Wow. I've read anti-sports rants before, but never one so lengthy and pointless. It reminds me a lot of the hate I see for pop stars on the internet. The vitrio

Wow. I've read anti-sports rants before, but never one so lengthy and pointless. It reminds me a lot of the hate I see for pop stars on the internet. The vitriol over the Biebers and One Directions simply because they're popular in the mainstream. My immediate reaction is "Lots of people like something you don't like. Get over it." But ultimately, it's a completely elitist attitude that in this case ignores the cultural basis for sports fandom. He looks at all the ape-like sports fans and wonders why they can't behave like civilized men. Like him. In summary: - He doesn't like watching sports. - He once heard about a guy who abused his girlfriend and was also a sports fan. He concludes that jerks will be jerks despite the existence of sports and the anecdote was essentially unrelated. - He's felt the same shared joy and admiration except about things other than sports and gets why that was exciting but doesn't feel the same way about sports. Great. Particularly ill-conceived is this notion that we are being "tricked" into rooting for our regional teams despite their being full of non-local players. What he doesn't get is the team is the fans, not the players. We are the constant throughout the team's history. As the customer base, we are the reason for the existence of the team. In a sense, we pay to fund the thing. Players may come and go, but without us there would be no team. That's why we might simultaneously cheer for a hockey team full Canadians and a baseball team full of Dominicans. No one is "duping" us. I also fail to see the point of the wrestling analogy but I suppose it all goes back to the idea that we're all rubes. Of course he has a friend who is an Eagles fan, so it couldn't be that he doesn't understand the cultural basis. And he likes to watch soccer sometimes so it couldn't possibly be that he "just doesn't get it". And he's not judging sports fans because they don't choose what is enjoyable to them-- But why sports?! I've had so many positive sports-related experiences, memories celebrating with family and friends, countless strangers befriended simply because we were both fans, it's no wonder for me. Why does it have to be sports? Because we like them. Why do you struggle to change society instead of accepting that this aspect of the mainstream isn't for you?