I do not watch or follow the world cup games - or any other “ball” games for this matter. I could care less who wins or loses. But I guess, I’m just a minority. Maybe because I’m a geek, and geeks don’t care about sports. But I know many geeks who do care about sports. Don’t get me wrong, I do take care of my health, eat right and exercise (well, I need to work harder on the last one). I just do not find it “fun” to watch sports. It’s a complete waste of my time. This is just how I see it.
So, world cup fans, help me understand, what’s so special about watching a few people kicking a ball back and forth? What is it that makes you so enthusiastic about soccer and the world cup? Is it your national pride? Is it because you want to see your team (country) winning? Or is it just for fun?
Possibly related:
- Now I know
- A Thank You and a Couple of Pictures
- A Sneak Preview of The New OTN Special Edition Web Site
- World Population = World Population + 1
- Oracle OpenWorld 2006 Pre-Buzz
Tagged world-cup | Post a Comment
Hope everything is working out...
geeks don’t care about sports.
I don’t think this is generally accepted.
Watching the world cup via telnet is definitely a geek thing
June 15th, 2006, at 1:13 pm #http://www.ascii-wm.net/
Well, the fact is that the world cup for a lot of people is more than a simply sport game…i mean, when you watch a match, you dont are watchig just two teams playing…you watch two nations, and the world cup gives the only possibility where the “poor” nation can win to the “rich” one. And for a 3th world nation, the world cup means everything, is the only thing that can make the things better, at least for a month…
Of Course, it’s very different the vision depending the country where do you live, i’m live in argentina, and here the only things that matter in this moment is the world cup, nothing else, the people for a month forget their problems
June 15th, 2006, at 1:28 pm #Kinda of difficult to define… these worldcup/soccer is something that’s in my blood. Oh, well, I’m brazilian by the way.
June 15th, 2006, at 2:00 pm #There are so many reasons I love football, but to pick something in keeping with your blog …
The patterns and possibilities are endless when all you have is 22 people, a ball and two goals and very few rules. There are few set plays or restrictions so every game, every moment of every game is a little different. Add to that the ability of individuals to produce moments of concious and barely concious brilliance and there’s much to see.
Then again, it’s just a passion and probably a vice and one of the hardest things to explain to a non-football fan is that it’s the 85 minutes of rubbish play that make the beautiful moments all the more beautiful
It’s a hard thing to justify or explain, but it obviously works for a lot of people!
June 15th, 2006, at 2:20 pm #Hey Eddie,
I can’t stand most sports but a few years back I had a friend that I worked with who was from Brazil. He couldn’t decide if he was a soccer nut or a geek so I created a doom level of a soccer stadium (complete with fans and soccer teams) and we death matched through it.
Now that was a geek world cup worth watching!
heh
LewisC
June 15th, 2006, at 5:02 pm #Dunno about other ball sports. But soccer is one of the few team sports out there that is incredibly easy to understand and play at any level. Anyone can pick up a round ball and kick it in a general direction. The rules are not overly complex either and as for venues: any reasonably wide flat surface where one can run will do for starters. You should have seen some of the places in Africa we played soccer in, when I was a kid!
It has become extremely popular with everyone around the world mostly because of ease: it’s easy to understand, easy to relate to the experiences the players have, easy to play at any time and for however long one wants. Very few other sports can claim all those at the same time. LArge audeinces can relate to that.
The myth that a ball sport needs high scoring to be exciting is just that: a myth. A superb soccer game can easily be goalless or nearly. I’m reminded of the match between Brasil and England in the 1970 world cup: Brasil won 1-0, but that game has never left my memory as one of the best all out shows of soccer skills and tactics I’ve ever seen.
I guess it’s one of the best examples of the KISS rule ever?
June 15th, 2006, at 9:13 pm #Eddie,
Can’t agree with you more. For me, I recognise that another WorldCup is here, because half the country turns into some shade of orange (our national color). Just this madness, and the people calling themselves supporters (I call them hooligans) make that I don’t like football.
June 16th, 2006, at 12:57 am #The good thing about the WC is that the roads are less crowded, because people go home early!
[…] Thank you all for your answers to my question What’s so special about the world cup?. Here is a summary of the comments: […]
June 18th, 2006, at 10:26 pm #