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Sunday, February 3, 2013

"Oh, That's Today?"

I'm very odd for a guy.  I have little to no interest in sports.  Seriously!  I can't tell you when football, baseball, basketball, or hockey season starts.  I can't tell you who is the quarterback or starting pitcher on any team, even people like Tom Brady who I have at least heard of.  I'm not against sports, I just don't understand the passion with which people follow them.  

So this means that major sporting events sneak up on me.  For example, today is Superbowl Sunday in the US.  This is the final championship game for American football and is the biggest single sporting event of the year in my country.  And I have forgotten that fact several times.  I don't go to parties, won't have the game on at any point, and will generally be trying to avoid paying attention to it.  Frankly, I feel lucky to even know who is playing.  I really don't care who wins and it won't make a difference to me one way or the other.  I'm quite "meh" on the whole thing.

I think it's all about how you grow up.  I played soccer as a child, but that was the only real sport with which I was involved.  My father helped coach my team but otherwise never watched sports.  I never really had an example of people in my life that paid attention to such things, and my son will be in the same situation.  I bonded to my father in other ways, and my son and I share activities other than sports.

I'm a geek, and therefore would rather participate in those pastimes. A friend of mine in vet school described the typical "geek sports":  Star Trek, Star Wars, role-playing games, video games, and comic books.  Now if there was a World Series involving any of those, I'd be in the front row!

To everyone who stays glued to their TV during the World Cup, Stanley Cup, Superbowl, or any similar event, good for you.  I know you're enjoying yourself.  But I will be deliberately avoiding paying attention.  I'll learn who won in the morning, not because I'm interested but because everyone else is.