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I don't care much for sports either. I've never really understood worshipping some guy who could care less about you and makes more in one game then you will see in 20 years. I've never really played much sports in school either. Generally I don't talk much at work. I'm there to work and get a paycheck and go home to do the things I want to do. I'd really rather not be idle as i can spend idle time at home. Also, most of the sports talk amongst guys never seems to get farther then
"you see the game"
"yeah man it was incredible"
followed by the awkward silence when both men realize they don't know much about sports either.
This is not to say I dislike sports, I just think there are better tings to do with my time then vegetate in front of a TV for 4 hours.
I'm not into sports either, so I won't include myself into any of those conversations.
That said, I rather work with men and not talk to them then work with women and hear them complain about other women, the boss, the schedule, blah blah...and no, I don't care about your damn ugly kids!
I always hated the bulk of sports talk at work, in my case large Army offices in the DC area.
It's a fairly benign, safe topic, and a way to grow a form of unity, but I always thought it was pointless to spend my time obsessing over the play of different "star" athletes; who the hell cares, or more importantly WHY the hell should I care since THEY don't pay my mortgage. For me, it was sufficient to say yaay! if they won or rats! if they lost and that was about the extent of my concern. I never understood how people could subject their own sense of self worth to whether the Redskins won or lost. I saw a few guys who bet themselves penniless always betting on the Redskins.
Working with men in general was a mixed bag. Many are very competitive, it's in our genes to conquer. Some of us see co-workers as competitors (for higher positions, more money, women, etc) and some of us saw co-workers as cohorts for the success of the larger organization. I don't care the sex of my coworkers as long as they're the latter types who are there to do the work of the larger organization. If someone is better than I am, they deserve the promotion, generally.
I've seen cases where one pretty woman gets hired and the office turns into a jungle of intrigue and conniving. I've seen men wreck an office too, especially the newly hired, gung-ho, set the world on fire types who are totally out for themselves.
I think my best bosses were the women, as too many of my male superiors were truly neurotic, driven to rise to the top of their office so they could control their own destiny, but in doing so they became twisted supervisors. I did have one female boss of this type and she too was a real piece of work.
I could tell all sorts of true stories about life in a large organization that had heavy overtones of bureaucracy, but I'd have to write a book.
I used to wear a Dilbert tie to work. People often got a laugh out of it, and I told them "I live the life" and readers of the old Dilbert cartoons will understand the organizational humor of Dilbert and why I wore that tie. I really WAS making a statement.
EDIT: I guess what I really hated about the sports talk was that it was some sore of merit badge, rank or indication of your qualifications; the more trivia you knew about an athlete or team, the louder you got about it, then the "more" of a man you so obviously were. That's crap, but that's how it gets internalized among co-workers, i.e., the loud mouths earned job cred for being the office sports-caster.
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Last edited by Mike from back east; 05-09-2011 at 04:05 PM..
Wow quit your whining. I have nothing against women, but I prefer to work with men 10x over women and here is why:
1) From my experience when I go to lunch with a big group all the women would do is gossip and talk behind people's back. It was really ridiculous, they would just criticize and act like high schoolers.
2) Women are moody! I think this is more due to men usually retaining their emotions, but women coworkers can be extremely moody, bitchy, start to cry, etc. I one time almost told off one of my female coworkers as she was in a bad mood and being a mega *****.
3) Women are much more judgmental. I have had female coworkers be straight in my face judging me for decisions I make and how I am.
Now there are men that are like this too, but most of the men I have worked for are much more laid back and rational. They also don't gossip. Of course there are women too that are laid back and very rational that I have worked for, but I have found them to be a minority. I am sorry but women bring drama to the office.
I don't really believe everything you say and you just sound whiney to me. Yes, probably your co-workers talk a lot about sports, however I highly doubt that they speak about it 100% of the time. I have friends that are sports fanatic (one is even a sports statisician) and we find plenty of other topics to talk about. Go out with the group for lunch one day, and start a conversation. Seriously, I find guys usually to be much more nicer. I would be more intimidated going out with a group of girls out.
Wow quit your whining. I have nothing against women, but I prefer to work with men 10x over women and here is why:
1) From my experience when I go to lunch with a big group all the women would do is gossip and talk behind people's back. It was really ridiculous, they would just criticize and act like high schoolers.
2) Women are moody! I think this is more due to men usually retaining their emotions, but women coworkers can be extremely moody, bitchy, start to cry, etc. I one time almost told off one of my female coworkers as she was in a bad mood and being a mega *****.
3) Women are much more judgmental. I have had female coworkers be straight in my face judging me for decisions I make and how I am.
Now there are men that are like this too, but most of the men I have worked for are much more laid back and rational. They also don't gossip. Of course there are women too that are laid back and very rational that I have worked for, but I have found them to be a minority. I am sorry but women bring drama to the office.
