Geek culture calls it “Sportsball”
Over the past few years I’ve noticed at the beginning of football season that the geek culture brings back this sportsball meme. It’s the non-jock segment of geek culture (which is a very large percentage) perpetuating this.
It sounds something like this: “One squad has done something to please those attending the sportsball match.”
Okay, it has a bit of humor at first, but on further reflection it’s actually quite offensive. Let me explain.
Members of the geek culture tend to be non-conformists, sometimes not accepted by the majority in high school. I know I put up with a lot because people thought what I did was stupid or a waste of time and it didn’t conform to their interests or priorities.
So, calling any athletic game “sportsball” is a declaration of pride over being ignorant about sports. But, it also says sports does not conform to my interests or priorities, thus it is stupid and a waste of time.
Wow, that sounds exactly like what people said about watching Star Trek or playing Dungeons and Dragons. How is this any different? It’s still a proclamation of “I’m better than you.” Being directed at jocks and armchair quarterbacks doesn’t make it any less bullying than what was directed at us for seeing Star Wars umpteen times.
Consider that there is a not insignificant segment of geek culture who are avid sports fans. George R. R. Martin is a big NFL football fan. Scott Sigler is such a big sports fan and geek that he wrote a series of books mashing football and science fiction. Plenty of European writers are big fans of futbol (aka soccer). Proclaiming sportsball is an insult to the segment of geek culture who also have sports inside their Venn diagram.
I don’t see how these two cultures are mutually exclusive. My observation is the vast majority of “sportsball” talk comes from the gaming segment of geek culture, which doesn’t make sense. Gamers use their minds, rely on strategy and tactics to use their fictional assets to to meet a goal. Coaches rely strategy and tactics of player assets to meet a goal. It’s the same thing.
Think about that. It offends a segment of your own, and they really don’t deserve to be offended.
