Sport chat - really boring?

[Globalti]

I grew up in a mountaineering family that took little interest in team sports so apart from a summer interest in cycle racing I don't follow any team or sport or waste any of my life planted on the sofa watching them. This has put me at a disadvantage all through my life because when blokes gather the banter often turns to footeh, rugby or cricket and I'm excluded. My friends and colleagues in South Africa have learned that there's no point in gassing about sport as I'm clueless although they did introduce me to François Pienaar who I thought a nice chap. My boss is a loud, boorish alpha male type who is openly scornful of cyclists and hates them taking up road space so he and I inhabit different planets. Gotta go to SA with him in April, which is going to be awkward.

I have always harboured a suspicion that a lot of blokes banter about sport because they actually don't know much else and it's safe ground for teasing, probing and finding out more about each other without venturing into areas of conversation that might demonstrate, heaven forbid, sensitivity or compassion towards others.

Do other cyclists see this as a handicap or do they just get on with their own relationships and ignore the excluding banter? How do the woman of this parish deal with it?

 

[vickster]

Firms urged to crack down on office football chat https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51261999

 

[Blue Hills]

Firms urged to crack down on office football chat https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51261999

I'm not into football or sports chat but can't see that having legs.
I hope not.
If such controls did come in, i could see some aggrieved parties pushing for more topics to be banned.
And then battles being fought over what these should be.
While productivity went through the floor.

 

[Blue Hills]

@Globalti re your alpha male comment, you do know this is an open forum?
≥≥≥I have always harboured a suspicion that a lot of blokes banter about sport because they actually don't know much else and it's safe ground for teasing, probing and finding out more about each other without venturing into areas of conversation that might demonstrate, heaven forbid, sensitivity or compassion towards others.
Me too. Am sure it's the case in a certain percentage of cases. I used to have a group of pals who were forever discussing footie tactics, conducting post mortems on games. I was pretty damn sure some were faking interest due to social or emotional cramps. There was a sort of mechanical desperation about some of the conversations. Reminded me of the way some men will talk train timetables.

 

[Pale Rider]

Reminded me of the way some men will talk train timetables.

I was interested to see the 14.10 express no longer stops at Little Snoddington - residents will be up in arms.

The new timetable was also marked 'FO'.

No need for rudeness, I thought.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Couldn't agree more globaloti..especially football..I'd rather stick pins in my eyes

 

[Venod]

Although I have played team sports and do take a mild interest in some football and more interest in Rugby, I have always been into more individual sports, Cycling, Running, Orienteering, I have friends plus my son who are obsessive about football and do find their conversations boring at times, but I dont think this.

I have always harboured a suspicion that a lot of blokes banter about sport because they actually don't know much else and it's safe ground for teasing, probing and finding out more about each other without venturing into areas of conversation that might demonstrate, heaven forbid, sensitivity or compassion towards others.

applies to them, they have genuine interest and obsessivness about their chosen sport.

Team sports can produce life long friends and lifestyles, and it may not be every ones choice it can be positive, it has done my grandsons good to follow their dads obsession with Rugby Leauge, the reaction to Rob Burrows who has been diagnosed with MND is to be admired.

So the answer to your question is I don't see it as an handicap, but I don't altogether ignore the sometimes boring (to me) banter.

 

[MichaelW2]

When the conversation turned to football I would always chip in a few wise sounding remarks that my manager knew was total bullcrap because I know nothing and care less, and that cracked him up every time. He was one of the first managers to be let go in a restructuring.

 

[Dave7]

@Globalti , I can't really agree or should I say understand your feelings BUT we are all different.
The part I do agree with is that some people (both sexes) can be boorish, self opinionated and self centred.
I was introduced to premier league football (division one then) in the early 60s and still enjoy watching it.
But over the years I have been into photography, bird watching, walking, mountain 'walking' eg Snowdon and Lakes, kayaking,fishing etc etc.
Each to his own but I am sure there are some football fans somewhere that look at cyclists/climbers and ask "why"??

 

[Levo-Lon]

@Globalti , I can't really agree or should I say understand your feelings BUT we are all different.
The part I do agree with is that some people (both sexes) can be boorish, self opinionated and self centred.
I was introduced to premier league football (division one then) in the early 60s and still enjoy watching it.
But over the years I have been into photography, bird watching, walking, mountain 'walking' eg Swodon and Lakes, kayaking,fishing etc etc.
Each to his own but I am surre there are some football fans somewhere that look at cyclists/climbers and ask "why"??

Me,me,me me me

 

[I like Skol]

Football, what's that?

 

[Cycleops]

Reminded me of the way some men will talk train timetables.

Or bikes .

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I'm in neither camp really... I do like sport but I don't work in an office, warehouse or factory and I don't get to the pub much so perhaps I don't see too much of this trope. Is that where it happens? I did once get into a very in depth argument with an Arsenal fan in a pub who was vehement in his opinions about another team, and I found that mildly shocking that he could get quite so so angry and aggressive over his views on a team that he had no investment in, I think I'd try to avoid that depth of sports talk again!

Most of my colleagues are American - I do have a sort of general half-interest in just about any sport, so I've tried to keep a bit of an eye on what's generally happening in NHL, NFL and MLB and then I can at least use that to make pleasantries... Sometimes I find sports talk is quite a useful tool to promote polite conversation and help it along. Okay I can't get into the detailed stuff, but then I'd probably rather not and I can at least not be completely excluded from some chats which I think is a positive thing. A chat that starts on sport doesn't have to stay there either.

 

[Globalti]

Sometimes when you're at the start of a meeting and somebody kicks off (sorry) with sport banter, it can be hard to move the conversation on to the subject you met to discuss. I guess the banter is some people's way of working out who's who and what common ground exists.

 

[I like Skol]

TBH, this type of thing is the reason I stopped going out on work do's. It gets pretty boring listening to a group of people (men) talking about football, who has the latest smart phone app and what is the latest development in the Big Brother house (or what ever the current trash TV is) when I have no interest in or knowledge of any of those topics.