Personally, I love sports and exercise. I grew up playing basketball, football, baseball, soccer, etc. If I don't exercise (and maintain a good diet), it dramat

Personally, I love sports and exercise. I grew up playing basketball, football, baseball, soccer, etc. If I don't exercise (and maintain a good diet), it dramatically negatively affects my work. My mind is clearer, I'm able to focus longer, etc. Plus, a mid-day trip to the gym makes my afternoons much more productive. In terms of sports, I like the competition, I like the strategy, overcoming the odds, and the idea of dedicating your life to mastering a skill. Though, I have strayed from football recently due to brain trauma concerns, and my kids aren't allowed to play it. I also coach my kids basketball teams, which is a ton of fun, and has helped me with leadership and planning, plus is some extra exercise for me! > Why is most of the geek population uninterested This isn't my experience at all. I have worked in academia, and there is a nearly universal interest in sports, particularly the "local" college teams (Ohio State and Wisconsin, in my case). My PhD department could have fielded a competitive track and field team. At my current job as a software engineer at a prop trading firm, EVERYONE is interested in and plays sports. We have many corporate teams, our TVs often have sports on, and the devs behind me have an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball. Like literally, it is faster to ask one guy about baseball going back to the 50's than it is to google the question. The other guys on my team are very active, work out regularly, and play sports in their free time. The stereotypical "geek" in a Doritos-stained hoody and an extra 200 lbs ALMOST doesn't exist here. For me, it is having a physical yin to the mental yang of problem solving all day. I meditate as well, but just DOING something physical is very cathartic, and meditative in its own way. In terms of why some people get interested, it is probably environment. I like and play sports, so my kids do too. I don't push them to, but if Daddy is watching and excited about basketball, they will be too probably. One of mine isn't AS excited about sports, but is loving martial arts now, which I have never done.