Why do people bash certain sports?

[cloneu]

I would define a sport as any game that you have to practice before you play and condition your body to be better at.

Would this include ballet? They practice and have to condition their body for it. Sports are hard to define. You can play as a team or an individual, use a ball/puck etc. or not. I think the main thing for me to consider it to be a sport is that there needs to be competition involved. Driving in a NASCAR race is a sport, driving my car fast down the interstate is not a sport.

 

[ISUFan22]

For the same reason people continue to rip on certain ISU athletic programs, again and again and again - saying the same thing day in and day out...

Stirring the pot.

 

[bos]

The scorpion didn't have very good technique. Also looks like he won't get an opportunity to work on his technique either..:no:

Well he took down the tarantula when they fought before, so he has a legacy.

 

[keepngoal]

I'm just curious to why people here (and everywhere else) seem to bash certain sports? Is it because they don't like them? Don't watch them? Ignorance?

I've seen enough bad things said about NASCAR, golf, hockey, etc. it gets old. A lot of people like to watch these, why do some people feel the need to belittle others for doing so?

For example, people make fun of NASCAR for "driving around in circles, only turning left"...while that's true, how is that concept much different than basketball where people run up and down the same court trying to throw a ball into a basket? Every sport could be broken down into such simplistic terms that it sounds silly.

So what if some people like to watch golf and you don't. Why do some people find the need to point out how stupid golf is? I just don't get it.

/end rant

awfully sensitive today?

-keep

 

[clones_jer]

Womens basketball is horrible. I hate it because ESPN and the NBA try to jam the WNBA down our throats. I can't watch women do lay ups all day. It's also funamentaly horrible. The next person to tell me the WNBA has better fundamentals is crazy. They can't dribble half as good as (Do you think Iowa State's Womens basketball teams point guard can dribble like Tinsely). They can't dunk. They shoot the ball from there chest because most don't have the strenth to make a 3 pointer. It takes them forever to get a shot off. If they did that in the mens game they would get Brock Jacobsoned to death. I just can't stand it.

I watch all forms of basketball and would EASILY watch a WNBA game over baseball, golf or autoracing, but that is neither here nor there.

Saying the women couldn't guard Tinsley is like saying Layla Ali couldn't take out Riddick Bowe ...yeah, everybody knows that, so what?

I ref with some guys like you that are "too good" to officiate a women's game because it is "beneath" them. They're washed up has beens anyway, so I won't worry about them in a few years.

Most basketball fans appreciate the WNBA for what it is - The best womens basketball on the planet. No, its not "the best basketball on the planet". That would belong to Argentina unforturtunately ... or whoever kicked Team USAs butt last Olympics.

And believe me, its no skin off the NBA's back to supplement the WNBA. David Stern is nothing if not profit focused. He sees a market and obviously it is worth it for him on some level or he wouldn't be doing it. He supplements the NBADL as well, and that's a money burn pit if there ever was one - far worse attendance than the WNBA.

ok, end rant.

 

[cycloneworld]

awfully sensitive today?

-keep

Yeah, I don't know why. It's something that has bugged me for awhile.

 

[cmoneyr]

I'm just curious to why people here (and everywhere else) seem to bash certain sports? Is it because they don't like them? Don't watch them? Ignorance?

I've seen enough bad things said about NASCAR, golf, hockey, etc. it gets old. A lot of people like to watch these, why do some people feel the need to belittle others for doing so?

For example, people make fun of NASCAR for "driving around in circles, only turning left"...while that's true, how is that concept much different than basketball where people run up and down the same court trying to throw a ball into a basket? Every sport could be broken down into such simplistic terms that it sounds silly.

So what if some people like to watch golf and you don't. Why do some people find the need to point out how stupid golf is? I just don't get it.

/end rant

See, you mention people bashing sports, but then you talk about NASCAR. Which is it? Are we talking about sports or NASCAR? :biglaugh:

 

[CloneFan65]

To me any competitive physical competition is a sport. I consider bowling, darts, golf, and NASCAR to be sports. But are bowlers, golfers, and race car drivers athletes? No. As for balet dancing, it's not a sport, but I would consider professional dancers to be great athletes.

Also, I find it funny that a thread started to complain about people bashing other sports has turned into a sport-bashing thread.

 

[coachdags]

Cycloneworld.....

I'm with you, if you do not like it do not watch.....simple. I am a sports fan so I will watch anything called sport and appreciate it for the skill and effort it takes for them to compete, but then again Im older and can no longer particapte in many sports at a competitive level only a enjoyable level....

I think people really miss the point how hard it is to do the sports at the highest level and they ridicule them. In college 30 years ago a buddy of mine and myself took on the Nigerian National Badminton Champion (Solomon Aylina)....We laughed at badminton....:biglaugh: He handed us are asses, we could not get a point off him, playing 2 against 1.....Later we watched him compete for a olympic medal, he did not place....but he taught us to never laugh at any sport , until you can wear their shoes....

In my opionion, it is ok if you have no interest , but for people to make fun or dismiss what they can not accomplish is sad.....:sad:

 

[dustinal]

I would define a sport as any game that you have to practice before you play and condition your body to be better at. That includes auto racing...

Would this include ballet? They practice and have to condition their body for it. Sports are hard to define. You can play as a team or an individual, use a ball/puck etc. or not. I think the main thing for me to consider it to be a sport is that there needs to be competition involved. Driving in a NASCAR race is a sport, driving my car fast down the interstate is not a sport.

Ballet is performance art, not a game. Therefore I don't consider it a sport. I'd say the same of any type of dancing.

