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[Witherweaver]

Oops, I may have been a bit too emphatic in my disdain for baseball this morning. I try not to let that come out too much since people have their own tastes, and I won't begrudge people for liking it.

I just blurted it out when I was shocked that my co-worker would forego watching American Horror Story for baseball. I won't have anyone to talk with around here about AHS for several days.

Some people want to spend a good chunk of time being bored.

The thing is that they're not bored with it. They like the pauses in the action. I guess it builds tension for when something actually happens.

But then, different tastes. I'm sure I can find people who would find playing Dominion to be tedious. None of them are my friends, of course, but such a thing is possible. After all, how many conversations have come up on BGG and here about finding more accessible board games to play that appeal to the diehard board gamer and the casual nongamer? I would be perfectly content playing a 12-hour-long game of Advanced Civilization, but even some of my avid gaming buddies shy away from that. So yeah, I find baseball boring as hell, but the excitement of this week proves that there's enough who disagree with me to make it worthwhile.

But hey, at least I'm not playing baseball. That's one of the few sports that where I find it more boring to participate than to watch. If I had to do a sport, I'd do something with very few pauses in the action, like futbol, hockey, or basketball.

Impossible.  Baseball is boring; therefore, people that watch it must be bored.

This begs the question, why would they even watch baseball at all?

Ahserksy!  Alert!

[jonts26]

I just hate it when people have different interests then me. How dare someone enjoy something I don't.

[Teproc]

From an outsider perspective : baseball is boring. This is not a "your American sports are stupid" thing (although they are), because I also find soccer boring.

There is a caveat there though : they're not boring if you're rooting for a team. Because once you're really rooting for someone, there's tension at every step. I've actually been in a baseball stadium during a holiday in America : I went to a Cubs game in Chicago, and I had a lot of fun, because I was rooting for the home team (and they actually won, which I'm led to believe is unusual for them).

Truly great sports are the ones you can enjoy without rooting for a particular team. Like rugby for example.

[Witherweaver]

From an outsider perspective : baseball is boring. This is not a "your American sports are stupid" thing (although they are), because I also find soccer boring.

There is a caveat there though : they're not boring if you're rooting for a team. Because once you're really rooting for someone, there's tension at every step. I've actually been in a baseball stadium during a holiday in America : I went to a Cubs game in Chicago, and I had a lot of fun, because I was rooting for the home team (and they actually won, which I'm led to believe is unusual for them).

Truly great sports are the ones you can enjoy without rooting for a particular team. Like rugby for example.

*coughvolleyballcough*

[soulnet]

From an outsider perspective : baseball is boring. This is not a "your American sports are stupid" thing (although they are), because I also find soccer boring.

Basketball is awesome (I assume by American sports you mean sports popular in the US). And the macho culture around rugby is awful, worst than football (the real one, the one you strangely call soccer). Maybe the game itself would be nice if it wasn't for that, but hey, can you really separate the two?

[Kuildeous]

From an outsider perspective : baseball is boring. This is not a "your American sports are stupid" thing (although they are), because I also find soccer boring.

I wonder if this is why the "World Series" consists of teams only from America and Canada. The rest of the world doesn't care about baseball (though I seem to recall that Japan and Cuba have an interest in it).

[silverspawn]

how about: physical sports are boring?

[soulnet]

I wonder if this is why the "World Series" consists of teams only from America and Canada. The rest of the world doesn't care about baseball (though I seem to recall that Japan and Cuba have an interest in it).

Baseball is the most popular sport in Venezuela and Cuba (actually, in Cuba they are shifting to football, but Baseball was their main sport until recently).

Calling something national (or bi-national) World Series is just one of the many expression of the US-centric (or North American-centric) way of doing things. I have also heard the NBA Champion be called "World Champion" many times on US's ESPN (even before there were Canadian teams in the NBA), and Basketball is popular in many places outside the US from at least 50 years ago.

[AndrewisFTTW]

how about: physical sports are boring?

I think most people in the world would disagree with you.

[eHalcyon]

From an outsider perspective : baseball is boring. This is not a "your American sports are stupid" thing (although they are), because I also find soccer boring.

I wonder if this is why the "World Series" consists of teams only from America and Canada. The rest of the world doesn't care about baseball (though I seem to recall that Japan and Cuba have an interest in it).

Baseball isn't so popular in Canada either. The stereotype is true, it's mostly hockey hype here.

[silverspawn]

how about: physical sports are boring?

I think most people in the world would disagree with you.

yes most people in the world also don't play dominion. do you agree with not playing dominion? q.e.d

[AndrewisFTTW]

how about: physical sports are boring?

