OT: Are there any sports you hate (or refuse) to watch.

[husky8273]

Soccer is godawful

as observed once by Lew Perkins, "I've never understood a game that fans cheer when you almost score."

 

[metsfan2323]

Soccer is godawful

Clock counting upward is maddening, and when they go into extra time it's laughable. Stop the clock when the ball goes out of bounce for God sakes.

Hockey is the most underrated sport IMO. I don't watch it much but every time I do I enjoy it. One of the best sports to watch in person.

 

[UCDaveD]

Gambling makes any sport watchable. Some of you should stop being so miserable and try it.

 

[the Q]

says someone who probably doesn't understand the game at all

You get baseball’s thing.

Soccer people need to find their own for their incredibly simplistic game.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I am not complaining....
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....At all
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Growing up I had a huge crush on both. I guess it helped me to develop my love of the sport.

I was a big tennis fan in late 70's and early 80's.

McEnroe, Edberg were my two favs. Didn't like Connors, Lendl, Becker. McEnroe v Bjorg at Wimbledon was must watch TV.

Wasn't a fan of Agassi when he started but once he cut the hair and took the game seriously he was fun to watch.

Sampras is really last guy I liked.

Out of the big three, I like Joker the best. Federer has been incredible. Can't stand Nadal. Still a one trick pony on clay. He's a highly talented player on grass and hard court but no where near an all time great without clay.

Now, it's boring. Players are too big, strong and conditioned for the court.

I'm golf they can make the course longer, move bunkers, reshape greens, make greens faster, etc. Even though the technology in golf has gotten borderline out of control for pros, courses which are over a hundred years old can still be relevant. Tennis? Not so much. Same ball and same size court but the skill level and nuances with spin, lobs, cut shots just isn't there for me.

On the girls side I caught Chrissy towards the end of her run and Navratilova's dominance. Liked Seles but hated her grunts. I liked Sharapova as a contrast to Serena but her doping killed any respect for her.
You are hard pressed to argue for any other female athlete other than Serena for most dominant of past 50 years. Most female tennis players are done by 30 and the greats get another 2-3 years. Serena's skill and ability to dominate well in to her 30's is incredible.
All that being said, I don't think I've seen 5 matches in last decade.

 

[alphasigko]

Definitely Soccer....puts me to sleep.....

Same for the NBA....for me, it does not begin to meet the excitement of the college game.....

 

[John]

says someone who probably doesn't understand the game at all

I understand it plenty my kids have played premier level youth through HS.

 

[I Bleed Blue]

Men’s volleyball. Great to play, boring to watch. Women’s volleyball however I find certain asspects to be worth the watch.

 

[HuskyHawk]

LOL - and the soccerheads are the ones going off on us "not knowing the rules"

Hockey offsides and Soccer offsides, aside from sharing a word, aren't even remotely close.

If anything, the former "2-line pass" is closer to soccer offsides, but it was eliminated for stupidity and eliminating exciting play - go figure.

I like soccer, but agree that the offsides rule could be improved with a simple blue line type concept. The two line pass was an awful rule that critically hindered the flow and speed of the game.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sounds like you just don’t like the sport and that’s fine but unless you are talking about the Champions tour, the overweight old men/PGA thing is like 30 years old. Guys like Koepka, DJ, Rory, Finau, heck even Tiger are in outstanding shape. The John Daly, Craig Stadler types as a whole are long gone

This applies to most of the ladies as well, which makes it...like curling as a watch sport.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I was a big tennis fan in late 70's and early 80's.

McEnroe, Edberg were my two favs. Didn't like Connors, Lendl, Becker. McEnroe v Bjorg at Wimbledon was must watch TV.

Wasn't a fan of Agassi when he started but once he cut the hair and took the game seriously he was fun to watch.

Sampras is really last guy I liked.

Out of the big three, I like Joker the best. Federer has been incredible. Can't stand Nadal. Still a one trick pony on clay. He's a highly talented player on grass and hard court but no where near an all time great without clay.

