Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 10.4

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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20 Comments

  1. Those Bills “fans” just prove points I’ve made over and over, major sports fans are fuckwits. My position is if you love football so much get your lazy fat ass off the couch, forget the beer and snacks and PLAY THE GAME. Until they do that they have nothing to say worth listening to or printing.

    1. I totally agree. I understand playing a game, but watching it? Unless you can’t play for some reason, but would really like to, it makes no sense to me.

      1. A) I’m not a fuckwit (at least I hope not). I like football. And I submitted the story.

        B) I like watching games that I CAN play but CAN’T play with the level of skill athletes have. Like some people like watching dancing, live bands or air shows. A display of impressive skill, artistic or otherwise, can be entertaining to some observers.

        C) Unfortunately, sports fandom has a concentrated sub-population of virulent misogynists, but as has been demonstrated on this site, we are FAR from alone in this problem.

      2. Because the best way to fight stupid generalizations about women is TOTALLY to make stupid generalizations about sports fans. That makes total sense. I don’t see what’s so hard to grasp about watching sports instead of playing them… It’s the same reason I watch movies rather than get a bunch of friends together to act them out, professionals do it better. Also, when on earth do post-college adults have the opportunity to play most sports? Can you get 17 friends together with the necessary equipment to play a baseball game? I sure as hell can’t…

        1. Man, and I can’t even imagine the injuries! Dudes in their mid-30s with ‘non-athletic lifestyles’ playing full contact sports…gah

          1. Heh, that too! I played my first rugby game at the grand age of 28 (surrounded by 19-year-olds). It probably didn’t help that I should, under no circumstances, play a team sport, but you reeeeally feel those bumps….

        2. Well not all sports fans are douches, especially not the type that are posting here. Unfortunately though, a lot of sports fans are.

      3. You know, I used to think that and then I got introduced to the wonderful masochism of being a Red Sox fan. I’m still a serious lightweight, but I really do enjoy listening/watching to a baseball game as a way to relax. I can’t hit, throw, or catch to save my life but it’s thrilling to watch professionals do it. (Except for the end of this season, of course.)

        And I’ve always loved watching soccer, it’s like high speed human pinball with either hot dudes with enormous thighs or awesome Amazon ladies who are really inspiring.

    2. Maybe you’re forgetting that we, as skeptics, have the same problem? Just a few days ago, Rebecca Watson gave some examples of the horrible misogynistic feedback that she receives every day. Feedback that comes from other skeptics.

      Yes, there are misogynist sports fans, but there are also misogynist skeptics. Honestly the sports culture mirrors the skeptical one fairly closely: it’s a traditionally male dominated interest that’s begun to open up more to women, and some of the old boys resent that.

  2. Hell, even as someone who thinks pro sports occupies way too large a place in our society, I’m inclined to think that calling all of the fans ‘fuckwits’ is a few bridges too far.

  3. I gotta tell ya, I’ve watched the “fans” at pro sports games. I’ve seen the drunks eventually ejected after ruining the day for everyone within throwing distance. I’ve seen the fights in the parking lots after games. I’ve heard these morons talk about how “we” beat the other guys as though they had something to do with it. Yeah, I used to be a football fan to a point but as spectators started behaving worse and worse I gave it up. Yeah, I actually played football with a good bunch of guys until I was in my mid 40s.

    1. So, you’re doubling down on your generalization of sports fans as ‘fuckwits’ based on your anecdotal data. Nice. Does the personal experience of people with homeopathy convince you of its efficacy?

      “I’ve seen the drunks eventually ejected after ruining the day for everyone within throwing distance.” — Oh wait, in other words, some people are fuckwits, the minority of folks, as opposed to the majority of those whose days were ruined, correct? Unless over 50% of the paying customers were kicked out on a regular basis when you actually attended these games. That WOULD be astonishing. I mean, I’ve been to dozens of NFL games, over 100 Major League Baseball games, NHL games and NBA games, and for the most part, people behaved. Sure, there were a few loudmouths and jerks in the stands…not unlike the kinds of people I come across at supermarkets, movie theaters, bars, etc.

      Tell me, how will you incorporate my own contradictory “anecdata” into your hypothesis?

  4. Hmmm, men, sports, dicks and asses, who’d a thought that combination, might result in some misogynistic comments. And I must say that I do sometimes have a smug appreciation of my friends and family when I can’t recall ever hearing those kinds of comments except from people I don’t know. And I like football and know lots of very intelligent non-misogynistic men and women who also enjoy watching college and pro football. ;-P

  5. Announcer: And there’s Archimedes, and I think he’s had an idea!
    Archimedes: EUREKA!!!
    Announcer: Archimedes out the Socrates. Socrates back to Archimedes. Archimedes out to Heraclitus he beats Hegel. Heraclitus a like flick here he comes on the far post, Socrates is there, SOCRATES HEADS IT IN!! SOCRATES HAS SCORED! The Greeks are going mad, the Greeks are going mad Socrates scores, got a beautiful cross from Archimedes.
    .
    Announcer: The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside.
    But Confucius has answered them with the final whistle! It’s all over! Germany, having trounced England’s famous midfield trio of Bentham, Locke and Hobbes in the semi-final, have been beaten by the odd goal, and let’s see it again…

  6. Wait! Contraceptives don’t keep you safe from HIV? But they’re the answer! It’s only the Catholic Church saying, “Contraceptives are a big part of the HIV problem” that is causing deaths in Africa from AIDS/HIV… didn’t you know? Contraceptive use can only be a good thing!

  7. Amanda,

    That “Richard Feynman on beauty” video is beautiful. Thanks for showing it to us.

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