I don't really believe everything you say and you just sound whiney to me. Yes, probably your co-workers talk a lot about sports, however I highly doubt that they speak about it 100% of the time. I have friends that are sports fanatic (one is even a sports statisician) and we find plenty of other topics to talk about. Go out with the group for lunch one day, and start a conversation. Seriously, I find guys usually to be much more nicer. I would be more intimidated going out with a group of girls out.
I agree with all of your points, actually. Maybe it's just the men in my department that drive me crazy. They have egos through the roof and try to make me feel like I know nothing. They even assumed I was gay (even though I am gay), simply because I am not into sports, which is ridiculous. I know straight guys who are not into sports at all.
I agree with all of your points, actually. Maybe it's just the men in my department that drive me crazy. They have egos through the roof and try to make me feel like I know nothing. They even assumed I was gay (even though I am gay), simply because I am not into sports, which is ridiculous. I know straight guys who are not into sports at all.
When you started working there did you instantly gravitate to the women by choice or did you really try to befriend the men?
From my personal experience, there is this sense of brotherhood or whatever you want to call it with men. I guess in the sense (and I do this) most men in the work place tend to be more loyal to the other men of their 'group' than with the women in the office. I think when a new guy comes in, there is this expectation that maybe you won't be friends, but that you will be more loyal to that side. When they then see you being more friendly to the women and befriending them more, they probably see it as a diss against them, even if you didn't mean it.
I say this because this happened where I worked. Our group in work was pretty even, like 6 girls 5 guys and we would always do lunch together. One day we get this one new guy who was around our age (we were all in our 20's). On his first day we all went out to lunch, however, he certainly seemed to feel more comfortable with the women and talked to them more and interacted with them more. For instance when he would come to our department, he would really only talk to the chicks. So the guys in our group felt kind of dissed and we really didn't care for him after that point. We thought he would be more on our side, but we wrong. We didn't hate him, but we just felt he chose not to be part of the 'brotherhood' as silly as that may sound.
Just asking because if you did that, they might be possibly talking about sports all the time and have no interest in befriending you anymore. I am sure you have some college sports fans/alumni there. When they talk about their beloved Huskies, ask them how they liked Storrs as a college town, etc. While the conversation might be short, at least they will see you have an interest in trying to chat with them.
Also, having friends at the work place is overrated. It's nice to have them, but I have realized those are usually the shortest lived friendships.
One of the reasons that men talk about sports at work is this. To men work is another game. Many years ago people would even ask what game are you in? If your company is winning the game you are successfull. If you are winning the game in your carreer you are successfull. Competitiveness is a part of the game of business. Many men do infact have big egos because of this. Men can also fight like hell during the game of work and at the end of the day head on over to the local watering hole and you would never know that they were fighting each other at work. I don't know too many women that can do that. For the most part competitive men are not emotionally tied to what happens at work other than in winning the game of work. Take two male attorneys that are working against each other on a case. When the case is over they could very well be hanging out together at some other event. For them, they either won that round or lost. Nothing more, nothing less. It is all part of the game.
Lets take business. A guy takes on a project that no one else wants. Why does he do that? He is competitive and wants to show the others that he works with that he can get it done quicker and better than anyone else. It is all about the competition, the game. If you understand the game you can win at the game. One of the ways that guys show that they know how the game works is they talk about sports. It is a common middle ground subject to speak about.
Another thing that sports can be used for is to solve problems. The Lakers are out of the playoffs. Why is that? What could have been done differantly? Have the current players outlived their usefullness? Is it time to change things up a bit? Should Kobe stay and the other members of the team traded? Are you able to create scenarios in your head that can improve a situation at work? Sure it is not the same thing, but still shows innitiative on your part to provide a solution.
I get it if you don't like sports. Not saying it is a bad thing. I just wanted to offer my perspective.
I don't care much for sports either. I've never really understood worshipping some guy who could care less about you and makes more in one game then you will see in 20 years. I've never really played much sports in school either. Generally I don't talk much at work. I'm there to work and get a paycheck and go home to do the things I want to do. I'd really rather not be idle as i can spend idle time at home. Also, most of the sports talk amongst guys never seems to get farther then
"you see the game"
"yeah man it was incredible"
followed by the awkward silence when both men realize they don't know much about sports either.
This is not to say I dislike sports, I just think there are better tings to do with my time then vegetate in front of a TV for 4 hours.
absolutely. I agree with that statement one thousand percent
or the best is when you listen to guys talking about about what the players should have done or could have done and you look at them with their fats ass and think to yourself, yeah right, you couldn't even move off the couch and your going to give an opinion about a sports player....
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