Now, it's boring. Players are too big, strong and conditioned for the court.

I'm golf they can make the course longer, move bunkers, reshape greens, make greens faster, etc. Even though the technology in golf has gotten borderline out of control for pros, courses which are over a hundred years old can still be relevant. Tennis? Not so much. Same ball and same size court but the skill level and nuances with spin, lobs, cut shots just isn't there for me.

On the girls side I caught Chrissy towards the end of her run and Navratilova's dominance. Liked Seles but hated her grunts. I liked Sharapova as a contrast to Serena but her doping killed any respect for her.
You are hard pressed to argue for any other female athlete other than Serena for most dominant of past 50 years. Most female tennis players are done by 30 and the greats get another 2-3 years. Serena's skill and ability to dominate well in to her 30's is incredible.
All that being said, I don't think I've seen 5 matches in last decade.

You forgot Martina Hingis. I was a big McEnroe fan, then liked Becker. I'm a serve and volley guy. Almost everybody is just a power baseliner now. It's boring. Federer at least comes to the net now and then. Agree with you on Agassi, I grew to like him.

 

[Chin Diesel]

You forgot Martina Hingis. I was a big McEnroe fan, then liked Becker. I'm a serve and volley guy. Almost everybody is just a power baseliner now. It's boring. Federer at least comes to the net now and then. Agree with you on Agassi, I grew to like him.

I didn't forget Hingis, I just didn't mention her. Much like I didn't mention plenty of other women tennis players who won majors or were ranked #1 over the time period I discussed. Wasn't designed to be a comprehensive list.

 

[Waquoit]

You get baseball’s thing.

Soccer people need to find their own for their incredibly simplistic game.

Soccer people don't need merde. They already have the best game and don't care if other's take it or leave it, it's your loss. Come and join us if you want to have fun anywhere in the world. I swear some of you sound sillier talking about soccer than you did talking about COVID.

 

[Devland]

Baseball. I am convinced that, like the televised fireplace at Christmas, people just put it on as a background. I've gone into the local bar and they have baseball on every TV. Nobody seems to be watching or cheering. This is not the case with football or basketball. Maybe they're just the least passionate fans of any sport or the sport is just boring.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Baseball I have to watch live. Keep a score book in the trunk of my car and use it for college, minor and MLB. Helps me stay in the game and afterwards I attach the ticket stub to the game sheet. Becomes a history book. One year we went to a lot of the New Britain RockCats games then seven of them made the Twins' 25 man roster the following year.
Guzman, Jacque Vaughn, Doug Mientkiewicz, AJ Pryzenski, Tori Hunter and others. Big Papi the year before. Edit.

 

[Husky25]

Are we saying driving a car is a sport? Only thing athletic about it is holding your piss for an absurd amount of time

Race car driving is absolutely a sport. It involves physical endurance, skill, and extreme focus during competition. End of discussion.

Those guys are not "holding [their] piss for an absurd amount of time." The ones you see on TV are sweating double-digit lbs. worth of water weight in a given race. Most who post here probably get road rage when some jackwagon is tailgating by 20 feet at 75 mph or the guy next to you touches the dashed lane divider. These guys are drafting by comparative inches at 2-3x that speed.

 

[superjohn]

Half the responses, this sport sucks but I haven't watched it in a decade or a couple decades...

I don't watch but I know it sucks.

 

[Husky25]

I'll watch speed skating. Ice skating and Ice Dancing? Nope.

Cliff diving from Acapulco? Sounds like fun to watch. Spring board in to a pool? Pass.

Curling? big time watch. Mesmerizing.

MMA? Liked it better when there were fewer rules and styles were more varied. Now it's become normalized and it's much less compelling to me. fighters are in better shape and have a greater skillset but part of the "charm" was to see how different fighting techniques held up against others.

I've become much more of a fan of high school sports and minor leagues than major league and college games.

Diving is tough. I actually like watching it, but at the end of the day, it is still an arbitrarily judged competition. Also, the pools at the Brazil Games totally grossed me out.

