Visiting sporting events in person

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Hey, people. Some of us out there have actually gone out to a sporting event in person in their lives, although a few of us have not. Let's talk about that here.
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I love going to sporting events when I can afford it; most of them have been baseball games. However, I have thought about attending a Seahawks game, but the tickets are pricey! I would love to see the Portland Timbers soccer team, despite the fact that I am from Seattle and thus a Sounders fan. So, when in Rome, as they say, I gotta dress the part.

My preference is overwhelmingly for college sports especially (in no special order) baseball, softball, soccer, and volleyball.

Football games are too crowded for me -- I don't enjoy them very much.

Oh yes, hockey season is upon us. Our local hockey team is expecting some big crowds this year and since I 'know' the crowd I 'm very comfortable around it. I absolutely love the electricity in the air when there is a large crowd all cheering for the same thing!

Portland should go into a trash bin and just get mashed into little bits.

I love going to sporting events primarily hockey. I usually go to about 15-20 hockey games a year. I usually go to a few baseball games although I end up bored by the 5th inning. I end up seeing a couple of basketball games a year and 1 or 2 football games.

I fortunately have a job where I get a lot of free ticket offers. I usually only really pay for the hockey games.

I actually hate large crowds but once I get to my seat I am fine. At that point I can really enjoy the game.

From the mid 1970s to the early 1980s, I used to regularly receive tickets to auto races (NASCAR, USAC, ...) to hand out.

My job was to keep track of the top ten positions at every point in the race to keep the announcer, the scoreboard operator, and the press box up to date so I didn't need tickets for myself. After a few years of doing that, I find car races too boring to just sit and watch.

The funny thing to me was how difficult it sometimes was to give away those tickets. In many cases, I'd give them away and find out later that whoever I gave them to didn't bother to go to the race. And those weren't cheap tickets.

Eric where was this. Maybe it was a down year since today it seems so many people go to nascar races.

Hasn't anyone attended an NFL game? I have wishes of this..

Texas World Speedway just south of College Station, Texas.

I go to my HS games...does that count?

I've been to:

Many high school sporting events Baseball,basketball,football,soccer,hockey

A Division 3 college football game and a couple arena games

Various college basketball games including 2 games from the opening round of March Madness

Many Cleveland Indians games, and a couple Tigers games at their old stadium

the local race track (Super Modified's, late models, etc)

horse racing (if that counts)

Demolition derbies (if that counts)

I went to some Cavs games as a kid but I can't bother to watch them anymore

the US Men's soccer Friendly vs Venezuela (Exhibitions are commonly known as "Friendlies" in soccer)

Glasgow Celtic vs Boca Juniors Friendly

a few New York Rangers @ Columbus Blue Jackets games.. to cheer on the Rangers (I've been a Ranger fan long before the Jackets existed, they will always be my team)

several minor league hockey games

Do the globetrotters count? I saw them when I was a kid

for the most part the crowds don't bother me. I usually just keep to myself and watch the game. I might bring a police scanner to hear local communications (Play by play commentators, stadium security, race officials) depending on the event

BTW, to anyone who wants to see a sporting event in person, I recommend stadiumjourney.com.

I've been to two or three Red Sox games. A couple more minor league baseball games.

I've been to two or three amateur hockey games. One was Tier 2 (Tier 1 is amateur paid level, I believe, akin to Minor League Baseball,) which was quite good playing and skating going on, with very minimal fouling and checking. The other I believe two were Tier 4 (the lowest level.) Tier 4 people pretty much sucked. Some people couldn't skate well, and there was a lot more aggression and someone almost fought someone. Tier 4 was more exciting I guess, but Tier 2 played way better. I have a skating rink about two miles from my house, so I can watch amateur level hockey like that anytime I feel like it, and sit next to the glass while people get checked into it.

Not really a sporting event, but since my main athletic hobby is figure skating, I end up watching figure skating a lot in person, either by happenstance or by choice. Not competitions, though, just people practicing. There's some high level people that go to my rink, one ISU Junior champ, one ISU Pairs champ, people able to do triple jumps and stuff. We've even got a former Olympic ice dancing couple who goes occasionally when he's got business in the area. So while not sporting events, I do get to see them practice. Interesting stuff.

As far as being at sports events and social anxiety and the like, I don't have any. I usually have about zero anxiety in a situation like that as I'll just never see the people again anyway, and it's a big enough group that I can just blend in and not be noticed, it's smaller groups that give me social problems.

True story: I did have plans to attend Monday's Packers/Seahawks game a few months ago, before the season started; sadly, scheduling conflicts with other things in life put an end to those plans.

Never. Not once. Not even close.
I wish I could though. Especially to baseball, or football, but the thought of all those people and the noise... well, its a little scary.
But mainly its because no one (quite literally no one, not even the last two generations of my family) in my family likes sports. If I discuss it in front of them, they just give me wierd looks. I can't even watch anything on TV, because reality tv is what everyone else wants. I secretly watch people play baseball every time we go to the park.
Then again, as a result, I don't like any single team, but rather all of them. So if I were to actually go to a game, I would cheer for boths sides and therefore be murdered for my lack of loyalty.

There are some colleges where the students tend to be rather obnoxious. There are others where the opponents receive a much friendlier welcome.

I haven't been to a baseball game at Texas A&M in about eleven years now, but I doubt that it has changed all that much since the 1990s. I would suggest that if you ever get a chance, go to a baseball game at Texas A&M and sit in the general admission section with the students. Nobody will look down on you if you cheer for the other side or for both sides unless you become obnoxious.

For example, at one game against Oklahoma State a few years ago, the Oklahoma State team had some little kid maybe 5 years old who would run out and pick up the bats and take them back to the dugout. After he had run out a few times, the crowd of Texas Aggies started cheering for him whenever he came out of the dugout. I hadn't realized it when the game started, but it turned out that I was sitting next to his mother who was really thrilled at the reception he got at Texas A&M. After she told us his name, everyone cheered for him by name the rest of the game.

This is an interesting read by a Virginia Tech fan after visiting Texas A&M for a football game between the two schools -- http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/spring05/letters.html: