Why are NTs such die hard sports fans?

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like it seems they live for it, in the stadiums their passion leads to tears, fights, and hapiness and glory,

If I go, i just see a game, two sports teams, and people going nuts,

what i would say is "Whats the big deal and all the fuss about?"

I would get a bottle thrown at my head for saying that.

I don't know... they're are sport fan & non-sport fan NT's... I even know one whose both

I understood it when i was in school and I knew the players on our team. We were encouraging our friends. I never understood cheering on a bunch of strangers.

Does NT/Aspie really have anything to do with it? I have Asperger's and I'm a huge sports fan.

It's a tribal thing. A remnant of our evolution.

Please explain why you cheer one group of strangers against another group of strangers with such passion?

Because I enjoy it. They may be strangers, but there is a sense of allegiance and familiarity when you've been following one team for years. Not everyone likes it though, and that's fine. Everyone has different hobbies that they're passionate about.

The appeal of sports like football, baseball, basketball, etc....is one of life's great mysteries to me.

I see little more than a bunch of people throwing some type of ball back and forth.


I do agree with what Noam Chomsky has said about "spectator sports" though:


"But the point is, this sense of irrational loyalty to some sort of meaningless community is training for subordination to power, and for chauvinism. And ofcourse, you're looking at gladiators, you're looking at guys who can do things you couldn't possibly do-like, you couldn't pole-vault seventeen feet, or do all these crazy things people do. But it's a model you're supposed to try and emulate. And they're gladiators fighting for your cause, so you've got to
cheer them on, and you've got to be happy when the opposing quarterback gets carried off
the field a total wreck and so on. All of this stuff builds up extremely anti-social aspects of
human psychology. I mean, they're there; there's no doubt that they're there. But they're
emphasized, and exaggerated, and brought out by spectator sports: irrational competition,
irrational loyalty to power systems, passive acquiescence to quite awful values, really. In fact,
it's hard to imagine anything that contributes more fundamentally to authoritarian attitudes
than this does, in addition to the fact that it engages alot of intelligence and keeps people away
from other things"

Aspies can obsess over sports as well. I remember the world cup created quite a buzz here.

That's just one aspect of it I don't comprehend. I don't think less of you or anyone else who likes sports, I just don't get the appeal.


Why do you feel a sense of allegiance and familiarity to a team? Is there any rational basis to stuff like this? No disrespect intended....I truly don't understand it.


Just like I don't understand the desire to procreate outside of the purely biological/evolutionary instinct to do so.


Why should we care if a future generation succeeds us anyway?

Think of your favorite hobby. Are there people involved would you really like or respect? Great artist, musicians, writers, game designers, movie stars, chefs, etc, etc...) Do you know any of them personally? I think it starts with the hobby itself - I enjoy football, baseball and basketball - and then extends to the people involved.

I use the Marilyn Manson method when people start talking to me about sports.


David Letterman (or some other talk show host...don't remember) was interviewing him one time and he started to mention something about sports.

Hardly before he could get a few words in edgewise, Manson shut him down by abruptly saying..."don't talk to me about sports".


I don't even know where the worldcup was held, who the teams were and I don't care to know.

I don't like/dislike most of them on a personal level. I don't know them on a personal level for one thing. I admire and respect what they do/say/write....but that's about it. I'm just as indifferent to the musicians who create music I like and admire as I am to everyone else.

In fact....there's certain artists, muscians, etc.....I dislike quite a bit (from what I know about them) but I still enjoy their creations very much.

The Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes would be a prime example. I absolutely love some his music and his first two "Burzum" albums were amazing IMO.

But Vikernes himself is a convicted murderer, a neo-nazi, a social darwinist and an all-around lowlife IMO in spite of his obvious intelligence and musical talent.

And Alex Rodriguez is a liar and a cheat. But he's a great baseball player. I don't care about him personally either, I'm just rooting for him hit home runs.

Last edited by scubasteve on 24 Jul 2010, 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well the "sport mad" types like sport as it gives meaning and purpose to their lives. This includes some people who are NT and some people with ASDs. I can think of one person with an ASD who is sport mad.

Given the choice I would rather watch the traffic lights change than watch most sports.

I love sport results. I keep myself updated on events like tennis, golf, olympics , cycling, soccer worldcup, chess (if you consider it a sport). The funny thing si that I don't watch the events, just keep track on scores and result. I remember nearly all winter and summer olympic winners, 2d and 3d place and nearly all football matches from worldcup, last 10 years top 10 tour de france ++. It started out as a way of having something to talk about with my peers and then it somehow escalated into an interest. Sport itself is dull (except soccer maybe).