I hate sports

1) The thread did (at least potentially / arguably) start out with a more modest perspective.

2) I cannot be held responsible if others take their turn in interpreting the gist of the initial website in question.

3) It is not my obligation to "pick one" as you suggest when responding in kind to those self-same posters.

4) Perhaps most to the point however if I had had intentions of presenting a treatise on the subject, I certainly would not have picked the title "I hate sports" nor the web-page http://www.sportssuck.org/articles.htm as the formal basis. However it would appear the point of view is in good company nonetheless given the web-page's opening quote

I hate all sports as rabidly as a person who likes sports hates common sense.
--H. L. Mencken

In any case it's all good fun!

Enjoy your fight...

You think anyone is arguing about what shape you are in for certain circumscribed tasks? That's a clear red herring. You're the guy attacking team sports.

My personal athleticism is in reference to certain organized team sports fans as a comparison, and not to "circumscribed tasks".

Unless you have one in mind we need discuss?

The silliness being that if said fans are so pro-sports, one might reasonably expect them to have at at least a modicum of a pro-health stance, hence the potential hypocrisy of the out-of-shape beer bellied sports fan.

As an analogy, should you go to a concert in which a consummate guitar player is performing, it would not be surprising to find a goodly number of the audience to not only have a reasonable understanding of the guitar music, but to at least have a passing ability if not decent amateur skills on the instrument.

That's not to say I feel one must be have a given ability in order to enjoy a given entertainment.

So then, you're a swell champion diver?

Give us a break, you don't like the team thing. Not only in its oft onerous corporate stance, but at the tiniest level.

Is that right?

People on teams shun health?

Actually, I'll agree that real health can vary from corporate team health, but not, to me, by definition, not re causation, though tied in some circumstances.

I don't watch motor-sports but I have three motorcycles and one sports car.

I own and have raced these two in local clubs for grins:
Mazda Maita 2002
Honda VFR 2004

I am a working musician as well, I have a gig tomorrow for example as a solo act, so in essence I like to have (when possible / at least to a degree) some direct involvement in the things I may have as entertainment.

Obviously that's not always possible but I certainly have respect for those that adhere to this concept. For example my lawyer of a few years back was an avid bluegrass man and had a few CD's and some decent live gigs under his belt, and my musical duo partner of some years was an avid amateur hockey player; in fact he was at one time going to go pro, but I am sure you know the story.......

I have little respect for the plethora of fat rabid sports fans and as discussed I am suspect to some degree of organized team sports.

Let me know what you think of H. L. Mencken: "I hate all sports as rabidly as a person who likes sports hates common sense."

I am not sure what you mean by "corporate team health" and no I did not say "people on teams shun health".

Why am I to care that your present health and athleticism has you fit as a fiddle, re whatever argument we are having against, what was it, team sports? Good for you, and then, so what?

You, I gather, hate couch potatoes. Surely there is data against the routine of couch potatoing, though not all those on a couch watching a game are vile in some way (if any). And, so, what has that to do with your disposition re team sports?

I thought I made it at least somewhat clear through my earlier posts and the referenced website as to where my sympathies / biases tend to lie as per organized team sports.

Certainly it would appear other posters found sufficient substance to either agree / disagree / some of both. I might well assume you would be able to do the same.

Yes as discussed my sympathies / biases tend to be personified in both myself and those I respect; why do you find that problematic? I would argue it's a healthy and merited attribute!

Let me know what you think of H. L. Mencken: "I hate all sports as rabidly as a person who likes sports hates common sense."

I am not sure what you mean by "corporate team health" and no I did not say "people on teams shun health".

I'll tell ya; chess could kick footballs ass. No question.

I think it's funny. I think a lot of Mencken's stuff is funny.

I don't think all who like sports hate common sense.
I don't think Mencken thought that either.

PE is part of school systems, as is music, and as is art. I approve of all three.

Don't know about your system but with mine for grades 8 - 12 inclusive, art and music were electives but competitive team sports via PE were mandatory.

If you did not participate in competitive team sports via PE for each of those 5 school years, you would not be allowed to graduate.

To me it's not a question of whether there should or should not be PE in schools, so much as it is on how it should be presented / prioritized.

I would make a similar argument for things such as sex education and money management strategies for long term investing but I would prioritize those over compulsory competitive team sports via PE.

All are compulsory. (My daughter's in 1st grade.)

Aerobics
Biking
Calisthenics
Dance
Diving
Gymnastics
Ice skating
In-line skating
Martial arts
Running
Skateboarding
Strength training (not to be confused with weight lifting, bodybuilding)
Swimming
Yoga

I'm not convinced I see the need for compulsory competitive team sports via PE if the child in question is disinclined given the above alternatives. That's not to say that if a child wants competitive team sports via PE that I somehow automatically condemn it.

Outside of the tongue-in-cheek-ness of some of the quotes, you may find certain merit:

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.
George Orwell

Give me an athlete and I'll give you an army.
Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf

Can't anything be done about calling these guys "student athletes"? That's like referring to Atilla the Hun's cavalry as "weekend warriors."
Russell Baker

Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind.
Thomas Jefferson

College football: I do not see the relationship of those highly industrialized affairs on Saturday afternoons to higher learning in America.
Robert M. Hutchins, former President of the University of Chicago.

Exercise is a modern superstition invented by people who ate too much, and had nothing to think about. Athletics don't make anybody either long-lived or useful.
George Santayana

College football would be much more interesting if the faculty played instead of the students, and even more interesting if the trustees played. There would be a great increase in broken arms, legs and necks, and simultaneously an appreciable diminution in the loss to humanity.
H. L. Mencken, Minority Repor

We should shelter children from the horrific pressures of competition, so they never become disappointed when they fail to obtain goals. Wait, they'll still get turned down from colleges(competition), being hired for jobs(competition), getting a raise/promotion(competition), or getting that potential mate to go out with them(competition).

That you believe a child preferring skateboarding or dance instead of football or soccer is somehow going to be less successful is spurious drivel.

There are just so many erroneous assumptions and leaps here.

Who says everything taught in PE is competitive and/or a team sport?

In my daughter's class, they do aerobics/ calisthenics (jumping jacks and the like.)

They dance.

They do some gymnastics.

They jump rope.

They run, a lot.

They play games -- some competitive, some not. Some team-based, some individual-based. (What would you call "red light/ green light" and the like?)

Most of all, they MOVE.

I don't understand why you differentiate between team sports and individual sports. What is the problem that you see with team sports that you don't see in individual competition?