EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: VK3DRB on April 06, 2020, 01:13:52 am
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I have noticed that in all the electronics workplaces I have worked in over the decades (computing, telecoms, satellites, medical, automotive etc), I have come across almost no electronics engineers or technicians who have a passion for football (Aussie Rules Football in Australia, or Soccer in Europe, or "Football" in the USA), or certainly do not carry on about it on a Monday morning after the weekend games. Many electronics workplaces struggle to get people interested in footy tipping competitions. A lot of engineers here were born overseas, but even amongst the Aussies born and bred here few show much interest. This is in contrast to the general population, many of which here are fanatical and treat it like a religion. People from all socioeconomic classes are into football, except us it seems.
Why is it so?
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Sports bad, video games good
But in all seriousness, people just have a different set of hobbies. I would imagine those in the more technical positions would have more techincal hobbies, like drone/rc racing, 3D printing, machining, gardening...
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I can't stand football, I wouldn't mind the game itself, to me there's just too much fuss and money involved to call it sport.
I associate football talk to political or religious discussion, manipulation of the masses.
"Give them bread and games!"
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No doubt many of us suffered compulsory team sports at school. As a self-confessed scrawny glasses wearing nerd, that was enough to put me off football and rugby for life. I found cricket less intolerable apart from my limp, severe hayfever and inability to catch *anything* which led to me frequently spending the afternoon standing in the far outfield wishing to die quickly. Needless to say I haven't even watched a match of any of the above sports even on TV for my entire adult life. Sometimes the sports on TV are unavoidable, e.g in the pub, but as I am quite happy to sit with my pint and a good book at the table under the screen that noone else wants, and as I am capable of restraining my urge to comment on the mass insanity surrounding me, no feathers are ruffled.
IMHO even foreign politics are preferable to team sports involving the abuse of pigs bladders or seasoned willow wood.
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Congrats VK3DRB :clap: it takes a true blue aussie to say it straight up mate! :-+
fwiw I had no interest in repetitive childish football games even before getting into electronics
and if dabbling in electronics has some mystic no go Force tied to it that keep me avoiding it,
then the multimeter and soldering iron stay, FOREVER! ;D
fwiw I didn't mind footy and soccer at school and other sports stuff, but as a later teenager I got put off by the whole thing
after watching ADULTS of all ages carry on like war mongering lunatics, at every game,
and the fights/blues,
morons yelling in your ear with stinking fermenting beer/meat pie/chiko roll death breath,
foul language spiced enough to even send demons packing back to hell :scared:
dealing with greasy putrid chuck on the shoes back at home (hey, what's that smell? ??? )
tomato sauce stains on clothing from seats and walls,
busting for a pee and copping the state of the mens toilets, that I won't get into,
and spare the punters here reading, from utter disbelief and disgust :o
HOURS to get out of uncooperative idiot jammed car parks,
and the list goes on and on and on... :palm:
The nail in the coffin was seeing neanderthal parent tards at kids local footy matches being sore losers
and or bitching on their kid to rough up other kids, 'do whatever it takes to win or else..' BS
Nowadays it's an eyesore watching steroid pumped tattooed players (heroes?!) littering the field,
and avoiding any idiots talking about it, like it's all oh so Fing serious..
You'd think these idiots were related to the footy players and trophy wives/GFs,
and own shares in the footy club.. referring to it as 'my team' ::)
No Thanks, I'd rather sledge a troublesome DUT that's too big and heavy to dropkick into the dumpster
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I was big into football when I was kid. But it was different back then, the game was played in rain, snow, mud or whatever and players were not paid that much more little more than the average person. Things have changed. I have trouble working up enough interest to even watch the Superbowl.
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I used to watch American gridiron football some, but as I've gotten older I care less and less about 11v11 overstuffed guys trying to kill each other (slowly, with CTEs). It's really modern day gladiator combat!
Baseball is my preferred sport by far. Plus I have a quite decent AAA team with a nice ballpark within reasonable distance, so reasonably priced tickets if I want to go to a game (not that there are going to be any games anytime soon).
