Sports?

[drew]

After lurking/posting for over a year, and doing a quick search to make sure, I've noticed that there isn't a single thread dedicated to sports (correct me if I'm wrong, though). Are we collectively fulfilling the geek stereotype that accurately, or has it just never come up?

Having said that, I'll go ahead and break the ice. Red Sox/Yankees this weekend! That might not mean a lot to you (depending on interest and geography), but it means a helluva a lot to me. Thoughts? Opinions? Apathy?

[LadyStarblade]

Personally, I haven't followed baseball since Mark Grace retired (and I so broke up with the Cubs after the way they treated him), but I'll take the Red Sox over the Yankees anyday. Mostly because I know way too many Yankee fans and I like being contrary.

You wanna see me fired up...ask about the Colts and Patriots. :-)

[TheLuckyOne]

I don't really follow sports much... maybe ironic, since I'm fairly athletic, but in my case I'd usually rather be playing the game than watching someone else do it. I definitely enjoy taking in a ballgame in person, but I don't follow them very closely. (When I do, the Phillies are my team.)

However, I'm usually only too happy to root against the Red Sox. Partially because my in-laws (being from Boston) always root for them and it makes family gatherings fun, and partially because at this point, Boston fans are in danger of becoming every bit as obnoxious as New York fans were when they were winning. Not you personally, I'm sure, but in general... it's like everyone complained that the Yankees were this Evil Empire and their fans loudmouth jerks, but I don't see a big difference in fan behavior now that the Sox have toppled them, in anything but geography.

That being said, a former swim coach of mine who had a very, very great impact on my life passed away two months ago, and he was a huge Red Sox fan. So I've resolved, for this year at least, not to root against Boston. Go Sox this weekend!

-D, who followed the U.S. swimming trials very closely and will be tuning in to quite a few Olympic events next month...

[drew]

For the record, while I am a Red Sox fan, I've got some credentials as a knowledgeable sports fan. I spent the last year as the sports information directors (stats and publicity, basically) for nine sports at Southern Connecticut State University. And I'll be spending the next year (and maybe longer) in the same position at Yale University. So, in short, whether I'm a Red Sox fan, Lakers fan, or one of those crazies with the Cheeseheads on, I know my stuff.

And, for the record, the Red Sox are the only team that I really cheer for. I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan, though I consider myself an NFL fan more than anything else. And I am vocationally a fan of Southern Connecticut and Yale University athletics, with an affinity for the University of Connecticut and the University of Georgia, so long as their interests don't conflict with my own.

[astralprojections]

I have to say, that while I have many geeky qualities, not doing sports isn't one of mine. My husband and I actually joke that I'm the guy in this relationship.. (I have a funny story about how I have a wife and not a husband.. but that's for another time) There was this great satelite tv commercial once where the satelite guy comes over and is explaining all the different stuff to them, and he looks at the husband and starts telling him about the different sports channels they had subscribed to, and the husband chagriningly (i think I invented a new word?) points to his wife and explains to the guy that the channels were for her.. that's.. pretty much my husband and I right there. I watch NFL, Nascar, and college basketball, and I used to play football with the neighborhood kids when I was younger... untill it stopped being football and started being 'let's tackle the girl so we can cop a feel'... ah, memories..

[TheLuckyOne]

Jul 26, 2008 1:09:47 GMT -5 astralprojections said:

untill it stopped being football and started being 'let's tackle the girl so we can cop a feel'... ah, memories..

In fairness, that's a rite of passage for all American males, much like sneaking your parents' liquor while they're gone and refilling the bottles with water, or snapping towels in the locker room.


Meanwhile, is anybody else getting fired up about the Olympics? Less than two weeks to go, and I'm starting to feel the excitement. LeBron James has already guaranteed an American victory in basketball for the "Redeem Team" after 2004's third place finish. Dara Torres is competing in an unprecedented (for swimming) fifth Olympic games and is turning in times faster than she did twenty years ago; how awesome would it be if a 41-year-old mother won gold? Michael Phelps stands a chance at breaking Mark Spitz's record of 8 gold medals in a single Olympics.

So what events are you planning to/do you traditionally watch? Swimming's a given for me, but I'll probably try to watch some of track and field and basketball, and gymnastics is always entertaining. What about the rest of you?

-D

[DarthShady]

Well, I personally am not a huge follower of sports, though I do like to take in a good Eagles game once in a while - especially with my Red Skins/Cowboy-loving friends. But I really don't follow anything enough to carry a good conversation. I could probably say a lot about the Phillies or the Mets, but most of it would just be me repeating what my family members have been saying about them.

However, I am excited to announce that last night while working at my movie theatre, I got to serve popcorn to 15-20 guys from the Philadelphia Soul! Unfortunately Bon Jovi was not in attendance, but it was incredibly cool. I'm now the only person I know who has met a world champion!

OK, that story was irrelevant, but I like to brag about it. Plus, I'm still pumped at the idea of witnessing a championship parade in Philly during my lifetime.

[DocD83]

So is anyone into a nerdy sport? Like fencing?

[crickets chirp]

Crud.

[DarthShady]

Do marching band or drum corps count as nerdy sports? I can hold a conversation regarding DCI for days...

[TheLuckyOne]

Jeez... Phelps annihilated the world record in the 400 IM. Like the commentators joked, he could have at least been breathing hard at the end to make it look like he was working really hard. Man, that dude is unbelievable.

One gold down, seven to go...

-D

[StarOpal]

Men's Relay: Ho~ly cow!

[Al]

I was just coming to post that exact same thing. U-S-A! U-S-A!

[TheLuckyOne]

That is the single greatest relay that has ever been swum. Holy spit.

That's the type of swim they make movies like Miracle about.

-D

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Meanwhile, Canada gets schooled by Kazakhstan in boxing...

*sigh*

[TheLuckyOne]

Aug 10, 2008 22:32:33 GMT -5 StarOpal said:

Men's Relay: Ho~ly cow!

The scary part is that we all thought that was a very close race. Every one of us watched the end of that relay and thought, "That is the closest a race will be this entire Olympics, and the greatest come-from-behind victory I have ever seen."

And then the 100m butterfly. My God. One one-hundredth of a second. Literally, a fingernail.

I think Satan will be quite justified indeed when he shows up on Phelps' doorstep next week.

(To say nothing, of course, of Janet Evans' record in the 800 free finally being broken. Oldest swimming record in the world, held since 1989. Wow.)

-D