Totally agree. And some sports are just friendlier than others. I play badminton, and I've occasionally played ultimate frisbee, and both have a great inclusiv

Totally agree. And some sports are just friendlier than others. I play badminton, and I've occasionally played ultimate frisbee, and both have a great inclusiveness culture, at least in Colorado, Washington, Texas, and California, the places I've variously played. Much of my current group of friends that I haven't met through geek-oriented meetups I met playing badminton. I also used to play volleyball, but ... well, too many jerks turned me off. Now I only play with friends at parties. It's worth emphasizing that making new friends takes time. It was a year before I felt I had good local friends after moving to Colorado, and 2-4 years before I was doing things with them outside of our original meeting group. It probably could be done faster -- I suck at the whole social thing -- but for the poster above who claimed to be stuck at zero: Put in the time, do the work, take a chance by reaching out, and you can build friendships. ALSO: Watch this TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability