15 Things: #15 You're Never Alone If You Follow Sports

During the course of writing this weblog, I've learned 15 Things.  Well, I've learned more than that, and some of the 15 Things I haven't really learned. 

The last of my 15 Things is this: you're never alone if you follow sports.  I think I have to amend that one, though.  You're never alone if you follow sports, and you don't have a TV at home.  If you have a TV at home, you might be alone if you follow sports.  The never alone part has something to do with sports bars.  Now that there is an enormous TV with cable in The Annex, right around the corner, it is sometimes tempting to go watch UNC hoops over there.  (Why UNC?  See here.)  And that is an entirely different experience than watching it at Rivalries, with Matty the bartender remembering what I like to drink and Big Ted yelling at the TV and sometimes Frankie showing up to talk statistics.  I don't really want to watch sports alone, even if it's right around the corner, and even if the TV is big. 

Even when those guys aren't there someone always strikes up a conversation with me.  Maybe it's because I'm a chick, alone in a sports bar.  Maybe people aren't as friendly to men.  But even when I'm not talking to Matty or Ted or Frankie, someone wants to talk.  Once it was a handsome pilot.  Once it was a handsome bartender, in Chicago, who was nice to me even though I was rooting against Illinois.  Yes, those two were trying to pick me up.  But that's not always the case.  A couple of weeks ago it was the guys at the next table, watching football on a different screen.  Sometimes it's people rooting for the other team, and we have a little back-and-forth. 

This wasn't true when I started going to watch the games.  I didn't know how to sit at a bar, alone, without feeling self-conscious.  I didn't know how to make friendly conversation.  I didn't know very much about basketball.  I was too embarrassed to ask basic questions.  Now I do it all the time.  People are nice.  People want to talk. 

And sports gives you a nice universe of shared experience.  It's accessible to everybody.  You have it in common.  It's not complicated.  You can build a bond with people without getting personal.  There are very few things like this.  It is not fraught with any kind of accidental peril, no landmines like asking someone what they do (oops, just laid off, now what do I say?) or about their family (wife just diagnosed with cancer, ack) or any of that stuff.  You can talk about the hot new freshman and whether he's like Sean May or not so much, and about how their defensive game has improved over the year. 

I used to think these kind of conversations were false.  But I don't think so anymore.  You build trust over time, and through shared experience.  This is one way.  And you can fly across the country and still find someone to sit next to and watch a game with.  If you do not watch sports, you should.  There's a whole world of people you'll have access to.  Don't be such an intellectual snoot. 

Of course, my interest in watching sports is entirely limited to college basketball.  I understand there is some kind of football sporting event happening today.  Couldn't care less.  And those people who get excited about baseball?  Please.  How boring.  I am considering developing an interest in hockey, because I like the hockey coaches at the college and would like to be at least moderately fluent in the language of their game.  But I can never see the puck.  I have to squint at the TV.  It all moves too fast.  And the players are brutes.  So college basketball is the only sport worth watching.  But it really is worth watching.  Just so you don't root for Duke. 

Comments

[will]

If PG and I each send you a UVa hat, will you switch allegiance away from the Evil Empire?

We could even start slow by wearing a UVa Swimming hat first.

[PG]

I see that Will and I are to become the Partners for a Tarheel-Free America.

[will]

I love you PG.

I need your help with my niece. Her other uncle works for the Evil Empire and he has somehow cursed her into liking the Evil Empire.

We need an intervention. We can practice on her before we come back here to work on the One Who Sails.

[mr. fun ball]

There's only one big game this week. It's on Tuesday at 9PM. And of course, Duke will win.

[PG]

Will, you gotta start them early. There's a reason that Mincer's sells rompers, rattles, bibs, etc. -- indoctrinate before month eight. Maybe Coach K's flirtation with the dark side will turn her off.
'Chair tossing 101

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski knew exactly how to get his team's attention during the first half of last Saturday night's Virginia game. Unhappy with sloppy passing and ball-handling, Krzyzewski slammed a chair against the floor at Cameron with 3:17 to play in the half.

The Devils' coach actually got everyone in the building's attention over his anger.

When asked about the chair thing after the game, Krzyzewski said he was only rearranging furniture.

"In my younger days I did things that were a lot worse," Coach K said. "I don't know what I did. Did I throw it across the court?"

He was obviously referring to Bobby Knight's famous chair-tossing incident at Indiana in 1985 when the coach threw a chair across the court to protest bad officiating.'

[will]

PG:

The first song my kids learned was the Good Old Song. The second "song" my son learned was "Go to Hell Carolina." Ok, so maybe it wasnt the best thing to teach him....

We beat UNC, Tech, and Wake. I am thrilled with our season.

Suggestion for next post: "Shoes protect your feet, but only if you wear them." That would be just as interesting!

[david yen]

1/29/05
UNC 74, Duke 70, UNC #1 team in country and undefeated.

The women's team.

One the best games I've seen in a while

[david yen]

Check out this article. Is it tongue in cheek or not?

sports nut
Go to Hell, Duke!
To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever, the apologia of an insane sports fan.
By Jason Zengerle
Updated Friday, March 3, 2006, at 6:20 AM ET
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2137282/