Why are some people so fixated with professional sports?

Early in my life (7-15 years old) I played both baseball, and football for a few years. I enjoyed playing sports.

But what I can't understand is why some people are so fixated with watching both college,professional, or any other league of sport.

My father is a die hard St. Louis Cardinals fan. And he always has been, since he was born in Missouri, and is where we live. He watches basically ever single Cardinal game, and it's been that way for years. I personally don't understand why people choose to watch sports so much. I think watching other people playing a sport is rather boring.

I understand people get caught up in Pro sports since they represent their home state. But the people who play for these teams will play for pretty much any team that will pay them the most money. It seems like all pro sports are around simply to make money. Usually these athletes end up abusing their money to buy things they don't really even need. And some of them are paid insane amounts of money a year, simply to play a sport, that's supposed to be around just to have fun.

So my question is, why is it that people watch overpaid people play a sport, that will will play for any team, as long as the pay is good?

reply to post by Lingweenie


Why??? Because I played all the sports I enjoy watching and I appreciate watching the worlds best play the games I've grown to love... Sports are pure entertainment to me, they give me such enjoyment. And the great thing is that i can partake in mens leagues and i can also go to/watch on tv my favorite teams/athletes play... Sports have been a HUGE part of my growth as a person...

And why do you consider them overpaid? Its simple supply and demand, if their wasnt such a demand for them they wouldnt be able to get the wages they earn and if it was easy, everyone would do it, but these athletes are EXTREMELY talented and special individuals, just like anyone else who's at the apex of their careers

I have no clue I find it VERY boring.. I like MMA because there is action at all times. I have found that when I go to any live sporting event its way more fun but not so much because of the game, more about the experience. I could never watch any sports really on TV, only MMA or I like watching the X-Games.

These hometown offerings are a lovely distraction for people from more important things. Highly accessible/inclusive (anyone can be a fan -- sure we'll take your money!). Not trying to make sorts out to be evil, but like many things, moderation is key.

Gotta love when people feel so vested/part of this stuff that they use the pronoun "we" when talking about a team. Oh, you are part of the staff now? Or are you on the team? Heh.

One of the biggest tools used to steal time that could be better spent/distract the masses.

Fitness is great, some physical competition, exercise -- all good. Armchair wanna-be coach fanatic -- not so much IMO. Everyone is entitled to r&r hobbies, but something about modern pro sports, the focus/attention given to them as well as to student athletes over say kids with exceptional academic or other achievements -- meh.

Modern day sports seem to mimic the Roman Colosseum days. Without the extreme blood and gore. We have an innate desire to see one have victory over the other. No matter what the costs. If it were legal, we would have the same gross dereliction of life that we had in the good ole days.

I'm called Un-American for not liking sports. Yet I served in the military. Pretty odd, huh?

I'd rather watch hour long youtube videos of some weeners playing tdm call of duty than watch 15 minutes of any crowd sport as the eruption into cheer breaks my head. And this is not to say I'd rather watch hour long youtube videos of some weeners playing tdm call of duty before I'd rather cut my own ear drums out with a home made prison shiv.

Luckily I live in Australia. Where we hate sports. We only have a handful of proper channels on the tv, and only about 9/10th of them cater to sports ad nauseum. We dodged a fast ball with that !

One of my pet peeves are guys who align themselves with a college team. They have the mascot bumper stickers all over their vehicle, the same college stickers on their books and folders and on their tool boxes.

The thing is, these guys have never been to this college, much less any college. Heck, they can't spell college.

But during the football, basketball, baseball seasons, all you will hear from these people are how their team is doing. Stats, and even personal tidbits of the players. I wonder if they have a life.

They get interested in sports to belong to a kind. Kind refers to people who have something in common. It's also less aggravating to talk about sports than to talk about politics.Some people definitely go overboard, paying way to much for tickets and buying expensive clothes, but I suppose they can do whatever they want with their money.

I'd rather sit around a campfire to get fired up than go get fired up at a ball game

To be honest, I'm not surprised one bit by these replies... Conspiracy sites and sports don't really mesh. I'd say that only 5% of ATS members are die-hard sports fans like me... I've tried to discuss sports on this site before and the threads get roughly no attention... I guess sports aren't for everyone, but I definitely enjoy them...

It's not so much conspiracy theory that pre-empts a desire for sports.. it's more . . this sums it up.

Bernard is trying to hurt himself to avoid having to do his tax, because he can't work it out himself. Suddenly he sees some millwall supporters

I wish I could watch D&D on Monday nights on ESPN...

reply to post by Lingweenie


Beats me ! I never have understood the obssession with sports / players, or the strange adulation of specific sportsmen / sportswomen.

Then I am not at all sporty my self, other than dog walking several miles a day to keep fit.

It bothers me that some professional sports persons earn huge amounts of money for doing nothing of any value to society, whilst people who put their lives on the line, as part of their employment, are comparatively poorly paid.

Yea, sports professionals often have short careers, but that still doesn't justify the obscene levels of pay they receive ?

Not forgetting that top sports people often endorse naff products, to help sell them, and get huge remuneration for this too...Look at the likes of David Beckham, for instance...
Something wrong with our values, somewhere...

