Thursday, March 09, 2006

Sports: A Rant

I notice that it is time for the Big 12,13, 14 whatever it is basketball tournament.

This crap really gets on my nerves.

Sports, sport teams, and people who try to impose their sports fanatcism on me REALLY annoy the bejesus out of me.

The truth of the matter..... I just don't see what the big deal is.

I simply can not and will not get worked up about it.

What truly astounds me is that there are a LOT of people out there that just assume that everyone has a team that they root for. Many is the time I have been asked, "Are you a KU or KState fan?" I always reply, "Neither." Then I am asked, "which team is "mine?" I alway say, "none." To which the person making the inquiry nearly always gasps in horror, "None!? What do you mean none?!!" I usually take this opportunity to inform the person that I do not care for sports. I don't watch and I don't follow any of them. If I am lucky I have so stunned the person they just walk away mumbling to themselves. Sometimes the person will try and bully me to making some kind, ANY kind of committment to a sporting event. They do not succeed, unless I am feeling like a smart ass and name something obscure.

My one and only year as a KU student the basketball team went on the final game thing in the tournament. The day of the game I happened to have my French class. The T.A. asked me in french, (wish I could remember how to say it!)"Who will KU be playing in the game tonight?" I replied, "Je ne sais pas." (I don't know.) I swear that what happened next is true. The entire class gasped out loud in disbelief. I was slightly ridiculed by the TA for my ignorance. I was also the recipient of many confused stares for the remainder of class time. Personally I was confused that I raised such a fuss with my answer. I was only interested in the promised day off if they won. (They didn't, but we still got the day off.)(My apologies to those who have heard my KU story before.)The experience at least helped me confirm that my decision to move on to a different school was probably the right one.

I don't even know if I should get into my confusion over people who will let the failure of their favorite sports team ruin their entire day. I can not wrap my little pea brain around that one at all.

I am always a little tempted to start going on and on about the activities I enjoy and are passionate about, like theatre, books, independent movies, foreign films, music. Part of me wants to yell at the sports insistent people and demand that they state their preference about MY passions. Not because I want them to be like me, it is mainly a pathetic little desire to do unto others so to speak. I manage to hold back, or talk about it with someone else who is of a mind similar to mine own.

So...sports fanatics beware. I am imposing a don't ask don't tell policy on the subject of sporting events and sports teams.

Maybe I could get that information put on my business cards.

I'll have to look in to that.

4 comments:

Ted Carter said...

We all feel the need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. For some, that need is fulfilled by being a "sporting enthusiast." Others seek religion, theatre, or, dare I say it, online journaling.

To each his or her own, I guess.

Not that I am any less annoyed by the phenomenon you describe than you are; I just felt like sounding sagely.

Missy said...

I can understand wanting to belong to something bigger than oneself. I got no problem with that. My problem is people insisting that you must be interested in something that you are not, and insinuating that you are some kind of miscreant just because you do not share their (and what they assume is everyone else in the world)passion, enthusiasm, whatever you want to call it, and it really chaps my ass when they insist that you are not being truthful when you share your thoughts on the matter. I find the practice of telling other people what they think and feel DESPITE the fact that they have informed you otherwise to be abhorrent. It really gets on my damn nerves too.

Dan G said...

But what about baseball? Surely you don't mean baseball. I mean, it follows the natural rhythm of summer -- primarily leisure with bursts of excitement. Plus it's both a metaphor for life and also the source of all good drama -- the goal for each player, like Odysseus, is simply to get home.

Yeah, you can't possibly mean baseball. Baseball isn't like the other sports.

Missy said...

Don't push me Gunderman.

Truthfully, I don't mind baseball. You and maybe my dad are the most involved fans I know personally. Am I going to sit and watch a game on TV? No. Will I pay money that I have earned to go see a game? Maybe. Will I go see a game if someonelse pays for it? Probably.

This is the best I can do.