7 ms·

Given that we all have different interests, hobbies, religions, and political beliefs, yet we all need to cooperate so that business and society actually can wo

by jwatte 10y ago

Given that we all have different interests, hobbies, religions, and political beliefs, yet we all need to cooperate so that business and society actually can work, we have invented sports so that we have something common to talk about. Literally. Without commercial sports, people who need to connect to other people for a variety of reasons, couldn't. I find it annoying and wasteful, but I understand the societal need, especially among those who aren't engineers. (Sales, BD, etc.) Engineers can typically connect over their specialty, but that doesn't work when talking to other specialties.

atroyn 10y ago
I think it's a mistake to see all social interaction through the lens of professions
- jwatte 10y ago
  Obviously. That doesn't change the observation of where commercial sports actually adds value in current society, does it?
spiderfarmer 10y ago
Really? There are so many things to talk about. Weather, news, common experiences, the things you see around you. Even though I do enjoy sports (soccer, F1 racing), I seldomly connect to other people because of it. And if sports are wasteful, all forms of entertainment are. Why do you think like that? The thoughts in my mind are not so precious to the world that it shouldn't be distracted by 'useless' entertainment, and I guess neither is yours.
- jwatte 10y ago
  I think you're not in sales, then? Yes, of course there are a few other things to talk about, but even "news and weather" is dangerous, because some think Louisiana is currently showing us the future of global warming, and others think it shows that people who choose not to insure their property should not be rewarded with a bail out, lest there be moral hazard. Sports is the safe bet.
  - toolz 10y ago
    How is sports more safe than weather or current events? Not everyone keeps up with sports as a whole and much less keep up with the specific sport you would mention.
  - spiderfarmer 10y ago
    Personally I would never skip a subject just because someone might disagree. Are sales people really trained to be as superficial as possible?
    - adiabatty 10y ago
      I've been trained pretty well to avoid anything politics-adjacent, and I'm not in sales.
    - jamestnz 10y ago
      No, but sales can often be based upon personal relationships, at least to an extent. So you see why a salesperson may be accustomed to treading lightly around contentious topics. If you stake out a strong position on a controversial topic, you risk alienating your conversation partners. Of course friends can discuss whatever they want. But in less familiar company, one may want to avoid topics that can lead to disagreements. Politics and religion being the classic examples. Or, as the Professor told Eliza: "Stick to the weather, and everybody's health".
    - machinshin_ 10y ago
      It's not "superficial", it's a it not offending your (potential) customer. I would assume that once the two people get to know one another the window of safe topics would become broader
  - Someone 10y ago
    Safe, if you avoid mentioning doping, the effects of concussion on the brain, whether it is ethical to ride horses (more so to jump fences and to use a whip), the ethics of nations training 4 year olds for gymnastics, the fairness of juries in boxing/gymnastics/dressage, whether a sport should be in the Olympics (for example, where are the motor sports?), whether we should have separate events for lesser abled competitors (Paralympics, but also weight classes in judo, boxing, rowing, etc) etc. For example, if I state gymnastics isn't a sport, just as ballet isn't, and that watching it means condoning child torture, is that a safe bet? (Edit: and that's ingoring the really contentious subjects such as whether England really scored that third goal in 1966)
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
jly 10y ago
Sport exists because it's a simple human desire to push oneself and compete in entertaining physical games and activities. I think the natural instincts at work here transcend anything invented or as simplistic as your description. Commercial sports often go way too far in their excesses and lack of criticism, but many, MANY people enjoy watching the highest level of sport like any other art. It may not be your cup of tea, but saying it's wasteful to me is the same as tossing out any great artistic or creative endeavour.
- panic 10y ago
  Sport exists because it's a simple human desire to push oneself and compete in entertaining physical games and activities. That explains why people play sports, but I don't think it explains why so many people watch them. Most sports fans don't play the sport themselves.
  - truth_sentinell 10y ago
    I suppose it's because they project themselves upon the competitors. They use the sports to feel they win something that otherwise they couldn't get. That's what I think as a previous sport fan.
  - Nicholas_C 10y ago
    They watch because they have a desire to see humans push themselves to the limit. Have you ever watched someone live stream a video game or a coding session? Plus, when you're 60 and out of shape you can't go out and play a game of football, watching football is as close as you can get to doing it.
    - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
      > Plus, when you're 60 and out of shape you can't go out and play a game of football Sure you can. There is nothing stopping an out of shape (but otherwise healthy) 60 year old person from going out and playing touch football. I mean, they might get dirty, sweaty and have aches or cramps the following days, but hey, that's life.
drivingmenuts 10y ago
There are plenty of other forms of entertainment that provide as much or more mental and emotional enrichment than sports, but as a society, we don't put any emphasis on them, or we stigmatize them in some way. Pretty much any music or drama student has had to endure years of being some derogatory term, only to find out that when they graduate, society expects them to starve, while athletes can get by quite easily just on former glory.
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  Maybe it's just the incredibly amount of money to be made as an athlete, or from athletes? Many different people have a very real investment, and the rest have come to have a psychological investment and act as human shields.
- Buge 10y ago
  Star actors and musicians can get super rich, like star sports players. Neither of them are very acheiable by most people, because there is a limit of how many people can be stars.
Aelinsaar 10y ago
Just talk about food, or drink, or the weather; maybe you'll actually learn something about them instead of a common, pointless language that costs the taxpayers billions a year. Quite the subsidy so that some people can break the damned ice, don't you think?
ArkyBeagle 10y ago
My standard riposte when faced with a technical discussion that's clearly wound down or gone off the rails - "So how bout them Cowboys?". We would also accept a friend's variant - "Roll tide."
InclinedPlane 10y ago
> Given that we all have different interests, hobbies, religions, and political beliefs, yet we all need to cooperate so that business and society actually can work, we have invented sports so that we have something common to talk about. Odd that it's impossible for us to talk about our different hobbies with one another. I wonder if that's ever happened in human history. Probably not, I guess. But hey, how 'bout them Bearhawks?! Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

by jwatte 10y ago

atroyn 10y ago

I think it's a mistake to see all social interaction through the lens of professions

jwatte 10y ago
Obviously. That doesn't change the observation of where commercial sports actually adds value in current society, does it?

