sports

my brother's post about sports was interesting. so here's my version.

i have a strange relationship with sports.

growing up (particularly during the elementary school days) i was not particularly athletic and it was safer to not try than to look stupid. (honestly, this concept has played a big role in my life and i could easily write a post entirely on that... perhaps i will sometime) while the talented, fast, strong kids played sports, i decided it was safer to play video games, be funny, or make good grades. (i suppose it's only natural to move towards the things you're better at)

don't get me wrong, i played my share of kickball at recess. i played tee-ball and basketball. went golfing with granddad. i even played rec soccer until 8th grade. but i was careful not to take sports too seriously. i rarely tried hard. and i never attached my identity to how well i could throw, kick, or catch a ball.

also, for the first 10 years or so of my life, we never really had a "family team". some kids grow up with parents who LOVE some particular sport or team. if my dad had this he never really passed it on to me. around 3rd grade, our grandfather's love for tennessee (mainly football) caught on. but before then i hadn't had a team to really care about. and i suppose at that point in my life it was too late to start really caring.

i remember the first time i found jacob up early on a saturday watching sportscenter. eventually he started to pick up names and statistics. and could have sports conversations with adults. i thought it was rather strange. i tried to get into it once... but it didn't last long before i was bored. :)

so, just like playing sports, watching sports just "sort of happened sometimes". if a special game was on, i would join in. if someone else controlled the remote, i'd watch. but even after the most important games... i would move on after a day or two.

all of this to say... i didn't particularly care about sports. they were generally fun... but not something i seriously cared about.

and that's still my basic attitude to this day.


my opinion on specific sports:

-soccer is the most fun to play. i think it involves a good balance of skill and endurance, of strategy and action. i like how special a goal is. and i like the teamwork.

-football is the most fun to watch. i think it's a brilliant sport. besides being physically hardcore and exciting... i am surprised over and over again by how incredibly intelligent the game is. the strategy it involves is mind boggling. it's more crazy than chess. and a heck of a lot quicker to make you get on your feet.

-basketball is okay. it's pretty fun to play. and my dad was right... going to a basketball game is cool because the environment is pretty intimate. unlike football, i feel like my yelling makes a difference in a basketball stadium.

-baseball bores me to death most of the time. watching or playing. sorry if that offends anyone. :)

-hockey would be much more awesome if it were played outside during snow storms. i actually imagine it's really fun to play... if you have time to learn to skate. the puck is too small and moves too fast to make watching hockey exciting... it's too hard to see what's really happening.

-my granddad taught me to golf. i haven't played in way too long. it's mostly pretty boring to watch, but playing is great once you're decent. it's like someone found a way to combine a nice outdoors walk and a strategy game into one. i like how personal it is- you essentially play one-on-one, you versus the golf course, not against other people.

that's most of the basic sports, but...
-paintball is fun. who doesn't love pretending to be a soldier?
-ultimate is good too... a little bit too much running for me though. :) the more i learn about strategy the more impressed i am with it.
-we played a lot of sand volleyball over spring break and had a blast

as far as specific teams go:

-anything georgia tech. i love having my own team to support. i love having a reason to root for a team. one thing that bothers me about professional sports is how commercialized it feels. why do you cheer for a pro team? the only halfway good reasons are: you know someone else who does or you live in the area. to me, neither of these can compare with the way you cheer for your own college. in good times and bad, whether you want to be or not, you're connected. it's like... you're not just a fan- you're part of a family. jacob was talking about his warming up to georgia... i think it's only natural.

-i'll still cheer for tennessee if the game is on, though that's died down since coming to tech.

-i'll cheer for the colts if they're on. just because of peyton manning.

-i'll cheer for an atlanta team over the other i suppose

-oh! during the world cup i'll cheer for the united states, naturally. and germany is my backup :)


but again... for the most part...
i just don't care that much. :)