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I've never had the slightest interest in sports in general. I enjoyed playing some of them casually when I was a kid but I never wanted to be on any sort of organized team and pro sports and the most boring thing ever. Economic losses aside, the lack of incessant sports chatter is something I've enjoyed about the Covid situation. People bring it up in smalltalk everywhere just assuming it's something I'll be interested in and every time I have to tell them I have no idea, I haven't followed.
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I remember in middle school when they had to ban playing "football" (handegg) during recess because people were getting hurt.
No doubt many of us suffered compulsory team sports at school.
The college I went to (Texas A&M University) allows a choice of what sport to take for the physical activity requirement. (I chose weightlifting since I know I will be using it long after graduation.) A nice bonus is that outside the majors that focus on those activities, knowing how to do it correctly and safely counts a lot more than being able to do it really well. Therefore, the non majors have the option to have those classes not count against the GPA - very few are able to get an A grade but getting a passing C grade is very easy.
What would be even better is if they waive the physical activity class requirements for non majors who regularly walk or bicycle to get around on campus or those who regularly go to the gym.
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One benefit of the 'Social Distancing' thing is they won't be able to play for a while now :clap:
so less endurance drugs taken to survive head on collisions, racing for a ball filled with air,
less fights at nightclubs and maccas when the endurance drug/booze mix messes with their head,
and perhaps less chance of banging their mates GF/wife by mistake or coerced whilst totally sh!tfaced :=\
no more traffic drama on the weekends :horse:
and no more gum flapping on Mondays about the Fing game !
and like I should give a rats soiled tail which of the two -INTERSTATE- teams was the victor.
I might care if it were local VFL or VFA or even Junior League teams in Victoria, but interstate? fts
What levels of moronity are these no lifers? ???
They should 'get out and fix something' or play the game themselves
and or get involved with a real world local club that has a social vibe going as well,
preferably a club lacking 'sore loser' members
Whatever it takes to get these armchair footy idiots out of our hearing range on Mondays! :phew:
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Sports bad, video games good
Football bad, other sports good.
I'm a sucker for snowboarding, surf, hiking.. None are team sports but we still are fanatics and go out in group.
I like team sports, but only when playing with friends.. with one exception: I would love to start playing rugby if i didn't fear my knee wouldn't make it.. and if it wouldn't take too much time from my other activities (see above)
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Playing sports is fun, watching other people play sports (or just about anything really) is quite boring. I like to do, not just observe someone else doing things.
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Playing sports is fun, watching other people play sports (or just about anything really) is quite boring. I like to do, not just observe someone else doing things.
I agree. I like cycling but prefer to go on my own, because I feel safer. If I went as part of a group then I fear it will become competitive and increase the risk of an accident. I have dabbled in teem sports, but by hand to eye coordination is too poor to be any good at them. I tend to start out as good or as bad as anyone, but don't improve much. :(
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Playing sports is fun, watching other people play sports (or just about anything really) is quite boring. I like to do, not just observe someone else doing things.
I agree. I like cycling but prefer to go on my own, because I feel safer. If I went as part of a group then I fear it will become competitive and increase the risk of an accident. I have dabbled in teem sports, but by hand to eye coordination is too poor to be any good at them. I tend to start out as good or as bad as anyone, but don't improve much. :(
Your frankness and straight up admission of limitation is commendable :-+ and guess what, you're not alone.
If you come across a decent group of 'normal people' (fast becoming extinct) that enjoy company with a mutual activity to pass the time, they are the ticket.
No neanderthal competitive behavior to think about :phew: Easier said than done, but not impossible
On the other hand if you become over determined to catch up and keep up with competitive types, you will soon find yourself in a social abyss
hooked up amongst self centered people with screws loose or missing,
and soon wish you hadn't summoned up the oomph to get there. :-[
I think they do the 'extreme' thing because they are either miserable, unhappy creatures
and or stay with the wrong people that put them down and or vice versa
or a chemical imbalance that has not been addressed
No thanks to that again, and fwiw most of them now have physical issues, joint/bone wear and breakage,
and always at the doctors for a pill or injection fix, or some chiropractor manipulation
Who knows if they visit a shrink weekly too :-//
They're not so smart now or snobby, but hey, who cares ? :popcorn:
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I have been cured of the desire to participate in collective competitive sports early on.
Likely thanks to the way it was mandatory in elementary and high school and university. Among other things, thanks to the teachers there (and in elementary school the kids who took delight in making fun (and other things) of the fat, socially awkward loner kid) I have come to view collective sports as something vile when it involves me, and something utterly boring when it should be passively observed.
I do enjoy cycling by myself. Any other sports I participate in I view as a necessary evil to keep up some measure of physical activity.
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This about sums it up for me.
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'Circlotron' s cartoon pic does seem to say it all. And in Australia, we sometimes have City/Town of Origin teams. Players are BOUGHT, so it means nothing like an old days game of some 'town' etc against another?? I SORT of get the 'idea' of sports, but am not a follower.
It ALWAYS gets me why countries like Brazil or Italy show such visual depictions of utter violence at times, with the off field fights, and followed up with street chaos & burnings!!! Sigh... Literally life & death, about simply kicking a fucking ball!!!!!! :palm:
I've agonized about forming the following sentence... but the way people react/behave is DIRECTLY related to levels of intelligence, and having NOTHING else to do!! People from generally low Socio-Economic backgrounds, have little else to follow or do. It literally becomes life or death to them! On the other hand, those of us having the privilege of a more advanced education/career, and resultant Job/Money/Home/hobbies, are certainly not as affiliated with such limited interests!
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In this thread : "we are better than them".
::)
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In this thread : "we are better than them".
::)
I neither agree or dis-agree... but can you expand on what you mean??
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I've considered that sports with mass following owe this characteristic to vicarious participation.
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Interesting, in my company, where most of the people I associate with are consultants like I am, mostly in server infrastructure roles, many are very much into American football, to the point of one of my coworkers organizing a fantasy football league for us (in addition to at least two others he participates in with his son). We actually have customer events that are a day out at a game (sadly us worker bees are not invited, this is sales schmoozing with customers). Most of us are all fans of the local team - but we have one guy who is a fan of a huge rival of our local team.
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The nail in the coffin was seeing neanderthal parent tards at kids local footy matches being sore losers
and or bitching on their kid to rough up other kids, 'do whatever it takes to win or else..' BS
One of my nephews referees games in the local junior league[1]. Recently he had to send one parent to wait in their car until the game had finished for swearing at the players!
[1] He gets paid £30 per game which makes it a nice source of pocket money for a 15 year old. He's allowed to referee games where the players are two or more years younger than him.
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There are a few parks with soccer fields that our bike trail passes through and one where I often go to fly model airplanes and I've observed many times parents screaming at their kids who are playing. I don't really get it, sometimes I like washed up parents like try try to live vicariously through their kids. The thing that bothers me most about sports in general is how utterly seriously people take it. I have no issue at all with someone enjoying it but you'd think it was some kind of life or death thing the way some people get wound up in it.
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I play semipro football which in the league I'm in is a hybrid of Canadian rules but with US style four downs.
The reactions are pretty hilarious at times. At work, people don't believe me until I show them pictures and several people have said they never thought I'd be a meathead. On the other hand, when people at football practices and games and team events etc. ask what I do for a living at my day job find out, they have trouble understanding exactly what it is I do. From what I've seen, it's largely two groups of people whose interests don't overlap for the most part.
I just hope the coronavirus issues settle down and we're able to have a season this year even if it's pushed back into the fall and early winter.
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Its those STEM cells. They aren't well adapted to sports.
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I played soccer in high school, well enough to make the school team as a defender. Of course, this was before computer games, and I didn't find pin-ball that addictive, although it had its moments. Fixing them was more fun than playing them.
Can't say I actively paid attention to sports after that, although I understand them well enough to talk the talk when it's useful.
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I am also completely disinterested in watching other people doing sport, and couldn't care less about specific teams.
I was also never really good at any ball games, so that's not something I've done since high school.
My team sport is gliding. Probably one of the most diverse sports there is, both mentally and physically challenging. I don't like the competitions, flying stressed out in a collision minefield isn't my definition of fun. But dancing in the sky with a few club mates, colleagues you meet on the way or birds who decided to be part of your flock for a few minutes really is beautiful.
I also really like cycling, both as my main method to get around, and to get some exercise while enjoying scenic views at the same time.
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what is foot ball thats a new one on me
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FYI, in EU the game with the round ball is called football, not soccer.
AFAIK mostly (if not only) in the USA the game with the round ball is called soccer, to distinguish it from what USA normally calls football (the game with the pointy ball :D ) while EU is calling that "American Football", or if it's played in EU, then the game with the pointy ball is called Rugby by the EU people.
Not a sports big fan in general, and not a fan of football in special, so while I'm pretty sure it's how I wrote above, I might as well be completely off with the naming. ;D
No that's right. The boring game with the pointy ball is called Football, it's very popular. The slightly less boring game with the round ball you kick around is called Soccer, it's fairly popular to play but professional soccer is not one of the big sports.
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FYI, in EU the game with the round ball is called football, not soccer.
AFAIK mostly (if not only) in the USA the game with the round ball is called soccer, to distinguish it from what USA normally calls football (the game with the pointy ball :D ) while EU is calling that "American Football", or if it's played in EU, then the game with the pointy ball is called Rugby by the EU people.
Not a sports big fan in general, and not a fan of football in special, so while I'm pretty sure it's how I wrote above, I might as well be completely off with the naming. ;D
No that's right. The boring game with the pointy ball is called Football, it's very popular. The slightly less boring game with the round ball you kick around is called Soccer, it's fairly popular to play but professional soccer is not one of the big sports.
What he said. However, American Football and Rugby have significant differences and really aren't the same game. Even the regulation balls are different...the Rugby one is fatter and less pointy. You can google if you want to know more.
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Also rugby doesn't require that ridiculous suit of armor (maybe a helmet). REAL game for REAL men :D
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I much prefer the beauty of cricket (could watch a bunch of 6 or 60 year olds playing) and rugby (refereeing the play from my armchair is a great pleasure, with all the rules and fast action refereeing is a game itself) - and I despise football (soccer). Yet I can't bring myself to watch either of my favourites at the top level anymore. I do the same for some of my favourite TV series or movie sequels - I have not completed them, I often go back to the pilot and start over.
I do follow EPL and CL football intensely though, and occasionally binge through the complete series of Friends no matter how much I despise both. As for Baseball, Basketball and The Big Bang Theory, it is just revulsion.
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Also rugby doesn't require that ridiculous suit of armor (maybe a helmet). REAL game for REAL men :D
Rugby? Those guys can’t even score a goal without falling flat on their faces!
I think I’m talking about the right game...
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Seriously now, do extreme sports nuts, armchair 'my team' idiots, and parents that drive their frightened kids into the ground to 'achieve'
seem like their grey/gray kit upstairs is fully assembled and booting properly? :palm:
These are animals you don't want to be friends with nor related to,
much less stuck with in a life or death situation, where only compromise and cooperation will determine if some or all survive
i.e. MOST of these pack animal nutters are a no go,
but at least on the big sports days we know where they all are,
safely caged in a stadium far away from the rest of us for a few hours :phew:
Unfortunately there's no escape from the Monday sports jibberish, ::)
but luckily for us, multitasking Corona has come to the rescue as a Monday saviour :clap:
Update: multitasking Corona is nuking all sports jibberish 24/7 :-+
and everything else :o
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One benefit of the 'Social Distancing' thing is they won't be able to play for a while now :clap:
so less endurance drugs taken to survive head on collisions, racing for a ball filled with air,
less fights at nightclubs and maccas when the endurance drug/booze mix messes with their head,
and perhaps less chance of banging their mates GF/wife by mistake or coerced whilst totally sh!tfaced :=\
no more traffic drama on the weekends :horse:
and no more gum flapping on Mondays about the Fing game !
and like I should give a rats soiled tail which of the two -INTERSTATE- teams was the victor.
I might care if it were local VFL or VFA or even Junior League teams in Victoria, but interstate? fts
What levels of moronity are these no lifers? ???
They should 'get out and fix something' or play the game themselves
and or get involved with a real world local club that has a social vibe going as well,
preferably a club lacking 'sore loser' members
Whatever it takes to get these armchair footy idiots out of our hearing range on Mondays! :phew:
I should have guessed you are from Victoria!
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In this thread : "we are better than them".
::)
Yes this is definitely the "expressing feelings of superiority"thread.
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I have noticed that in all the electronics workplaces I have worked in over the decades (computing, telecoms, satellites, medical, automotive etc), I have come across almost no electronics engineers or technicians who have a passion for football (Aussie Rules Football in Australia, or Soccer in Europe, or "Football" in the USA), or certainly do not carry on about it on a Monday morning after the weekend games. Many electronics workplaces struggle to get people interested in footy tipping competitions. A lot of engineers here were born overseas, but even amongst the Aussies born and bred here few show much interest. This is in contrast to the general population, many of which here are fanatical and treat it like a religion. People from all socioeconomic classes are into football, except us it seems.
Why is it so?
My experience has been different .
I have memories of sitting in the lunchroom at work & listening to multiple Techs rabbit on about "footy".
At the time, I had well & truly drifted away from interest in the game, but others were keenly interested.
And they weren't morons, either, their technical abilities were excellent.
When I was a kid, I was no good at sports, but my Dad, & I, (& sometimes the rest of the family) would often go to the old WANFL (Australian Rules) games, following East Perth.
At the time, that competition was "semi-professional", so the blokes on the teams had "day jobs".
Many of the East Perth players were Dad's workmates.
As I got older, I drifted away from interest in "footy", & found other things to do on weekends---like working!
When my kids were young, they wanted to go to the "footy", & the basketball, so I took them & enjoyed the games as much as in the old days.
Over time, we became supporters of The Fremantle Dockers in Australian Rules Football, the Perth Wildcats
in Basketball, & the Perth Glory in Soccer/Football/"the world game"
In all those games, the fans just wanted to have a good time, & drunkeness & violence was conspicuous by its absence.
OK, it must have happened, but for the footy, for instance, out of 40,000 plus people in a stadium, the number of people involved would have been in single figures.
40,000 people is a bit more than the population of Geraldton (WA), & I bet you'll see more "aggro" in "Gero" any Saturday night.
As I said, I've never been any good at sport------I can't play the violin, the Saxophone, the Bagpipes, or the Banjo either, but I can enjoy listening to them played by someone who can.
Similarly, I can enjoy watching someone "who can" play a sport.
Maybe the lack of Sports fans among Electronics folk you have noticed is because Electronics is no longer a mainstream occupation, & has become more of a niche--- the domain of geeks.
Various people have derided football fans getting all worked up about their teams.
This comes from a forum where people "foam at the mouth" about Oscilloscopes!
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Sports is supposed to be about friendly social based competition and good cheer afterwards,
regardless of who won, or who 'came second'.
Well, it was pretty much so, even in the big smoke, once..
AFAICT it's become a looney fanaticism,
barracking and supporting suspected (and caught) drug cheats
playing perhaps/maybe rigged games, depending on how the betting sits amongst the big punters and bookies, via numerous rumors :-//
Supporting interstate teams against ones local teams should be classed as 'Sporting Treason' :rant:
and if caught and sentenced, offenders serve their time as weekend house detention :popcorn:
and fwiw, if there are extreme "foam at the mouth" about Oscilloscopes!" members here ???
I'd rather follow their play, and catch something I can use with my oscilloscope/s
;D
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In my younger years, I didn't mind actually playing/competing in sports. In fact I usually enjoyed it except boring baseball...
However, I never once enjoyed watching professional sports other than occasional Olympic games and more recently Tour De France grade cycling.
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I never played, but it's fun to watch:
[attachimg=1]
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A few comments from someone who played sports at a semi-pro level as a young man, but is long past those times.
1. All the comments about a sport (or sports) being boring are really a reflection on the commenter. Soccer is boring if you don't know what is going on. Same thing for American football. And afaik for all other sports. I've never watched enough cricket (or played at all) to understand what is going on, and I do find it boring. But clearly those who do understand enjoy it a lot. I enjoy watching American football, Canadian footfall, rugby and soccer. Haven't seen much Australian rules football and thus don't understand it well, but can see how once I learned it, it would be enjoyable.
2. I learned a long time ago that it wasn't good for me to get very involved watching any sport. Because sooner or later "your" team loses. And the emotional downer (again, for me) was nearly as big as when I was playing myself. And something I had no control over. Wasn't worth it. I suspect I am not alone in this, at least among rational groups like those on this forum.
3. Workplace involvement in sports is largely related to how consuming the work is. Sports doesn't seem big in most medical settings. Many engineering jobs are fully consuming. Where I have seen sports take hold in engineering environments there have been no proximate deadlines, repetitive (even boring) tasks and other factors that made outstanding distractions attractive.
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I know what's going on in football, I know how to play it, I've enjoyed football video games now and then, but watching sports just does not interest me. It's no different than the fact that most people would find engineering boring, it's just not their thing. I just generally don't like passively watching other people do something, it doesn't engage me. With pro sports especially I have no connection with the players, they're not my friends, I've never met them, they wouldn't know who I was if they met me. How can I get excited over what they're doing?
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I never played, but it's fun to watch:
(Attachment Link)
Awesome rig mate :clap: but you're enjoying it in private and or with good company :)
two thumbs up :-+ :-+ because I don't have to hear about it on Monday/s :scared:
or be nominated for an Academy Award pretending to listen and care :o
;D
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Sports is supposed to be about friendly social based competition and good cheer afterwards,
regardless of who won, or who 'came second'.
Well, it was pretty much so, even in the big smoke, once..
AFAICT it's become a looney fanaticism,
barracking and supporting suspected (and caught) drug cheats
playing perhaps/maybe rigged games, depending on how the betting sits amongst the big punters and bookies, via numerous rumors :-//
Supporting interstate teams against ones local teams should be classed as 'Sporting Treason' :rant:
and if caught and sentenced, offenders serve their time as weekend house detention :popcorn:
and fwiw, if there are extreme "foam at the mouth" about Oscilloscopes!" members here ???
I'd rather follow their play, and catch something I can use with my oscilloscope/s
;D
The problem with AFL & NRL are that they are both extended State competitions.
The old VFL, for instance, had a lot of "cross town" rivals, who were very passionate about their little patch of Melbourne, & let's face it, Melbourne was seriously boring back in the day, so it gave them something to be passionate about.
When the AFL was formed, all the old suburban clubs were "grandfathered" into it, with all their followers.
The WAFL didn't get to do that, & new clubs especially for the AFL were formed.
The sorta got Port Adelaide into the comp, but the connection between the original club & the AFL is tenuous.
In WA, the crosstown rivalry between the Dockers & Eagles is intense, & the Umpires are abused by both sides in a Derby, but supporters of both teams travel by train to & from the game, mix at the stadium, all quite amiably.
The same thing happens with supporters of the Perth Glory & the Interstate teams they play.
I wonder if this is because they don't have a century or so of history, but I never noticed any "aggro" with the WAFL, either.
Re "sporting traitors".
Before the advent of the AFL, the VFL games were shown on TV in WA, & many people picked a team to follow.
This continued, & you still have Hawthorn, Essendon, & so on, followed by some in this State.
People don't live forever in one State, so someone from Sydney, now in Melbourne, may have worked in WA, been introduced to both the AFL & the "A League" in that city, & so follows the Eagles & the Perth Glory, whilst in the NRL still staying loyal to the "Rabbitohs".
Even people who have never left Melbourne may follow interstate clubs.
What do you do if you were a Fitzroy supporter?
Change allegiance to one of the other teams you have opposed for years, or stay with the Lions, even if they've moved across the country?
Re Vomit. & disgusting toilets
Plenty of spilt drinks, dropped pies & other crud, but vomit was notable for its absence.
I have been to many games at the venerable Subiaco Oval, & yes, the "Dunnies" were old, & crowded, but
"disgusting"?
I have been around the traps for a long time, & have seen disgusting toilets, but these were not them!
I honestly can't see the harm in sports fans, & if they only give you the opportunity to feel superior, they have surely achieved something!
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Great that you've copped a better sports experience overall,
but I'm sticking to what I know commented previously, based on what I have seen too many times
FYI Melbourne was never boring back in the days of real footy by normal un-enhanced tattoo free blokes
and the local VFL and VFA games were interesting while they were locally based
fwiw we knew most of the players and or knew someone that knew them or related to them, or played footy with them at school, and so forth etc
so 'supporting' a team back then meant something, and kept us off the dog eat dog streets longer >:D
Once the big moneytards threw cash at the clubs to make or break them and or shift them interstate, it was game over for me,
it became just another 'product' laced with idolistic BS
Defend the current crop of sports fans if you will, but rest assured most of them have screws loose, fanatical and dangerous if it doesn't go there way,
look at the neanderthal behavior in other countries.
Would aussies be any different once their country and society degrades the same way?
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A few comments from someone who played sports at a semi-pro level as a young man, but is long past those times.
1. All the comments about a sport (or sports) being boring are really a reflection on the commenter. Soccer is boring if you don't know what is going on. Same thing for American football. And afaik for all other sports. I've never watched enough cricket (or played at all) to understand what is going on, and I do find it boring. But clearly those who do understand enjoy it a lot. I enjoy watching American football, Canadian footfall, rugby and soccer. Haven't seen much Australian rules football and thus don't understand it well, but can see how once I learned it, it would be enjoyable.
2. I learned a long time ago that it wasn't good for me to get very involved watching any sport. Because sooner or later "your" team loses. And the emotional downer (again, for me) was nearly as big as when I was playing myself. And something I had no control over. Wasn't worth it. I suspect I am not alone in this, at least among rational groups like those on this forum.
3. Workplace involvement in sports is largely related to how consuming the work is. Sports doesn't seem big in most medical settings. Many engineering jobs are fully consuming. Where I have seen sports take hold in engineering environments there have been no proximate deadlines, repetitive (even boring) tasks and other factors that made outstanding distractions attractive.
Again, my experience differed.
The guys I referred to as "rabbiting on" about football were in a Broadcast Service Centre, where at a "moment's notice" they could be called on to travel hundreds of km across the State, & work all night to restore service at a broadcast site in some remote country town, so I would say they had "deadlines"!
No,I think it is more to do with having a "critical mass" of staff.
These same football enthusiasts didn't regale their offsider with "footy" stuff when they went away on call, & sports enthusiasm was much less in the other places where I worked, which had much smaller numbers.
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Ball sports, especially contact sports, are viewed by a large percentage of engineers as a waste of time.
It's kind of like..
"If advanced aliens every visit earth and see lots of humans running around aimlessly kicking a ball back and forth they are going to think we're morons."
You can kick a ball back and forth in your personal time, or you can be like "Thought Emporium" and mess around with DIY gene therapy in your home lab.
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I've never cared for football in any of its guises (American football, soccer, rugby).
But how about Rollerball? Now there's a sport I'd watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT1ngUSjXz4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT1ngUSjXz4)
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^^ Saw that in the cinema back in the day, 1975 I think. All the guys at school were totally raving about it. Went and saw it by myself. Walked out halfway. First and only time.
Rollerball was conceived not only to satisfy man's bloodlust, but to demonstrate the futility of individualism.
the entire point of the movie was to show the "sickness and insanity of contact sports and their allure."[12]
Quotations from Wikipedia article.