Originally posted by SinMaker
Modern day sports seem to mimic the Roman Colosseum days. Without the extreme blood and gore. We have an innate desire to see one have victory over the other. No matter what the costs. If it were legal, we would have the same gross dereliction of life that we had in the good ole days.

I'm called Un-American for not liking sports. Yet I served in the military. Pretty odd, huh?

Funny how you bring up the Colosseum days, back in the roman era. What kinda of reminds me of that, is the MMA leagues. Before MMA, there was basically just boxing, wrestling, and kickboxing. But now it seems like fighting sports in particular, are getting a bit more violent and edgy. And awhile back I actually thought to myself that MMA today, would probably be the equivalent to the roman's colosseum fights about 2000 years ago.

Also, just to be clear to everyone, I'm not trying to bash on people who choose to watch sports. I don't see any harm in it at all. I just personally can't understand why people watch sports on a daily basis, and may even get obsessed with it.

Originally posted by dc4lifeskater
I have no clue I find it VERY boring.. I like MMA because there is action at all times. I have found that when I go to any live sporting event its way more fun but not so much because of the game, more about the experience. I could never watch any sports really on TV, only MMA or I like watching the X-Games.

Yeah, I enjoy some sports to some extent. MMA and hockey in particular. Most because its a bit more action packed and intense. Sports like baseball, golf, and tennis are just to boring to watch most of the time in my opinion.

Its a tribal thing. Its also brainwashing, sports followers are sheeple.

A lot of people dont realize that the idea of sports is a relatively new idea in human history. designed to keep the more aggressive people focused on things that wont upset the running of countries and governments.

Teams and sports were designed as a way of forcing social order on the working class

H. G. Wells before the advent of National Sports teams talked about “Arenas,” Wells offered, over a hundred years ago, that arenas could be set up all over the world for sports. Now at that time when Wells offered that idea, sports was something that children participated in while, exceptions notwithstanding, adults would go on to adult things. It was unimanigable during Wells time that there would be a need for adult sports on the scale we have it today. Wells idea at the time was to eventually create a “Sports culture” for the men, using a tribal system where men would form allegiances according to a tribal system where men in set geographic areas would exhaust their aggressiveness in a vicarious identification with “their team.” Because men would be more disengaged then ever before from their own destiny a “Sports culture” was developed for them in order to provide an outlet for aggression that might otherwise be channeled in things that really were matters of consequence for responsible male citizens of a commonwealth. Between the passivity created by the entertainment model as well as the messages downloaded for conformity by the elites, and the pseudo and abstract aggressiveness aligned with a tribal team men would be effectively neutered in leadership and castrated in resistance. This in turn would allow the cultural gatekeeper elites to have their way in terms of setting the agenda for the social order.

I never liked watching sports... i only do it in the company of friends. i have far more better things to do then sit around watching TV for 2-3 hrs, i did a lot of it back when i was teenager.

Now, i don;t hate sports, i played it in high school and some in college, and if it were for my busy life, i would be in a club. i just hate watching them.

Maybe i will pick up watching it when i get older, and when my friends move away and make family little by little.

Sports, in and of themselves, I don't have a problem with. But I find our society's elevation and adoration of sports personalities disgusting.

So why do people become fixated and obsessed?

Distraction from reality.
Living vicariously through a team, or a player.
A perverted and warped set of priorities as individuals, and as a society.
Ego.
A placebo for masculinity and manliness. Instead of going out and being the real thing.

And many other reasons. Sports are for fun. They shouldn't be used to foster a spirit of competition and division throughout a nation.

ETA: @PhoenixOD

H. G. Wells before the advent of National Sports teams talked about “Arenas,” Wells offered, over a hundred years ago, that arenas could be set up all over the world for sports. Now at that time when Wells offered that idea, sports was something that children participated in while, exceptions notwithstanding, adults would go on to adult things. It was unimanigable during Wells time that there would be a need for adult sports on the scale we have it today. Wells idea at the time was to eventually create a “Sports culture” for the men, using a tribal system where men would form allegiances according to a tribal system where men in set geographic areas would exhaust their aggressiveness in a vicarious identification with “their team.” Because men would be more disengaged then ever before from their own destiny a “Sports culture” was developed for them in order to provide an outlet for aggression that might otherwise be channeled in things that really were matters of consequence for responsible male citizens of a commonwealth. Between the passivity created by the entertainment model as well as the messages downloaded for conformity by the elites, and the pseudo and abstract aggressiveness aligned with a tribal team men would be effectively neutered in leadership and castrated in resistance. This in turn would allow the cultural gatekeeper elites to have their way in terms of setting the agenda for the social order.

I love watching sports and played sports when I was younger,but the whining of more money and ridiculous over paid contracts is out of control and is awful for sports.

reply to post by Lingweenie


It's a modern placeholder for tribal wiring in the brain that is more or less obsolete in today's social matrix. It's a non-destructive outlet for males that have excess energy. It's playing.

Embrace it. It's better than first person shooter games which are programming people to kill efficiently without inhibition. That isn't playing.