Anchorhead said:
C3PX said:
In an ideal world, none of us would feel the need to "escape" in some artificial way.
For me, baseball is much more than an artificial escape. It's an appreciation for, a sort of connection to, a skill I don't have. As well as a deep interest in a contest of differing strategies. It's also a connection to the history of the game. It's hard to explain to people who don't feel it.
Interesting that video games have come into the conversation because I feel about them the same way several people here feel about sports. I don't get the devotion or interest. Sitting in front of a computer monitor for hours seems as uninteresting to me as going to a baseball game would seem to some people.
Not to mention, sitting in front of your monitor playing a video game - you have to cook your own hot dogs. ;-)
My last two posts in this thread were thrown together in quite a bit of a rush. Now that I have a few minutes, maybe I can explain my position more clearly.
I agree that video games are a waste of time, and just as much of a meaningless time waster as sports. I guess the biggest difference is that I rarely have random strangers coming up to me and saying, "Did you play Halo last night? Man alive! How about that red team! They were somethin' weren't they?!"
Even if you were a big Halo fan, a random stranger striking up this sort of exchange while waiting in the grocery que would be awkward, right? But for some reason it seems like I am always having random people I don't know try to strike up a conversation with "last night's big game" and I never have a clue what game they are talking about.
I think it is also worth noting that I have never had an encounter like this with baseball or basketball or any other kinds of fans other than football fans. They seem to be the only ones who really lack that ability to see past their hobby and realize that not everyone shares those same interests as them. When I think of baseball fans like Anchorhead, I really feel nothing different toward them than I do toward anyone else who is really passionate about something they love. But football (and Twilight) fans rank very high on my list of "Most Annoying Things On The Planet"
Warbler said:
If we only did the things that were important and didn't have our diversions, the world and lives would be very boring. It would not be a world I'd want to live in.
I feel very much the opposite way. I feel that it is our affixiation with materialism that makes life boring.