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Sports are fun to watch; they can provide you with a connection to a place, give you a chance to learn about strategy, are an easy way to strike up a conversati

Sports are fun to watch; they can provide you with a connection to a place, give you a chance to learn about strategy, are an easy way to strike up a conversation with somebody else, and are a good way to feel a part of something bigger than just yourself. Why is the article "Why Sports Are a Sad and Dangerous Waste of Time" and not "Why Watching TV or Watching Movies or Reading Dumb News Stories On The Internet Are Sad and Dangerous Wastes of Time", given that by basically every metric the author provides (people get really worked up over them, people get into big arguments over them, people cheer wildly for the participants, billions of dollars get spent on them, and the consumers don't accomplish anything useful by consuming) apply to them? Is it because the author likes watching movies, doesn't like sports, and is bothered by the fact that people like a thing he doesn't like?

twic 13y ago
People don't get worked up over movies, TV shows, or dumb news stories on the internet the way they do about sports. They don't pledge allegiance to a single movie, go out and buy costumes displaying the movie's emblems, or engage in verbal and physical conflict with fans of rival movies. Well, some do. But we consider those people to be nutcases. No, the only other things that people get as worked up about as they do sports are nation, religion, and sometimes politics. Which, now i come to think about it, are subjects that are even more ridiculous than sports.
- CocaKoala 13y ago
  Your list is incomplete; it should read "nation, religion, and sometimes politics, and also justin bieber, twilight, harry potter, the hunger games, jennifer lawrence, and whichever celebrity does something crazy in the next week".
- robitor 13y ago
  I don't understand hacker news' dislike of politics... do most programmers not find it exciting?
  - ahomescu1 13y ago
    Actually, I'd say that HN has too much politics. Almost every week or every other week someone brings up Basic Income (for the 500th time) and that spawns a 500-comment thread. Personally, I'd prefer it if Hacker News stayed purely technical (there are other forums where people can bash each other over politics all they want).
noname123 13y ago
Sports is cool because it's a documentary-style narrative about people trying to overcome their limitations and most of the time coming up short. To be honest, I enjoy the failures than the successes, the show of vanity and insecurity than the squeeky-clean polished professional athlete. Some cool sports-related books and doc's I've watched over the years, Seven Seconds or Less; about Phoenix Sun's "Run & Gun" season which reads more like a kladeiscope novel about the star players, role players, injured players and coaching staff. The Sun ultimately falls short of their goal of winning an NBA championship. The morale of the story is that it doesn't really matter if you win in the end, the point is to try something different (score in 7 seconds or less of your posession clock, play unselfishly and make the extra pass). And even a Canadian unatheletic, relatively undersized white guy can become the NBA Back-to-Back MVP, by owning up to who he is. http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Seconds-Less-Season-Phoenix/dp/0743298136 http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Seconds-Less-Season-Phoenix/dp/0... The Finish Line; about Steve Nash (the former MVP)'s potential last season with the LA Lakers which reads more like 'Old Man & The Sea,' about a man's denial of his aging, struggle to defy against it and his slow acceptance and somehow finding dignity and putting on a last fantastic hooray against the elements. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-finish-line-episode-3-steve-nash-reacts-to-the-backlash/ http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-finish-line-episode-3-... Skip Bayless, Stephen A's conversation with TO; which watches more like the last act (on St.Helena) of Kubrick's "Napoleon" if it was made). It shows a broken down once high flying and flameboyant professional athlete coming to terms with his vanity and ego, after it's already too late. But that's the beauty too, of a man accepting who he was, how the situations turned against him and appreciating life because the circumstances forced him to grow, even if it meant no longer in the NFL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6UouXlWuvo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6UouXlWuvo Other similiar doc's: Run Ricky Run (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617299/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617299/), Survive & Advance (http://vimeo.com/62966564 http://vimeo.com/62966564), Hoops Dream (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/). Hope you can find enjoyment and value in sport as much as I do.
- CocaKoala 13y ago
  Sports are awesome. My fiancee is crazy into hockey; she grew up in Detroit and is a passionate fan of the Red Wings. After we got serious, I started tracking the Wings so I could chat with her about how the season is going, and now I have a lot of fun listening to their games on the radio and tracking their season (although this current season is pretty rough). I grew up in Seattle and this year's football season + the Superbowl was incredible for me; I spent YEARS being salty over the 06 loss to the Steelers and the utter curbstomping of the Broncoes almost made up for it. I wonder how this guy feels about the Olympics. Does he bitch and moan about "ugh I can't believe people watch this crap" when people are rooting for Michael Phelps, etc?
cylinder 13y ago
Sports are fun to watch, I just watched a great Elite Eight game. The problem is that people are just committing far too much mindshare to sports these days. ESPN has three channels devoted pretty much to just talking about sports, in great detail, including gossip, drama, recaps, minutia, etc. People, and let's be honest, mostly men, sit there consuming this stuff all day, reading about it online, talking about it with friends, watching it in the evenings, playing fantasy sports... Past a certain point it goes beyond entertainment and into the realm of tribalism. There's just far too much emotional and mental investment into this stuff.
- CocaKoala 13y ago
  Honestly, I feel like the amount of mindshare given over to sports pales in comparison to the amount of mindshare given over to movie stars, musicians, and celebrities. I only found out about the Seahawks and their success because I grew up in Seattle and made an effort to see how they were doing. I don't listen to Miley Cyrus at all, but couldn't help learning how everybody in the world felt about her performance at the VMAs. Why isn't the article about that?
mdonahoe 13y ago
"feel a part of something bigger than just yourself." This is the greatest benefit of sports. It is a easy way to experience collective identity. When viewed from the outside, many collectives activities look silly (sports, dancing, praying, ceremonies) but it can feel powerful to be part of it. My hunch is that most loners (myself included) have too rigid a definition of self.

twic 13y ago

People don't get worked up over movies, TV shows, or dumb news stories on the internet the way they do about sports. They don't pledge allegiance to a single movie, go out and buy costumes displaying the movie's emblems, or engage in verbal and physical conflict with fans of rival movies. Well, some do. But we consider those people to be nutcases. No, the only other things that people get as worked up about as they do sports are nation, religion, and sometimes politics. Which, now i come to think about it, are subjects that are even more ridiculous than sports.

CocaKoala 13y ago
Your list is incomplete; it should read "nation, religion, and sometimes politics, and also justin bieber, twilight, harry potter, the hunger games, jennifer lawrence, and whichever celebrity does something crazy in the next week".
robitor 13y ago
I don't understand hacker news' dislike of politics... do most programmers not find it exciting?
- ahomescu1 13y ago
  Actually, I'd say that HN has too much politics. Almost every week or every other week someone brings up Basic Income (for the 500th time) and that spawns a 500-comment thread. Personally, I'd prefer it if Hacker News stayed purely technical (there are other forums where people can bash each other over politics all they want).

noname123 13y ago

Sports is cool because it's a documentary-style narrative about people trying to overcome their limitations and most of the time coming up short. To be honest, I enjoy the failures than the successes, the show of vanity and insecurity than the squeeky-clean polished professional athlete. Some cool sports-related books and doc's I've watched over the years, Seven Seconds or Less; about Phoenix Sun's "Run & Gun" season which reads more like a kladeiscope novel about the star players, role players, injured players and coaching staff. The Sun ultimately falls short of their goal of winning an NBA championship. The morale of the story is that it doesn't really matter if you win in the end, the point is to try something different (score in 7 seconds or less of your posession clock, play unselfishly and make the extra pass). And even a Canadian unatheletic, relatively undersized white guy can become the NBA Back-to-Back MVP, by owning up to who he is. http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Seconds-Less-Season-Phoenix/dp/0743298136 http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Seconds-Less-Season-Phoenix/dp/0... The Finish Line; about Steve Nash (the former MVP)'s potential last season with the LA Lakers which reads more like 'Old Man & The Sea,' about a man's denial of his aging, struggle to defy against it and his slow acceptance and somehow finding dignity and putting on a last fantastic hooray against the elements. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-finish-line-episode-3-steve-nash-reacts-to-the-backlash/ http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-finish-line-episode-3-... Skip Bayless, Stephen A's conversation with TO; which watches more like the last act (on St.Helena) of Kubrick's "Napoleon" if it was made). It shows a broken down once high flying and flameboyant professional athlete coming to terms with his vanity and ego, after it's already too late. But that's the beauty too, of a man accepting who he was, how the situations turned against him and appreciating life because the circumstances forced him to grow, even if it meant no longer in the NFL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6UouXlWuvo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6UouXlWuvo Other similiar doc's: Run Ricky Run (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617299/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617299/), Survive & Advance (http://vimeo.com/62966564 http://vimeo.com/62966564), Hoops Dream (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/). Hope you can find enjoyment and value in sport as much as I do.

CocaKoala 13y ago
Sports are awesome. My fiancee is crazy into hockey; she grew up in Detroit and is a passionate fan of the Red Wings. After we got serious, I started tracking the Wings so I could chat with her about how the season is going, and now I have a lot of fun listening to their games on the radio and tracking their season (although this current season is pretty rough). I grew up in Seattle and this year's football season + the Superbowl was incredible for me; I spent YEARS being salty over the 06 loss to the Steelers and the utter curbstomping of the Broncoes almost made up for it. I wonder how this guy feels about the Olympics. Does he bitch and moan about "ugh I can't believe people watch this crap" when people are rooting for Michael Phelps, etc?

cylinder 13y ago

Sports are fun to watch, I just watched a great Elite Eight game. The problem is that people are just committing far too much mindshare to sports these days. ESPN has three channels devoted pretty much to just talking about sports, in great detail, including gossip, drama, recaps, minutia, etc. People, and let's be honest, mostly men, sit there consuming this stuff all day, reading about it online, talking about it with friends, watching it in the evenings, playing fantasy sports... Past a certain point it goes beyond entertainment and into the realm of tribalism. There's just far too much emotional and mental investment into this stuff.

CocaKoala 13y ago
Honestly, I feel like the amount of mindshare given over to sports pales in comparison to the amount of mindshare given over to movie stars, musicians, and celebrities. I only found out about the Seahawks and their success because I grew up in Seattle and made an effort to see how they were doing. I don't listen to Miley Cyrus at all, but couldn't help learning how everybody in the world felt about her performance at the VMAs. Why isn't the article about that?

mdonahoe 13y ago

"feel a part of something bigger than just yourself." This is the greatest benefit of sports. It is a easy way to experience collective identity. When viewed from the outside, many collectives activities look silly (sports, dancing, praying, ceremonies) but it can feel powerful to be part of it. My hunch is that most loners (myself included) have too rigid a definition of self.