I played 5 seasons in my life, 4 in high school and it was without a doubt the most fun athletic experience of my entire life. I’ve never really been able to get interested much watching football otherwise because it just isn’t the same. There were a few women on my teams throughout the years (some of the most feminine and badass women I’ve ever met) but it’s unfortunate American football is such a male dominant sport.
It almost seems when people say they like watching football now they mean they like drinking alcohol or playing fantasy.
Idk, always thought it was kind of strange how basically every sport can also be a “pastime” activity but football just turns into a spectator activity after a while.
Edit: not a football quote but makes me think of “people don’t think it be like it is but it do”
Edit2: not a fan of footy/soccer much but really the greatest thing about the sport imo is the simplicity and ability for anyone to play basically whenever wherever and at whatever age. It’s so much more the game of the People as such
Edit3: just rambling here but remember towards the end of last season senior year the coaches said something like “hope you have a lot more better things to look forward to in your life after this, but keep in mind these will be some of the best times of your life”. think about that a lot, and it was never lost on me at the time, but now I’m actually feeling my body age and chit it’s just so true and real. This feels somewhat pathetic to write out haha but really do miss playing football unlike anything else.
Last edit: this is literally the last thing I’d ever of thought to be writing about as a comment on HN
But for the record, American Football is fine. It's the lionization of players which is the most problematic.
In the US, that is an issue that exists across many sports in any case, but the most pronounced is Football (wtf is with Americans and sports anyhow?).
By contrast actual football has an estimated global fanbase of some 3.5 billion.
Even in the poorest part of the globe with no equipment of proper fields you'll find young people practicing with 'balls' made from wadded up material bound by tape, playing keepy up with hacky sacks and other odd objects, etc.
(And now I see your edit .. ah, well)
FWiW I grew up with a limited equipment dirt field version of foot egg, aka:
This year saw a time where Chess became the top trending app on the App Store. The strength of traditional sports and games is their timelessness - can e-sports ever match that?
I don't think the age of a game has much to do with it, especially for games which are receiving ongoing support from the developer.
DotA 2 is 10 years old -- or closer to 20 years if you count the Warcraft 3 map it evolved from -- and still actively played.
CS:GO is 11 years old, and is also an evolution of a Half-Life mod from 2000.
League of Legends is 14 years old.
Games like counter strike and StarCraft are still entertaining to watch even if you don’t understand the nuances.
I have nieces and nephews who loves videogames, but are often not invested enough in one to really master it. These kids spend more time watching youtube videos of other people playing games than actually playing them themselves. I hear it all the time, how mystified parents and grandparents are.
Fast forward 10-15 years. Those kids are adults with a love of the games, with a habit of spectating.
It's no different than football or tennis or hockey.
(Well - it's different than golf, which sucks...)