The idea that men are supposed to be interested in pro sports

Anonus

As an at least casual fan of them I don't like this sentiment.

(This can also double as a thread about masculinity in general)

[Deleted User]

Eww, sports. Me no likey.

glennmagusharvey

I'm not interested in standard fandom sports, with the possible exception of soccer.  This group includes baseball, American handball football, hockey, basketball, golf, soccer, and stock car racing (if it can be considered a sport).

I'll watch the Olympics, though.  Partly because it's rare enough that it gets broadcast.

Electivirus

Eww, sports. Me no likey.

LouieW

I cannot say I really like the idea that being a man or woman should have something to do with what interests one has.

I also am not a fan of the whole "female sportscasters do not know what they are doing" and "female (basketball and softball) players must be homosexual otherwise they would not be into sports" sentiments that I see sometimes on sports sites.

On a somewhat related note, GO PACK GO.

Longfellow

I'm interested in pro chess. That's it.

glennmagusharvey

I find chess boring, but that might be because (1) I don't play it well enough, and (2) it's a game with crystal-clear mechanics and insane tons of strategizing over a relatively narrow set of possibilities, with few fudge factors to keep things interesting.

[Deleted User]

What do you mean by "fudge factors"?

DYRE

I like fencing because I took fencing classes for a few years.  It was fun.

Anyway other than that, I'm not interested in sports.

[Deleted User]

I used to do judo. Hitting people with the planet was fun.

glennmagusharvey

Unpredictable things.  Chance.  Outside factors.  Unexpected audience participation.  Even, in some cases, narrative.  Anything like that.

Longfellow

Outside factors, chance, etc. can affect the players' minds, which will show in their games. The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull interrupted world champion Anand's travel to Bulgaria which probably tired him out for the 2010 world championship match; in the 2006 match, challenger Topalov accused champion Kramnik of cheating and the ensuing hullabaloo surely loomed in their minds. Stuff like that--not always so dramatic, but still--is normal in chess, though there are certainly no Blue Shells in the game itself.

Of course, you need context to appreciate any of this. So yeah.

[Deleted User]

^^ You should try Advance Wars.

Tnophelia

The idea that women are supposed to cook and clean.

Anonus

^Indeed.

I hate gender stereotyping.

snowbull

Get back in the kitchen, Anonus.

ClockworkUniverse

I'll go ahead and broaden that to stereotyping in general.

Does it count as a derail if you  merely expand the rails?

Tnophelia

Derails kill people. Like my uncle.

If nobody dies then it's okay if it derails just a little. It may delay some other train schedules but there are far more important things to think about.

Like where the train is going.

Tnophelia

So when a thread deroads?

glennmagusharvey

So I guess threads here are ATVs and threads in OTC are trains.

snowbull

Threads in OTC are trains carrying nuclear waste.

Anonus

Why do you say that?

glennmagusharvey

Hey fuck you, I like nuclear waste on-topic conversations sometimes.

snowbull

Because they discuss things like abortion, which toppings real men put on hot dogs, etc.

Anonus

"which toppings real men put on hot dogs"

When was this?

glennmagusharvey

^^ You mean exactly the same sort of shit we talk about here?

Anonus

Well we haven't had threads about those yet. In the old IJBM, but not here.

snowbull

Yeah, but OTC has pretensions of seriousness.

I'm not ragging on OTC here, I even posted there once.

Anonus

Well IJBM did have a thread where people argued about spitting on the sidewalk. This occurred on the same day someone on IRC (not naming, as I don't want to anger him) chewed me out for being "inane", citing one of my posts in said thread (which was a reaction image).

snowbull

People in IJBM being inane? The horror!

Anonus

It seems to be one of that person's favorite words too. He used it at least once when he blew up about "I knew who started this thread before I even clicked on it".