Some cool sports-related books and doc's I've watched over the years,
Seven Seconds or Less; about Phoenix Sun's "Run & Gun" season which reads more like a kladeiscope novel about the star players, role players, injured players and coaching staff. The Sun ultimately falls short of their goal of winning an NBA championship. The morale of the story is that it doesn't really matter if you win in the end, the point is to try something different (score in 7 seconds or less of your posession clock, play unselfishly and make the extra pass). And even a Canadian unatheletic, relatively undersized white guy can become the NBA Back-to-Back MVP, by owning up to who he is.
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Seconds-Less-Season-Phoenix/dp/0...
The Finish Line; about Steve Nash (the former MVP)'s potential last season with the LA Lakers which reads more like 'Old Man & The Sea,' about a man's denial of his aging, struggle to defy against it and his slow acceptance and somehow finding dignity and putting on a last fantastic hooray against the elements.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-finish-line-episode-3-...
Skip Bayless, Stephen A's conversation with TO; which watches more like the last act (on St.Helena) of Kubrick's "Napoleon" if it was made). It shows a broken down once high flying and flameboyant professional athlete coming to terms with his vanity and ego, after it's already too late. But that's the beauty too, of a man accepting who he was, how the situations turned against him and appreciating life because the circumstances forced him to grow, even if it meant no longer in the NFL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6UouXlWuvo
Other similiar doc's: Run Ricky Run (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617299/), Survive & Advance (http://vimeo.com/62966564), Hoops Dream (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/).
Hope you can find enjoyment and value in sport as much as I do.
I wonder how this guy feels about the Olympics. Does he bitch and moan about "ugh I can't believe people watch this crap" when people are rooting for Michael Phelps, etc?
Well, some do. But we consider those people to be nutcases.
No, the only other things that people get as worked up about as they do sports are nation, religion, and sometimes politics. Which, now i come to think about it, are subjects that are even more ridiculous than sports.
The problem is that people are just committing far too much mindshare to sports these days. ESPN has three channels devoted pretty much to just talking about sports, in great detail, including gossip, drama, recaps, minutia, etc.
People, and let's be honest, mostly men, sit there consuming this stuff all day, reading about it online, talking about it with friends, watching it in the evenings, playing fantasy sports...
Past a certain point it goes beyond entertainment and into the realm of tribalism. There's just far too much emotional and mental investment into this stuff.
This is the greatest benefit of sports. It is a easy way to experience collective identity.
When viewed from the outside, many collectives activities look silly (sports, dancing, praying, ceremonies) but it can feel powerful to be part of it.
My hunch is that most loners (myself included) have too rigid a definition of self.