Sport You Wished You Liked

[scottmitchell74]

Mine is hockey.

I've tried many times. It doesn't "take."

It will be put to the test Feb 8 though as a guy on my crew is taking us to a Stars game as his Christmas gift to us and I'm told seeing hockey live is a Rosetta Stone gateway to hockey.

[gh]

live hockey is a totally different sport than watching it on a screen

[Atticus]

live hockey is a totally different sport than watching it on a screen

Ah yes, you can hear the clatter of teeth falling on the ice, the pelvises cracking on the boards, the concussions . . . concussing. I played it as a boy from 6-10 and that was more than enough for me in life.
I wish I liked cross country, and I have tried very hard to associate it with track running, but never been able to make the connection.

[bambam1729]

live hockey is a totally different sport than watching it on a screen

If you haven't seen live NHL you can't believe how fast they're skating and how hard they're hitting in the corners

[The Klingon]

For me, it would be soccer.

[79]

Biathlon, golf, women playing rugby, cricket...

[spartacus]

I like most sports, especially racing sports. Probably less so Winter sports living in hot Australia.

[TN1965]

That would be cycling. I like all other endurance sports. Cycling just does not work for me.

[jazzcyclist]

There's no sport that I don't like that I wished II liked. I'll give any sport a try and if I don't like it I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. However, cricket is one sport that I wished I better understood. I've been to a minor league hockey game, and I enjoyed it.

[lonewolf]

Attending live high-quality hockey was a business activity akin to "customer golf" when I lived in Calgary. I never got it either. I think that may be common if you never played a sport.
OTOH, although he was not very good at it, my Oklahoma-raised, 12-year-old son enjoyed his introduction to playing hockey, He got even in spring Little League. The team mother's petitioned that he not be allowed to pitch because he threw too hard.

[NotDutra5]

For me, it would be soccer.

Mine as well. I want to like it. I just don't understand it.

[NotDutra5]

live hockey is a totally different sport than watching it on a screen

Absolutely. I get to go to a few Lightning games a year due to an "in" in the marketing dept of the arena. Thoroughly enjoy it. Nearly never watch on TV and don't pay much attention to the NHL otherwise.

[El Toro]

There's no sport that I don't like that I wished II liked. I'll give any sport a try and if I don't like it I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. However, cricket is one sport that I wished I better understood. I've been to a minor league hockey game, and I enjoyed it.

To paraphrase a Shawshank Redemption quote about geology, "Cricket is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure and time."

I think the highly extended time factor in first class cricket makes it is so different from most shorter time-based sports that playing it is the quickest way to appreciate it. It's much closer to war than other sports in that has such an extended and constantly variable mix of strategic and tactical battles.

There are so many ways to counter those batting and for those batting to counter bowlers (and fielders) compared to something like baseball that playing the game and experiencing the effect of time and all the different pressures is the quickest way to understanding.

If you are lucky, you might find expat community teams from Commonwealth countries playing somewhere near you, otherwise you need to commit to buying a rule book and learning all the rules and then watching at least the next 10,000 hours of test cricket while paying attention to the commentary...

[bad hammy]

For me, it would be soccer.

Mine as well. I want to like it. I just don't understand it.

Without understanding either sport, I've always assumed that soccer is basically ice hockey on grass, but instead of fist fights you have floppers . . .

[Atticus]

Without understanding either sport, I've always assumed that soccer is basically ice hockey on grass, but instead of fist fights you have floppers . . .

It may be (a little) better now, but the last time I paid attention to hockey, the fights were WWF affairs, where the refs pretended to break it up but mostly just made sure no one took it seriously.