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> The best thing to me even at a game is to go, hang out, relax, talk shit with your friends, and watch the game. Not have the game take up all of your attentio

> The best thing to me even at a game is to go, hang out, relax, talk shit with your friends, and watch the game. Not have the game take up all of your attention. If the sport is actually engaging and doesn't stop every 2 minutes then you'll find it naturally takes up all your attention.

jacobolus 6y ago
That was the point. If you can't spare any attention for your friends, then watching the game is more like watching a movie together in a theater and less like having a dinner party with background entertainment.
- grogenaut 6y ago
  Exactly. I love baseball and games, but baseball is there to add spice to your life, or for the lull in the conversation. Or this is how I choose to enjoy them. I've done the hive mind thing as well. It's fun but I've got shit to do, relationships to build.
grogenaut 6y ago
You don't get my point. It is not fulfilling to me to spend that much time passively watching someone else succeed or fail because of my city of birth. My attention span is also very add. Only things like coding or math can hold my attention. I played sports highschool, college and 9 years after. Sports are great when you are a competitor. To be good they have to consume a good portion of your life. Which is fine, you are exerting direct control on the world. As a 45 year old sitting in a pub you have no impact on a team. Nor do you by angrily posting to internet forums or yelling at talk show hosts. Spending 1-3 days a week 3 hours at a time getting very worked up about a thing you have little control over while gathering a side of mild alcoholism isn't great. Being sulky and short with your loved ones isn't either. After college I started watching the nfl. My team was very good senior year, mediocre the next, and a fieldgoal away from greatness. The next year they were dog shit. I noticed I was short with my mom on Sundays which was our hangout time because of nfl. She watched sports so she'd have a thing to talk to us about. I had to step back. The team was purposefully rebuilding. I found new topics to talk to my mom about. I get a lot of home repair, gardening, and side projects done while watching baseball or football in the background. Sports fandom is best when they enrich your like not when they consume it.

jacobolus 6y ago

That was the point. If you can't spare any attention for your friends, then watching the game is more like watching a movie together in a theater and less like having a dinner party with background entertainment.

grogenaut 6y ago
Exactly. I love baseball and games, but baseball is there to add spice to your life, or for the lull in the conversation. Or this is how I choose to enjoy them. I've done the hive mind thing as well. It's fun but I've got shit to do, relationships to build.

grogenaut 6y ago

You don't get my point. It is not fulfilling to me to spend that much time passively watching someone else succeed or fail because of my city of birth. My attention span is also very add. Only things like coding or math can hold my attention. I played sports highschool, college and 9 years after. Sports are great when you are a competitor. To be good they have to consume a good portion of your life. Which is fine, you are exerting direct control on the world. As a 45 year old sitting in a pub you have no impact on a team. Nor do you by angrily posting to internet forums or yelling at talk show hosts. Spending 1-3 days a week 3 hours at a time getting very worked up about a thing you have little control over while gathering a side of mild alcoholism isn't great. Being sulky and short with your loved ones isn't either. After college I started watching the nfl. My team was very good senior year, mediocre the next, and a fieldgoal away from greatness. The next year they were dog shit. I noticed I was short with my mom on Sundays which was our hangout time because of nfl. She watched sports so she'd have a thing to talk to us about. I had to step back. The team was purposefully rebuilding. I found new topics to talk to my mom about. I get a lot of home repair, gardening, and side projects done while watching baseball or football in the background. Sports fandom is best when they enrich your like not when they consume it.