 

[mwitt]

Ballet is performance art, not a game. Therefore I don't consider it a sport. I'd say the same of any type of dancing.

What about boxing?

 

[dustinal]

What about boxing?

I think it's a game, therefore a sport.

I can see where this is going. I guess some people would argue that figure skating is performance art instead of a game/sport. Some might even say the same about gymnastics. I guess even my definition of what makes a sport isn't black and white.

Oh well, I tried. :wink:

 

[isufbcurt]

The thing about NASCAR is that it requires only the physical ability to steer a vehicle at high speeds between lots of congestion and the mental fortitude to last through a five-hour race. You don't have to be an athlete in any way, which makes it less entertaining to me personally, because I'd rather watch a great athlete perform than watch vehicles slash through each other. But that's just me. I suppose a lot of people do like to watch it, but I certainly don't get it.

See I disagree while I am not racing at the NASCAR level I am entering the corner on most 1/2 mile tracks in the 120ish mph range and we only go anywhere from 30 - 100 laps for a race but i know when I am done racing I am worn out (yes more worn out than I was after ISU football workouts) and I am still in pretty decent strength and conditioning.

 

[balken]

Some considered suggestions regarding the world's greatest sports competition, but I tend to have a sentimental place in my heart for wood tick racing.

International Wood Tick Races -- Classic Wisconsin

Competition is fierce, endurance and conditioning key, and it is clearly a sport by any definition.

 

[cyclonenum1]

Frankly, the only sport I religiously "knock" is soccer...mostly because I have had people trying to tell me for over 30 years that it is going to become the most popular sport in the US just as it is in most of the rest of the world. And as Ditka says, "If God would have meant for us to play soccer, he would have made us without arms!".

Just to touch on a few of the sports mentioned in this thread and some not mentioned:

Lacrosse - I used to live in Maryland and a serious lacrosse player will have a "bowflex commercial" type of body.

Golf - My sense is that most of you that knock this sport have never played. I run 3-4 miles 5-6 times per week and I can assure you that playing a round of golf still "takes it out of me"...and that is riding in a cart. And if you think professional golf has a bunch of fat guys playing, you better look again. The PGA today is not the same as the Fuzzy Zoeller, Craig Stadler PGA of yesteryear...this guys have nearly all followed Tiger's lead and really gotten in shape...even Lefty.

NASCAR...I have got to believe that this sport takes both a lot of endurance and nerves of steel. I'll bet these guys are pretty fatigued at the end of a race.

Bowling - This one is a stretch for me, but I will give it its due...since the best game I have ever bowled is about a 180. However, I saw a TV program on balls on the Discovery Channel and they have made huge changes in the way a bowling ball is put together over the last 30 years and the number of perfect games has increased dramatically due to this...I guess I need to buy a new ball!

Eating - Even in this sport, the most in shape guys do the best. You never see the fattest guy in the contest win...just look at the abs on Kobayashi...he is in great shape. I think Joey Chestnutt is in pretty darned good shape as well...and so is Eater X!

 

[Sousaclone]

People knock sports they aren't familiar with (either through playing or exposure). It's that simple. It's kind of the American way of doing things. (See soccer, etc.)

To me a sport is any athletic activity that is/can be engaged in competitively and is primarily done in that setting.

 

[mwitt]

I think it's a game, therefore a sport.

I can see where this is going. I guess some people would argue that figure skating is performance art instead of a game/sport. Some might even say the same about gymnastics. I guess even my definition of what makes a sport isn't black and white.

Oh well, I tried. :wink:

No, I wasn't trying to argue with you at all. I appreciate your opinion because it is something that I have thought about in my head for a long time. I don't know how to define it. I used to say that sports don't require judges, but that eliminates boxing and I would definitely consider boxing a sport. I like the way you said that it has to be a game, but I don't know that I'd call boxing a game either.

 

[clones_jer]

People knock sports they aren't familiar with (either through playing or exposure). It's that simple. It's kind of the American way of doing things. (See soccer, etc.)

To me a sport is any athletic activity that is/can be engaged in competitively and is primarily done in that setting.

I don't know about that. I've played soccer, baseball, and even raced crusier class at the local dirt track for 2 summers after high school. I continue to try golfing about 5 times a year ... though what I do is far from anything people should call "golf".

Yet, I dislike baseball, soccer, golf and auto-racing. Maybe it's just the professional versions of them. I still like participating is the sports ... just not watching other people on tv.

I don't think you have to be good at a sport to like it either - I can hold my own at basketball in the rec leagues ... but if I had to play football right now I would be in intensive care soon after.

I don't know the answer either ... but "not having enough information" can't be to total reason for America not picking up and running with soccer, its been beat over our heads for 25 years how great it is.

 

[Clonefan94]

I don't really bash other sports I don't care for very often. We do have one friend we hassle a bit because he is a soccer fan and has been known to ask us to check the score of a soccer game while we were watching football (American). He's been razzed about that a lot. Personally, I've never liked soccer. Mainly because I felt it was always kind of pushed on us as kids. I remember hearing over and over, "But, it's the most popular sport in the world!" All the while being told by my mother, "If your friends told you to jump off of a bridge I suppose you would do that to!" I mean it's just not a legitimate argument. So what if it's the most popular sport in the world. It doesn't mean I have to like it. So, if a sport does get bashed by me, it would be soccer. And it's not really that I don't like it or I think it's boring, it's more so because of my hatred for all the people telling me that it's the most popular sport in the world. I really don't care. It just seems like such a "You're not conforming" argument that it really pisses me off.

 

[Cydkar]

How can something on TV be jammed down your throat? Don't you have a remote? I hate women's basketball but don't feel like I'm being imposed upon by it.