I think most people in the world would disagree with you.

yes most people in the world also don't play dominion. do you agree with not playing dominion? q.e.d

What does Dominion have to do with sports?

[soulnet]

Most people not playing Dominion is not a judgement but a fact, so there is nothing to agree or disagree on it. People not liking Dominion would be different, but people can only not like it if they know it, and I am not sure whether most people that know Dominion dislike Dominion (yes, that's how great I think the game is).

[Kuildeous]

how about: physical sports are boring?

I would say that physical sports are boring to me, but I wouldn't generalize it too much. For example, if the television is showing volleyball, tennis, or hockey, I'd even find myself drawn in a little bit as it is constant action. Granted, for volleyball and tennis, you have a slight delay as you reset the court, but the game is afoot fairly quickly.

Baseball and American football are dreary for me. Oh, look, a little action. Okay, now they're talking about it. Yeah, players are shuffling a bit. Oh, they're lining up. Oh, look, a little action. Okay, now more talking about it.

How it is that American football surpasses futbol in popularity in the States I will never understand. At the very least, how is it more popular than basketball?

They all bore me, but I'm not the norm. But at least those sports aren't golf or auto racing. Those are complete snooze fests to me.

[AndrewisFTTW]

The constant action of soccer and hockey is exciting but there's something to be said for the drama of waiting for that next pitch or that next throw because it only takes one to change a whole game.

[soulnet]

The fact that "grown ups" got a sequel proves that there is a portion of people that enjoys paying to watch something where NOTHING happens.

[Teproc]

I said soccer because saying football is confusing when you're on an international forum. If I were to mention both in a sentence I would say football and American football but I wasn't so I said soccer for the sake of clarity.

Basketball is the most enjoyable of the American sports (and, unsurprisingly, the most popular around the world), but I still don't like it. It's fun to play, but not to watch : it's just very repetitive and too many points are scored.

@soulnet : I mean there is a macho culture around sports in general. In France, rugby players have a much better image than soccer players as being down-to-earth people, though that's fading as the Top14 is transforming into the equivalent of the Premier League.

@WW : Volley-ball is awesome, I play it every week ! I enjoy watching rugby more though.

PPE : Hockey is great too, I always forget about it because it's not played a lot around here, but I always enjoy watching it in the WInter Olympics.

[Witherweaver]

I said soccer because saying football is confusing when you're on an international forum. If I were to mention both in a sentence I would say football and American football but I wasn't so I said soccer for the sake of clarity.

Basketball is the most enjoyable of the American sports (and, unsurprisingly, the most popular around the world), but I still don't like it. It's fun to play, but not to watch : it's just very repetitive and too many points are scored.

@soulnet : I mean there is a macho culture around sports in general. In France, rugby players have a much better image than soccer players as being down-to-earth people, though that's fading as the Top14 is transforming into the equivalent of the Premier League.

@WW : Volley-ball is awesome, I play it every week ! I enjoy watching rugby more though.

PPE : Hockey is great too, I always forget about it because it's not played a lot around here, but I always enjoy watching it in the WInter Olympics.

What position do you play?

I really only watch volleyball.. I have particular interest in it because I can learn from what I see the athletes do, and I can understand from personal experience certain situations/decisions/etc.  (Even though they play at a much higher level than me.)

[Awaclus]

football (the real one

Neither football is the real one. One of them is handegg and the other one is divegrass.

[enfynet]

As someone that grew up playing a lot of sports, I enjoy watching American football more than any other sport I can play. I enjoy hockey more than any sport I cannot play. Anything else I either prefer playing, or prefer ignoring.

Also, it should be noted that football (NFL/NCAA) are typically enjoyed in a group setting, where there is interaction outside the actual game being watched.

[eHalcyon]

Apparently cockroaches are better at cooperating than people are.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/04/03/1607034.htm

:|

[WalrusMcFishSr]

Apparently cockroaches are better at cooperating than people are.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/04/03/1607034.htm

:|

I believe that cockroaches and termites are relatively closely related phylogenetically? I wonder if that has something to do with this social behavior.

[Polk5440]

I practice reciprocal respect: I am much more likely to +1 your posts if you +1 mine.

[Witherweaver]

Apparently cockroaches are better at cooperating than people are.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/04/03/1607034.htm

:|

Also, rocks are really great at cooperating.  They never fight or argue with each other, or cut each other off in traffic, or anything.

[pacovf]

I practice reciprocal respect: I am much more likely to +1 your posts if you +1 mine.

...how much more likely are we talking here?