Am I the only libertarian (North American) football fan?

Yes, I am a fan of [team].

11 (40.7%)

Yeah a bit.

2 (7.4%)

I don't mind it.

1 (3.7%)

I don't care either way.

1 (3.7%)

No, I don't care for it.

10 (37%)

No, I hate it.

1 (3.7%)

No, I think sports are anti-liberty.

1 (3.7%)

Total Members Voted: 18

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

Bunch of millionaires bumping bellies on a big field. Arcane rules that make no sense. I have better things to do.

Arcane rules?

The point system makes no rational sense. A touchdown does not equal one point, for example, but half a dozen points. It's called "football," except feet seldom actually touch the ball. It's supposed to last four fifteen minute quarters, except every game I've ever been to seems to drag on for hours and hours.

The game itself is unrelentingly dull. There is a brief flurry of activity, followed by much milling around on the field. The only really entertaining part is in the middle, when a show is held.

Still, millions of people seem to derive much enjoyment from the game, so I suppose it has merit. It's a substitute for war, so I guess that is of some benefit.

I agree.  It's boring to me.  I can enjoy basketball because it's fast paced and full of action, although I don't really watch any team sports on television.  I like individual sports like motocross and car/street bike racing.  NASCAR is boring though.

[Porcupine_in_MA]

I enjoy football, hockey, baseball and boxing...so yeah I enjoy sports.

[MacFall]

The game itself is unrelentingly dull. There is a brief flurry of activity, followed by much milling around on the field.

That's because it is primarily a game of strategy. A week's worth of strategy carried out in a few moments of violence and physical exertion. I don't think even most fans realize that, but anyone who has played it would understand and appreciate it. It's not a game for muscle-bound morons, as most non-fans seem to think. If you can't memorize a fifty-page playbook and remember your role in it and how the nuances of your role adjust with every change of your opponent's activity, you can't play football.

Except nose tackles. I've known some real idiot nose tackles.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

The game itself is unrelentingly dull. There is a brief flurry of activity, followed by much milling around on the field.

That's because it is primarily a game of strategy. A week's worth of strategy carried out in a few moments of violence and physical exertion. I don't think even most fans realize that, but anyone who has played it would understand and appreciate it. It's not a game for muscle-bound morons, as most non-fans seem to think. If you can't memorize a fifty-page playbook and remember your role in it and how the nuances of your role adjust with every change of your opponent's activity, you can't play football.

Except nose tackles. I've known some real idiot nose tackles.

True.  I respect the strategy that goes into the game, it's just that it's boring to me to watch.  PS: I'm a bit of a Chargers fan, just because LT is fucking cool.

[miamiballoonguy]

Big Dolphins fan here.

Being a Dolphin fan, I could care less about any other afc team, Plus the 49ers.

All I have to say is about the upcoming superbowl:  Go Arizona!

You've gotta admit, it is a good story:  One of the original NFL teams, and they have consistently been in the cellar of NFL teams.  The first time this team has even made it to the conference championship in the modern era.  a 38 year old has been quarterback, a second year head coach.  You gotta love it.

[patrickj]

I don't follow sports closely at all, but i listen to sports talk radio all the time.  I don't understand more than half of the references they make, but i still find it entertaining.

Ive been a vikings fan since i was very little, because my mother is from Minnesota and i go there often, but thats basically the only reason.  I casually monitor their record out of interest. 

[Tracer Tong]

My biggest pet peeve with organized sports is people who refer to their team as 'we' and 'us'. "Did you see the game last night?"  "Yeah, we totally sucked."  Rooting for a team does not make you a part of the team.

I've not heard the argument that it's irrational.

Well it's not so much that it's irrational - anything that you do because you find value in it is rational, per se. But it can be said to be illogical in an objectivist sense. People feel a sense of accomplishment when "their" team wins, even though they really had jack-all to do with the team's victory. They feel like it makes "their city" better than the city or region represented by the team they defeated.

It is illogical in that sense. But like I said, I don't care. I don't need any reason for being a football fan other than "I enjoy it". Thing is I know a lot of libertarians who think that it's somehow wrong to enjoy something that doesn't have some "logical" value. E.g., if you don't benefit physically from something, you shouldn't enjoy it. I'm "stupid" because I get into the strategy of moving a leather ball from one end of a field to another to a certain goal. Then they go and spend hundreds of hours per week learning the strategy of moving a bunch of pixels around on a screen to a certain goal. 

Ah I see, this is pretty much where I'm coming from too.  I never understood the we/us thing either.

Bunch of millionaires bumping bellies on a big field. Arcane rules that make no sense. I have better things to do.

Arcane rules?

Like chess, maybe?

I like chess a lot -- I was actually damn good at one point, but I'm rusty as hell now. 

[Rillion]

I get creeped out by people who strongly identify themselves with sports teams in general-- the kind who buy the jerseys and wear them all of the time, get Miami Dolphins (completely random choice, honest) blankets, clocks, license plate frames, and so on.  Not sure why.  It's as if they're rooting for a side in a war that doesn't mean anything.

Not a big fan of football because it's boring and it fucks up your body.  It makes me uncomfortable to see guys run into each other, punch each other, land on each other, or any of that stuff.  Needless to say, boxing is even less of a thrill for me.  I don't care that guys like to do it; I just don't want to watch it. 

Luckily, I managed to find a boyfriend who is totally apathetic about sports-- will watch the Super Bowl with some friends, but that's about it.  Also very much a libertarian.  I'm not sure if those are connected in any way in his mind, though.  Maybe an aversion to sports is just another form of non-conformism that libertarians tend to pick up.   

[CaL DaVe]

I have been playing organised sports forever, baseball, x-country, football, wrestling, crew, mma. So I can pretty much watch any sport and enjoy it just because I enjoy and understand competition.

I think the we/us thing just stems from people wanting to live their lives through others in things that they cannot do themselves. A lot of people have to get their compeditive fix through other people playing sports because they don't have it in their own lives.

[nibbler491]

I'm a diehard Niners fan who very much wants the Steelers to lose this weekend.

No 6th ring for you.

[Cognitive Dissident]

People who fret over American Football being called "football" have to deal with the fact that soccer is boring as all shit.

Ice hockey...now there's a sport.

[CaL DaVe]

Ice hockey...now there's a sport.

True.

As a spectator, I think games are over too fast though.

[MacFall]

Ice hockey is probably my second favorite sport to watch only because I never played it, whereas I did play football.