spiderfarmer 10y ago

Really? There are so many things to talk about. Weather, news, common experiences, the things you see around you. Even though I do enjoy sports (soccer, F1 racing), I seldomly connect to other people because of it. And if sports are wasteful, all forms of entertainment are. Why do you think like that? The thoughts in my mind are not so precious to the world that it shouldn't be distracted by 'useless' entertainment, and I guess neither is yours.

jwatte 10y ago
I think you're not in sales, then? Yes, of course there are a few other things to talk about, but even "news and weather" is dangerous, because some think Louisiana is currently showing us the future of global warming, and others think it shows that people who choose not to insure their property should not be rewarded with a bail out, lest there be moral hazard. Sports is the safe bet.
- toolz 10y ago
  How is sports more safe than weather or current events? Not everyone keeps up with sports as a whole and much less keep up with the specific sport you would mention.
- spiderfarmer 10y ago
  Personally I would never skip a subject just because someone might disagree. Are sales people really trained to be as superficial as possible?
  - adiabatty 10y ago
    I've been trained pretty well to avoid anything politics-adjacent, and I'm not in sales.
  - jamestnz 10y ago
    No, but sales can often be based upon personal relationships, at least to an extent. So you see why a salesperson may be accustomed to treading lightly around contentious topics. If you stake out a strong position on a controversial topic, you risk alienating your conversation partners. Of course friends can discuss whatever they want. But in less familiar company, one may want to avoid topics that can lead to disagreements. Politics and religion being the classic examples. Or, as the Professor told Eliza: "Stick to the weather, and everybody's health".
  - machinshin_ 10y ago
    It's not "superficial", it's a it not offending your (potential) customer. I would assume that once the two people get to know one another the window of safe topics would become broader
- Someone 10y ago
  Safe, if you avoid mentioning doping, the effects of concussion on the brain, whether it is ethical to ride horses (more so to jump fences and to use a whip), the ethics of nations training 4 year olds for gymnastics, the fairness of juries in boxing/gymnastics/dressage, whether a sport should be in the Olympics (for example, where are the motor sports?), whether we should have separate events for lesser abled competitors (Paralympics, but also weight classes in judo, boxing, rowing, etc) etc. For example, if I state gymnastics isn't a sport, just as ballet isn't, and that watching it means condoning child torture, is that a safe bet? (Edit: and that's ingoring the really contentious subjects such as whether England really scored that third goal in 1966)
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

jly 10y ago

Sport exists because it's a simple human desire to push oneself and compete in entertaining physical games and activities. I think the natural instincts at work here transcend anything invented or as simplistic as your description. Commercial sports often go way too far in their excesses and lack of criticism, but many, MANY people enjoy watching the highest level of sport like any other art. It may not be your cup of tea, but saying it's wasteful to me is the same as tossing out any great artistic or creative endeavour.

panic 10y ago
Sport exists because it's a simple human desire to push oneself and compete in entertaining physical games and activities. That explains why people play sports, but I don't think it explains why so many people watch them. Most sports fans don't play the sport themselves.
- truth_sentinell 10y ago
  I suppose it's because they project themselves upon the competitors. They use the sports to feel they win something that otherwise they couldn't get. That's what I think as a previous sport fan.
- Nicholas_C 10y ago
  They watch because they have a desire to see humans push themselves to the limit. Have you ever watched someone live stream a video game or a coding session? Plus, when you're 60 and out of shape you can't go out and play a game of football, watching football is as close as you can get to doing it.
  - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
    > Plus, when you're 60 and out of shape you can't go out and play a game of football Sure you can. There is nothing stopping an out of shape (but otherwise healthy) 60 year old person from going out and playing touch football. I mean, they might get dirty, sweaty and have aches or cramps the following days, but hey, that's life.

drivingmenuts 10y ago

There are plenty of other forms of entertainment that provide as much or more mental and emotional enrichment than sports, but as a society, we don't put any emphasis on them, or we stigmatize them in some way. Pretty much any music or drama student has had to endure years of being some derogatory term, only to find out that when they graduate, society expects them to starve, while athletes can get by quite easily just on former glory.

Aelinsaar 10y ago
Maybe it's just the incredibly amount of money to be made as an athlete, or from athletes? Many different people have a very real investment, and the rest have come to have a psychological investment and act as human shields.
Buge 10y ago
Star actors and musicians can get super rich, like star sports players. Neither of them are very acheiable by most people, because there is a limit of how many people can be stars.

Aelinsaar 10y ago

Just talk about food, or drink, or the weather; maybe you'll actually learn something about them instead of a common, pointless language that costs the taxpayers billions a year. Quite the subsidy so that some people can break the damned ice, don't you think?

ArkyBeagle 10y ago

My standard riposte when faced with a technical discussion that's clearly wound down or gone off the rails - "So how bout them Cowboys?". We would also accept a friend's variant - "Roll tide."

InclinedPlane 10y ago

> Given that we all have different interests, hobbies, religions, and political beliefs, yet we all need to cooperate so that business and society actually can work, we have invented sports so that we have something common to talk about. Odd that it's impossible for us to talk about our different hobbies with one another. I wonder if that's ever happened in human history. Probably not, I guess. But hey, how 'bout them Bearhawks?! Did you see that ludicrous display last night?