Curling should not be as enjoyable as it is. It's shuffleboard on ice. Totally ridiculous. Yet I'll absolutely watch.

I agree about MMA. I did not appreciate Royce Gracie's performances in the first handful of UFC Championships in my younger years, but now that I'm involved in martial arts and can watch them off YouTube, he was a compelling fighter. They all were. I have ESPN+ and I'll still watch MMA if there is nothing more compelling on, but also I find myself rooting for the one with less tattoos.

 

[Palatine]

Car racing is absolutely a sport. There is a reason that pit crews are made up of former college athletes.

As for the driving itself. It requires strength, endurance, good reflexes, the skill to manipulate your vehicle and the knowledge to assess the condition of your equipment at all times. That's without even mentioning the racing itself, drafting, passing, knowing your opponent, etc.

 

[Dogdeacon]

1) I watched one ncaa tournament on espn (the year umass went to the finals)

2) I’m a baseball player, as far as I’m concerned lacrosse is just kids who can’t hit a curveballf

Hooray for you! My son plays lacrosse because he hated soccer, he'd get hit - hit back and get in trouble. Hitting other kids and doing it with a stick is fun so he's in. I'm holding off on investing in professional lacrosse, but its a GREAT youth sport for skills, dexterity, athleticism, team building and spectators.
He also plays baseball and the only way I can tolerate that spectator-wise is to coach. Baseball games are slow, way more errors than plays, more balls than strikes and 1/3 of the kids playing have no clue (Lacrosse forces kids to care). However baseball is fantastic for mental aspects and I really enjoy coaching and watching my son play. But baseball is not his favorite (Lacrosse for physicality) or mine (basketball, duh).

 

[the Q]

Hooray for you! My son plays lacrosse because he hated soccer, he'd get hit - hit back and get in trouble. Hitting other kids and doing it with a stick is fun so he's in. I'm holding off on investing in professional lacrosse, but its a GREAT youth sport for skills, dexterity, athleticism, team building and spectators.
He also plays baseball and the only way I can tolerate that spectator-wise is to coach. Baseball games are slow, way more errors than plays, more balls than strikes and 1/3 of the kids playing have no clue (Lacrosse forces kids to care). However baseball is fantastic for mental aspects and I really enjoy coaching and watching my son play. But baseball is not his favorite (Lacrosse for physicality) or mine (basketball, duh).

See now THAT story i can relate to. Youth Hockey hated me for all the checking I did.

…granted I was 6 at the time.

 

[Waquoit]

Car racing is absolutely a sport. There is a reason that pit crews are made up of former college athletes.

That doesn't make changing a tire a sport, imo. Another crappy sport is rodeo.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Out of the big three, I like Joker the best. Federer has been incredible. Can't stand Nadal. Still a one trick pony on clay. He's a highly talented player on grass and hard court but no where near an all time great without clay.

Now, it's boring. Players are too big, strong and conditioned for the court.

This is kind of a disconnect as clay is the one surface that equalizes the power quite a bit, leads to longer points and rewards athleticism versus brute strength. So hating on the big & strongness of tennis and hating on the ONE guy that excels when the importance of strength is leveled is just hating.

I definitely liked the McEnroe - Connors era of men's tennis way more, but the sport is still good - yet I think women's tennis is the better watch right now with more interesting characters, mostly less emphasis on power, shorter matches (!) and aesthetics.

 

[conn4>cuse1]

Any type of racing, college football, golf, WNBA

 

[Husky25]

I am interested in knowing why some of us don't like watching college football.

I'll watch UConn because I have a personal connection, but I think the COVID year shined light on why I'm not really interested in the national programs. I sincerely do not remember watching a full game from kickoff to final gun, and I think it is basically because there is nothing at stake for about 85% (if not more) of the FBS teams, it's tough to get fully invested in the season.

I would so much rather play golf, watch my sons play soccer, or mow the lawn for that matter. This new 12 team playoff should infuse more interest, but my guess is greed will end up fouling it up in the execution.