4 ms·

here in Canada (and many other western countries) we have the same awful hours but without the same insane level of obsession with school sports as in

here in Canada (and many other western countries) we have the same awful hours but without the same insane level of obsession with school sports as in the US I've followed hockey rather closely for many decades, and respectfully, wow. The stories I've read about youth hockey seem absolutely mental to me. Kids staying with other families (billets) hundreds of miles from home just to play hockey, etc. Bullying, abusive coaches, etc. Rampant sexual assaults. Of course many kids (the vast majority, I'm sure) have healthy experiences too. This is not to say that either the US or Canada are better than the other in this regard, but it always seems to me that they were cut from similar cloth. Talking about the US' "obsession with school sports" made me laugh. Usually we're painted as a sedentary nation of morbidly obese children. But apparently we're also obsessed with playing sports. Maybe Hollywood is to blame; we've all seen countless movies where the entire school is obsessed with some football game or whatever. All I can really say is that school sports teams are completely optional. Most kids don't even participate or even care.

cmrdporcupine 4y ago
Yeah hockey in Canada... JFC. Especially small-town/rural Canada -- is a whole other thing. I personally grew up relatively sheltered from it, and my own kids don't participate or care -- but I grew up in rural Alberta and when I got to high school and saw how many kids around me... that was their whole life, I was kind of shocked. But it was at least a clear cultural demarcation line ... the people I liked and hung out with had nothing to do with hockey/sportsing, the people who were rampant violent homophobes ... were. So, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is that hockey is an obsession for hockey families. For everyone else... kind of a shrug. What I'm always shocked with with the US is the degree to which just almost everyone is into football. It's some sort of bizarre national religion, and a default smalltalk conversation topic. When I go skiing with friends in the US and we go up a chairlift with strangers, it seems almost always the icebreaker convo. When I worked at Google I was always surprised to find total CS "nerds" strike up a convo about football.
- JohnBooty 4y ago
  I personally grew up relatively sheltered from [hockey] and my own kids don't participate or care Broadly speaking this sounds a lot like America's relationship with youth sports. It's totally optional and easy to avoid. Especially small-town/rural Canada [...] So, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is that hockey is an obsession for hockey families. For everyone else... kind of a shrug. It differs greatly regionally in America too. I live far away from Texas but I think in parts of the South and Texas, etc. high school football is like the thing. Growing up in the Northeast nobody gave that much of a crap about high school football. I went to a bunch of games but it was just kind of a place to hang out. The small town I live in now was the childhood home of a guy who won multiple Super Bowls. Nobody gives a crap about the high school team, the one he played for. It's just not a thing. What I'm always shocked with with the US is the degree to which just almost everyone is into football. It's some sort of bizarre national religion, and a default smalltalk conversation topic It's definitely the default smalltalk conversation topic, at least for men. Feels less like "universal obsession" than "lowest common denominator" though, honestly. The comparison here is probably the other great national universal smalltalk topic, weather. You can talk about it with nearly anybody but it doesn't mean it's their biggest thing. Honestly, I like football more than most, but even I only think about it for about 5 months a year and at least half the people in my life aren't fans. religion I really do like this comparison. I think it's central to understanding its appeal to America. BUT here's the key: it is the national religion because it is something we do together, once per week more so than because we actually worship it that deeply. In other words, it's social. An excuse to get together on Sundays (if you're in an NFL town) or Saturdays (if you're in a college town). It's also something we enjoy together that somewhat cuts across class and ideological divides. It is certainly imperfect but in a world that is lacking in unity and common ground, I don't think this is an entirely bad thing.

cmrdporcupine 4y ago

Yeah hockey in Canada... JFC. Especially small-town/rural Canada -- is a whole other thing. I personally grew up relatively sheltered from it, and my own kids don't participate or care -- but I grew up in rural Alberta and when I got to high school and saw how many kids around me... that was their whole life, I was kind of shocked. But it was at least a clear cultural demarcation line ... the people I liked and hung out with had nothing to do with hockey/sportsing, the people who were rampant violent homophobes ... were. So, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is that hockey is an obsession for hockey families. For everyone else... kind of a shrug. What I'm always shocked with with the US is the degree to which just almost everyone is into football. It's some sort of bizarre national religion, and a default smalltalk conversation topic. When I go skiing with friends in the US and we go up a chairlift with strangers, it seems almost always the icebreaker convo. When I worked at Google I was always surprised to find total CS "nerds" strike up a convo about football.

JohnBooty 4y ago
I personally grew up relatively sheltered from [hockey] and my own kids don't participate or care Broadly speaking this sounds a lot like America's relationship with youth sports. It's totally optional and easy to avoid. Especially small-town/rural Canada [...] So, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is that hockey is an obsession for hockey families. For everyone else... kind of a shrug. It differs greatly regionally in America too. I live far away from Texas but I think in parts of the South and Texas, etc. high school football is like the thing. Growing up in the Northeast nobody gave that much of a crap about high school football. I went to a bunch of games but it was just kind of a place to hang out. The small town I live in now was the childhood home of a guy who won multiple Super Bowls. Nobody gives a crap about the high school team, the one he played for. It's just not a thing. What I'm always shocked with with the US is the degree to which just almost everyone is into football. It's some sort of bizarre national religion, and a default smalltalk conversation topic It's definitely the default smalltalk conversation topic, at least for men. Feels less like "universal obsession" than "lowest common denominator" though, honestly. The comparison here is probably the other great national universal smalltalk topic, weather. You can talk about it with nearly anybody but it doesn't mean it's their biggest thing. Honestly, I like football more than most, but even I only think about it for about 5 months a year and at least half the people in my life aren't fans. religion I really do like this comparison. I think it's central to understanding its appeal to America. BUT here's the key: it is the national religion because it is something we do together, once per week more so than because we actually worship it that deeply. In other words, it's social. An excuse to get together on Sundays (if you're in an NFL town) or Saturdays (if you're in a college town). It's also something we enjoy together that somewhat cuts across class and ideological divides. It is certainly imperfect but in a world that is lacking in unity and common ground, I don't think this is an entirely bad thing.