Why do people around here wear sports clothing constantly? (Ocean City: stats, activity)

[GoPhils]

This is too funny. For someone claiming to be so smart you sure do love making generalizations...like everyone who watches sports is an idiot. I guess that means everyone who plays guitar is a pothead.

[xanman]

Leo Kotke? Roy Clark? Ted Nugent? To name a few we all know.

[NJGOAT]

NJ goat-Yes, I am aware of the social history of sports. I am aware of the psychological effects and necessity of team and individual sports, both positive and negative. I guess what I'm saying is for me, I don't need to attempt to fit in with the Philadelphia mentality toward sports. Yes, it is a common ground, but in my opinion, a pathetic one. I played ball as a kid until I was 17. I know the games. I find it very repetitive and limited as a spectator. I can't understand how an intelligent person can sit and watch it for hours and hours, over and over, day after day. There is a finite amount of information to learn and there is nothing thought provoking. This limited information and lack of mental stimulation causes me to get bored very quickly. I can't believe a man of Obama's intelligence really considers sports a priority of any kind. What if Obama stated an opinion like mine? What effect do you think that would have on his career and reputation? Remember, he is in the public eye and needs to connect to as many people as possible on a level the average (IQ 100) person can relate to. Let me catch up for a week or two on the NFL and I could sit down enthusiastically with ESPN if it would benefit my life and future by doing so. It doesn't take too many smarts to memorize players and a some stats. It can't compare to the physics or calculus I had to memorize and get tested on back in college.

ESPN

“Well, I know it is genuine — absolutely — and it’s thorough. It’s not just about the sports that are obvious, that people think of all the time,” Wilbon told us. Obama does more than fill out college basketball brackets — he checks in with experts (including Wilbon) to see how they’re doing along the way. “March Madness … believe me, he has brackets and it’s competitive, because I know I’ve gotten a phone call, ‘How’s your bracket?’ ” Wilbon said. “But this goes back — this was all his life. I mean, if politics is one conversation of his life, then sports is the other, and sports probably, probably if I would hazard guess, a lot longer. And it’s everything — it’s professional basketball, it’s college basketball, it’s pro and college football to some extent. I don’t know if they’re all equal, but it’s very genuine.” We also got Wilbon’s take on whether Congress should play a role in replacing the Bowl Championship Series with a playoff system (a favored cause of Obama’s)

Obama

“The passion that Obama has is on the extreme side and shared by only a small handful of presidents,” said Marc Ganis, a sports analyst and president of Chicago-based SportsCorp Ltd.

Mr. Obama’s enthusiasm goes beyond the usual photo-op. He knows his facts and he loves his Chicago teams - pro basketball’s Bulls, pro football’s Bears and big league baseball’s White Sox.

Still, the president did a fist pump after the throw and later told Mr. Buck that baseball is “such a reminder about what’s great about this country. You can’t beat it.”

Yeah, he's doing it simply to appeal to the masses.

I find it rather amusing that someone with such a keen intellect such as yourself had no idea that a man that you admire, the President of our nation, was such a rabid sports fan.

My hobbies are guitar playing, music, reading, travel, and I'm just starting to brew my own beer. All of my hobbies have limitless potential for learning.

Are you passionate about your hobbies? Do you really love music? Do you listen to all types of music? Do you endeavor to memorize lyrics and notes? Do you read about the history of your favorite bands and the inspiration for their songs? Can you recall all of their tours and why they were important within the bands history?

What's different about being passionate about music and being passionate about sports?

[xanman]

I get the point about generalizations. They say we all generalize though in order to allow our brains to make efficient, timely decisions. It's actually necessary for our survival.

