this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2025
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I've no difficulty understanding lads being thirsty and attracted by a lovely lady who appears to be into gaming and hey, you can even interact and try to get her attention!
Now, explain to me lads getting super invested in some lads running around a field chasing a ball. Like, literally having their lives revolve around it, their identity entirely centered on it. Now that's a complete mystery to me.
I actually understood sports fandom for the first time because of watching streamers play video games. I was like ooooohhh, this is a very challenging skill, and I'm watching someone do it very very well, and I'm fucking hyped and I want to see more.
I never in my life had that for basketball or anything. But it made sense when I saw it for video games.
As someone who was born into the ball chasing cult, there are three things:
Oh and don't get me started on the choreos.
You tag lamp posts in your town with their stickers and you do the same in the surrounding smaller cities. By looking at the stickers in any given town, you can see to which city their youth gravitates, which tickles my brain in ways I can't explain.
I'd never beat someone because of their allegiance. Those people can kick rocks.
Fair-play to you for a thoughtful answer. Much appreciated and it certainly matches my personal experience.
As I said somewhere else : seeing my mates being all up in arms about ManU when they live in fecking Donegal was always funny to me, but I totally see the social aspect.
So much banter at the pub! If there is a thing the Irish love, it's a good banter.
Shame about the assholes who use it as an excuse to get into fights. Fecking idiots the lot of them.
Thanks for the kind words, I really have to take every excuse to practice writing in English ^^
Yeah, I definitely forgot about the banter and storylines.
I think what contributes the most to the sports ball hype is that a lot of people play sports ball themselves. And just like gamers watching streams of people playing the games they want to play or are playing, ball cultists wanna see guys do the shit they do on some backwater pitch. You know, for the "damn, I know that's difficult" or the "I could do it better" - factor.
Man, the "damn, I know that's difficult" is strong in every sport. I can appreciate a sport so much more if I did it myself, even just a few months. Fencing? No idea, people waving some sticks around. ~~Soccer~~ football? Sick volley shot, man, I saw a mate to the same thing back in 2006...
Yeah, I think it's also "I saw like 10 of my mates shit the bed trying to do that".
Thanks for avoiding the s-word btw ^^
Do you also refer to your city’s sport team using “we”, “us”, and “our”? I’ve always found that weird, because while I’m a fan, I don’t consider myself being a part of what the team accomplishes. I’m just a spectator. I just refer to them as the team name.
Not the person you replied to but yes I do. I used to think it’s weird but there’s a few things that made me change that feeling.
One, I’ve been at games decided by fans. Players said they couldn’t hear anything on the pitch. Home sides shat their pants during warm up. I wasn’t on the pitch and didn’t touch a ball but I was part of one of the reasons we went home happy.
Two, and more importantly: when I think of the club I don’t think of the players and the managers. I think of my friends, I think of the crowd in the stands. My team has a crazy successful time right now (Football fans will surely be able to guess by now) but it wasn’t much different when we were playing 2nd division. Players leave all the time—currently my team has like one player who was part of the team for the whole successful run—but the club isn’t defined by the players, but by the people in that stands. They don’t change. And while football is certainly an enjoyable sport to watch, I wouldn’t care about it half as much without the fan culture surrounding it. Over the years I’ve become part of that as well, so fuck yes I say “we”.
I am with you: I've been there when we played in the 4th division, outside of professional football and within my lifetime, we made it back into the top flight, with one player scoring in each division on the way. He was the first German player to do that, and while I know of another German who got there 2 years later, I don't know if this happened anywhere else.
Now I’m curious. It sounds like SVD?
Nope, I'll give you another hint: we had the most chaotic promotion match in the history of the Bundesliga
I’m stumped. A club that played 4th division that actually has fans?
I have pretty deep roots within the city, and I could not imagine not rooting for my team (within limits, I wouldn't tolerate bigotry, but as of now, they behaved pretty good on that front), so yeah, I use "wir" and "uns" :)
I appreciate the summary and I think i get why people like sports ball.... but I really enjoy having a sports ball free space to talk about how absurd it is the way our society obsesses over it. on the internet, you're the weirdo, not me!
It's weird to be both somewhat of a nerd and a sports ball person since birth, so I get your comment :)
lol yeah :D
Most of the time it's the social aspect that is infectious. It gives you something in common with other fans that would otherwise be strangers to you
I never understood sports fans until walking around Key West with my Navy buddy who wore a hat for the Browns. Random dudes kept cracking jokes at and/or with him the whole day. Still ain't enough to get me into the cult, but I get the appeal now.
Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
What was Wenger thinking, sending Walcott on that early?
Thing about Arsenal, they always try and walk it in.
As a dude who’s sometimes socially awkward and struggles to connect with men, becoming invested in football seemed like a serious cheat code to me tbh. Sit with random strangers at a bar? They’re wearing something that makes their club affiliation obvious, or they spot yours? You’re there talking how is the season going, is their keeper recovered, when will your striker score again? And maybe throw some well-meant insults while saying cheers.
As a guy who is socially awkward with other men, the longer I'm around them, the more difficult it is for me to conceal how very different I am from them.
Aye, like wearing a cool metal shirt and getting the horns from a complete stranger. We do like our tribe(s), don't we?
As long as we get to pick our tribes, realize that it is all good-spirited tribalism and banter, and are able to tolerate if people pick a different tribe, I'm cool with it. Hell yeah, brother 🤘
Each to their own pal. I’m sure there are things you do that others find a mystery.
Hey, no hate on people loving sports!
My point was it's super clear why a teenager wants to thirst on a pretty woman playing vidya.
Now, my irish mates all having their club and being all very serious about it, when they'll curse the English in the same sentence has always been hilarious to me.
And I'm talking people from fecking Donegal, who lived through the Troubles and shit. Never understood that one.
It’s cool.
I’ve never really understood it either to be honest. I’ve gravitated to solo sports and more admiration at the ability than the winning per se.
I’m from Manchester, UK, so been around a lot of Irish people. Had a lovely time in Port-Stewert once. (Port-Stewart?) At the same time I’ve put countless hours into Minecraft, Factorio, Running, or climbing and people wonder why.
Why?
Their mad at the English government, not the English people. An English football club is entirely separate from the English government.
Good point, cheers!
That is a magnificently executed thought-terminating cliché, but if I may offer a rebuttal: nuh-uh!
Practicing masculinity, delighting in skilled human action, and bonding with peers.
Not my thing, but I get it.
its like joining a cult, you swap your weaker identity with the stronger cult identity
Expanding on the penis in vagina theme for a minute...
Now that's a bit of a stretch
The male ball chase cult is not even into women's sports. I always found contradictory that the crowd that qualifies itself as the manliest and straightest, enjoys looking at sweaty males that grop each other celebrating scoring. The whole thing reeks of suppressed sexuality.
On the contrary, I think baseball obsession is more 'grounded'. There's no illusion that the players are your personal friends, they are a team and the social part is cheering them on with fellow fans.
Holy fuck I wish lemmy gold was a thing i could give you. Sport fans always seemed like cultists to me.