbage and on and one. Often after games there are riots and destructions happening (as my link showed). Sports are not benign. They have a huge negative impact on society and the environment.

They took a child's game and made a business out of it. College and Professional sports are nothing but business transactions designed to extract money and devotion from you. Personally, I'm not a very willing victim of salesmanship. No, I don't watch sports.

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.

A short, very cool story: We had a frig repair guy over last month, he had a Detroit Red Wing key chain, I said, "oh a fan huh?" He said, "more than you know, I named my son after Stevie Yzerman,"...I followed with, "so you have all the recent Stanley Cup hats from Detroit right?"...he said, "I did, my ex-wife burned everything of mine". I hooked him up, he walked from my house that day with the 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008 official locker room championships hats, plus four others, three jerseys, a jacket, and two hard to find, collector edition books....he almost cried.

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've been giving this some more thought since my initial response.
I'm more than a little irked. I really resent the implication that the things that some people enjoy
are a "waste of time", i.e. watching sports/tv, gaming, working on cars, meditation, crafting, reading, writing poetry, or any other damned thing.
What right does anyone have to tell anyone else they could be using their time "better"?
I think lots of activities are "dumb" and a waste of time, but that would be a waste of MY
time, because I hold no interest in those things.
What anyone else wants to do is entirely up to them. I wouldn't presume to tell anyone
else that I think something (which they obviously enjoy doing) is dumb or a waste of their time.
Okay, rant over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

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.

Sports is the only time some people are able to relax and get away from their problems. Therefore it does serve a purpose. What is redicuious is the millions of dollars paid to them. For those of you uninformed it was the sports world that started these very high wages paid to CEO"S who stated the work I do is greater than these sports players and off we went. These players choose to play in a sport that can injure them for life. Do they do more than those who defend our country for peanuts? We have our priorities mixed up I would surmise.

It's just as dumb as anything else anyone likes.

If it weren't for watching Cubs games I would not have had any relationship with my grandfather.Now, I watch them with my family. Maybe, it is dumb, but I really don't care. I'm already an agnostic, liberal, Cubs fan living in a religious, conservative, Cardinals area.

It was right on. My dad was not a sports fan and none of his kids are either. We all think it is a waste of time, energy and money and often is akin to drug addiction. I just read a similar article in "The Atlantic".

When I was in HS I was on the Track and Tennis varsity teams. I liked toplay but watching is soooo boring.
[theatlantic.com]

What about thoae people that use their love of sports to make a living. I don't mean playing sports. I mean those that watch the games as journalists? Or those of us that pick sports winners for money? There are alot of things that are a waste of time. It really depends on what people enjoy doing. I love being outdoors. Some could day that is a waste of time. It depends on what you like. So those people that have a problem with sports, keep it to yourself. I am sure you could find better ways to spend your time than complaining about 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

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

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

Well, I see watching soap operas dumb, very dumb. Do not watch sports anymore, not even scores.

I don't watch sports and am averse to anyone ridiculing or chastizing anyone who does. What it comes down to is fun. It's fun to play and it's fun to watch. I will occasionally watch a tennis match because the game involves tactics, skills and finesses that I appreciate. It makes it more interesting. I know that many games involve these elements to a certain degree but it's what I find interesting that counts. To say that watching sports is dumb or a waste of time is wrong because of the fun factor. The enjoymnt and excitement it creates is worthwhile. I usually have something else I'd rather do than watch sports making it a low priority in my life. I don't agree that watching sports is dumb or a waste of time.

Remember how the Romans distracted the citizens with "circuses" at the Colosseum? We replaced the gladiators with football players.

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.

In the "grand scheme of the universe" that "philosopher" is still a dick! LOL

I've never cared for watchign sports and kind of am on the side of the really drearty guy here.

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

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...

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.

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.