That's right, I said it. I'm a nerd. And I mean it, too. Seriously. Any sort of pass I may have gotten because I love sports should be immediately revoked. Not too long ago a friend tried to describe a huge sports convention fair to me. He eventually characterized it as "like a Star Trek convention for sports fans." And it hit me, he had nailed it. Not only was it not any different, in many ways it was far worse.
Look at how we would characterize a Star Trek convention and compare:
Mostly men? Check. In fact, the sports convention fairs are far worse in this category.
Costumes? Check. Think about it, most sports fans have a few jerseys that they wear to support their favorite teams and athletes. At least the Sci Fi/Trek fan has the decency to admit that they are dressing up.
Knowledge of small detail? Oh yeah. The sports fan is nothing if not a repository for a list of numbers, dates, and rosters. We're led to believe that somehow knowing when and where the Klingons and Federation signed a treaty is being a total nerd, but knowing the batting average and line up of the 1995 Braves is normal? Yes, I referenced Klingons and the Federation, what can I say? My dad watched Star Trek, I just happened to be in the room.
Too much time spent arguing imaginary match ups? Bar fights have started over whether or not the 1976 Steelers could beat the 2007 Patriots. If you just exclaimed loudly, "That doesn't make any sense" or something like that, welcome to my point. The fact is sports fans will tell you that sports are "real" and therefore matter, while Star Trek, comic books, Sci Fi, etc. are works of fiction and don't matter. Because there really was a Wilt Chamberlain and a Michael Jordan, arguments about who was better in their prime are somehow more valid than whether Spiderman could beat up Batman. Yeah, well that's bullshit. There is no difference because they are both invalid arguments. The games that Chamberlain and Jordan played were different and so were the teams.
Sports fans are usually involved in fantasy leagues. Did you catch that word..fantasy...hmm...that right there makes you a nerd.
I would argue that even though the athletes exist, they matter less. They played a game, people paid loads of money to watch it. Half of them won, half of them lost, and it was done every year for more and more money. It's not my intention to just crap all over sports, after all I've given plenty of reasons before on why I love sports. Sports can be fun to watch. However, comics can be fun to read (so I've heard). Star Trek can be enjoyable to watch (Judging by it's many fans). But let's not kid ourselves, devotion to these things are peas in a pod. I happen to believe it's no mistake that you get baseball cards the same place you get comic books.
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