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by xanman

Manderly6-Maybe I do. It is the sad reality that I have to live in an area where most people are itiots. I've been all over the country, and lived in Calif. for some time. The people out there are not like we are about sports. They love their Lakers, but it's not the topic of every conversation. I wish I was stupid some times. Life would be a hell of lot easier. And trust me, I have no self confidence issues. I believe in myself and my ability to survive under any circumstances and master any challenge before me if necessary. I've never had to ask anyone for anything. I"m proud of that and the fact that I owe nobody anything also. Any debt I've chosen to take on I can pay off today if I had to. I have enough money saved over the years (not including retirement savings) that I could go without working for about (4) years maintaining my current lifestyle. I've paid my own way and done it honestly.

If you are going to insult the entire general population of the area, you might as well spell i"d"iot properly. Better punctuation and grammer wouldn't hurt either, but that's a cheap shot on my part.

Originally Posted by xanman

Manderly6-I believe I think rationally and logically. I do believe anyone who thinks differently than me about the sports topic is inferior to me. Don't try to twist things. You mentioned that you believe I have a lack of self confidence. I responded in a strong manner to make my point. I don't have a problem with someone who thinks differently than me when the topic of discussion is an intellectual one and something I can learn from, or go research further and learn something new (ie, life in the universe, possible additions to the periodic table of elements, mapping of the functions of the human brain...) get my point? I am proud I've made my own way and owe nobody anything. I could never live a life in debt or owing favors to someone or having to kiss someone's ass. If that's bragging, then I can't think of a better thing to brag about.

One who does not understand or enjoy a topic is often simply threatened by those who do. Therefore the easiest retort is to belittle the topic as nothing of consequence and a waste of ones time. Since you do not have the knowledge, faculty or desire to understand sports, it is better for you to relegate it in your mind to the environs of the mindless rabble. Your lack of knoweldge on the topic does not afford you the opportunity to assert your superiority over others, so it must be ignored and ridiculed to defend your own sense of mental superiority which you find threatened by those who have an understanding that exceeds your own. The other topics you have interest in, so hence you want to discuss them as you have a chance to dominate the conversation. Sadly your desire for learning in those topics is not driven by an actual desire for learning, but a desire to be able to exert your superiority over others.

Insecure indeed.

[xanman]

NJ Goat- It appears you have me over a barrel on the Obama and sports issue. I see you have done your research. I don't feel the need to check your sources. I guess it throws a a wrench into my thought process.

I probably could tell you a lot about the bands I like and their tours, members, etc...

Ok, I get the point. I have my opinions. In my opinionated mind, there ARE differences between being interested in music and sports. I guess one could then argue they share similarities even in those differences. I realize that in this case, my generalization proved to be very wrong. I saw that the human brain actually uses generalizations as a survival tool. It's something we all do unconciously.

The lesson I have learned is: Keep my generalizations to myself and evaluate the individual before passing judgement based on generalizations.

[xanman]

NJ goat- I have the knowledge of the rules (including most penalties except rare calls) of both football and baseball. I played ball as a youth. When I was a kid, I knew all of the football and baseball players through the mid 1970's. I lost interest as I got older. Listen, it wouldn't be that difficult to learn all the current names and at least some important stats. I would need about 2 weeks of study time and I think I could hold my own again, maybe not against an ESPN commentator, but the majority of sports fans. It's not my ability to learn, it is my lack of desire, as you correctly stated. I do love to read and watch discovery, science, history, PBS.. just because I am truly interested in learning, believe it or not. Also...typos are very easy to make and the spell check on here doesn't seem to work

[GoPhils]

If you really think that no one that watches sports is intelligent, you should check out fangraphs.com. I'm sure you'll say they're wasting their time analyzing a game and "pointless statistics," but there are some very in-depth statistics out there that take a lot of intellect to understand.

Here is the formula for one statistic that has become very popular in the sabermetric community, called wOBA:
(0.72xNIBB + 0.75xHBP + 0.90x1B + 0.92xRBOE + 1.24x2B + 1.56x3B + 1.95xHR) / PA

By the way, I kindof do agree with your point of not really wanting to fit in with the crowd. Since the Phillies have become so popular, I probably wear less Phillies apparel than I used to (when they were terrible), because I don't feel like having people think that I just jumped on the bandwagon. Of course, I still enjoy watching the team and supporting the team just as much as I used to, probably moreso since they're actually good (except for the ways the last couple seasons ended). But 99% of the people in the Philadelphia area are not sports fans because it's the "cool thing to do," they're sports fans because they legitimately enjoy watching their hometown teams play. Yes, most of the players aren't actually from here, but almost all of them appreciate the passion of the fans in Philadelphia, as it is one of the few cities where players have continuously cited the impact the fans have played in their success. Perfect example, I may have posted this during the previous discussion, but it's worth reposting: The Fightins » Pat Burrell Thanks the Philly Fans in Today’s Daily News

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by xanman

NJ Goat- It appears you have me over a barrel on the Obama and sports issue. I see you have done your research. I don't feel the need to check your sources. I guess it throws a a wrench into my thought process.

I probably could tell you a lot about the bands I like and their tours, members, etc...

Ok, I get the point. I have my opinions. In my opinionated mind, there ARE differences between being interested in music and sports. I guess one could then argue they share similarities even in those differences. I realize that in this case, my generalization proved to be very wrong. I saw that the human brain actually uses generalizations as a survival tool. It's something we all do unconciously.

The lesson I have learned is: Keep my generalizations to myself and evaluate the individual before passing judgement based on generalizations.

Who would have thought judging people on generalizations was a bad idea?

I get it though, we all make generalizations, it's human nature and thought process to generalize and categorize things, it helps us remember them and recall information. However, people are individuals and while you can put them into certain buckets in your mind, its incredibly shortsighted to pass judgement upon them based on them being in a certain bucket.

Your assumption that sports fans are idiots and therefore the guy I see wearing a sports jersey is an idiot is just as foolish as seeing a Mexican and assuming he is lazy.

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by GoPhils

If you really think that no one that watches sports is intelligent, you should check out fangraphs.com. I'm sure you'll say they're wasting their time analyzing a game and "pointless statistics," but there are some very in-depth statistics out there that take a lot of intellect to understand.

Here is the formula for one statistic that has become very popular in the sabermetric community, called wOBA:
(0.72xNIBB + 0.75xHBP + 0.90x1B + 0.92xRBOE + 1.24x2B + 1.56x3B + 1.95xHR) / PA

By the way, I kindof do agree with your point of not really wanting to fit in with the crowd. Since the Phillies have become so popular, I probably wear less Phillies apparel than I used to (when they were terrible), because I don't feel like having people think that I just jumped on the bandwagon. Of course, I still enjoy watching the team and supporting the team just as much as I used to, probably moreso since they're actually good (except for the ways the last couple seasons ended). But 99% of the people in the Philadelphia area are not sports fans because it's the "cool thing to do," they're sports fans because they legitimately enjoy watching their hometown teams play. Yes, most of the players aren't actually from here, but almost all of them appreciate the passion of the fans in Philadelphia, as it is one of the few cities where players have continuously cited the impact the fans have played in their success. Perfect example, I may have posted this during the previous discussion, but it's worth reposting: The Fightins » Pat Burrell Thanks the Philly Fans in Today’s Daily News

You bring up a very good point and you brought it up earlier as well and it was just as good then. There is a difference in Philly sports teams and the fans versus most other cities. You go a lot of places and people are basically bandwagon fans that only get interested in sports when the teams are doing well. That is the definition of the "mindless rabble, crowd mentality". Oh, team X is doing well, I'm going to go out and buy a jersey.

Philly tends to be different. Sports is part of the culture and identity of the city and people tend to be passionate about the sports and it is not the same as bandwagoners that you find in other cities. Chances are the guy wearing the Phillies shirt today was just as passionate a fan of the team when they were horrible as he is now that they are good.