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Football is amongst the most overated forms of activity on Earth, and I loathe it. Aside from electronics, my other passions are motorsports, motorcycles and anything with a turbo engine, actually, anything with an engine!
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Engines are good. I like engines too. Here's a former toy of mine:
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the entire point of the movie was to show the "sickness and insanity of contact sports and their allure."[12]
Exactly! My post was satirizing the people who watch American football, which is the modern equivalent of gladiatorial combat. I just can't see the appeal of watching a bunch of huge steroid freaks in crash helmets and padded suits smashing into each other for a few hours.
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the entire point of the movie was to show the "sickness and insanity of contact sports and their allure."[12]
Exactly! My post was satirizing the people who watch American football, which is the modern equivalent of gladiatorial combat.
I just can't see the appeal of watching a bunch of huge steroid freaks in crash helmets and padded suits smashing into each other for a few hours.
Groundhog Day, year in year out :palm:
You could watch colorized black and white replays from any decade, or listen blindfolded, and it's the same deal :horse:
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Football is amongst the most overated forms of activity on Earth, and I loathe it. Aside from electronics, my other passions are motorsports, motorcycles and anything with a turbo engine, actually, anything with an engine!
I'm over engines!
I have spent too many hours up to my elbows in them----& it was mainly self inflicted, either "for fun" or to save money.
Hell, I learnt the "Otto Cyle" when I was about 12, & helped to rebuild an engine & gearbox at 14.
I've had to mess with Diesels a bit for work, but quite rarely inside the "guts".
Playing with engines/cars did help with developing my manual dexterity, as they do delight in putting nuts, etc in the most inaccessible positions-------just like Electronics manufacturers!
The "hands on" experience also came in handy for fixing the small air compressors used in cable dehydrators.
Somehow, the "magic" has faded, however! ;D
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The best nerdy team sport of the last 25 years is Battlebots. :box:
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I've been working on cars since I was a kid and still enjoy it. The only time I don't like it is when something breaks and I have to work on it in the middle of winter, that's no fun at all.
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The only thing I know about cars is where to take them when they break. :-DD
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I'm clueless about that, I wouldn't know where to even find a mechanic, I've never had a reason to look for one.
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A few comments from someone who played sports at a semi-pro level as a young man, but is long past those times.
1. All the comments about a sport (or sports) being boring are really a reflection on the commenter. Soccer is boring if you don't know what is going on. Same thing for American football....
TRUE! I went to a University of Texas vs. Dallas football game with another expat Australian, at the UT in Austin in 1992. We knew nothing about American football, but expected to enjoy the game. At some stage (I kid you not), I asked another spectator when the game was going to begin. His answer was it was already half way through! We thought the players were were just practising or warming up as there was little action to be seen. Up until then, the only entertainment was watching the cheerleaders. We had absolutely no idea about American football.
When I was much younger, I played a rare sport in Australia called baseball. I was actually a member of the Essendon Baseball Club. Practising every Saturday morning and playing every Sunday, I got pretty good at it. In 1997 I visited Boston and was invited to the Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees baseball game. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, from the crowd, the hot dogs, the venue, and of course the game because I understood it. A bonus was some huge bloke named Mo would donate to a charity $10,000 for every home run he hit.
3. Workplace involvement in sports is largely related to how consuming the work is. Sports doesn't seem big in most medical settings. Many engineering jobs are fully consuming.
You are right. Most engineers are under tight deadlines. I have not watched a movie for weeks, as I am under a tight deadline working from home doing PCB design for a client.... 8 layers, BGA's, very tight real estate, multiple voltage rails. So it is fully consuming even over Easter. Sport is the last thing on my mind, but at least I am nearing the Gerber stage and will be glad when this one is over. On the other hand, from many of these comments a lot of people here are just not interested in football, irrespective of how busy they are.
I think we are a bit of a subculture, started by the Tandy 150-in-1 Electronics Kit :D.