I wouldn't say "hate", but I don't really care about sports. I am indifferent, and I never go out of my way just to catch a sports game, even if it's "the big game" (unless that's what all my friends are doing).
It's kind of funny to watch all the die-hard fans out there, yelling and cheering and cursing. They plan their lives around it, watch the draft, watch sports shows, read statistics, join fantasy leagues--they're basically all huge nerds and they don't know it.
Of course, I think all those sports channels with all their sports shows where all they do is talk sports and try to predict how various players and teams will perform in the coming season, or in the coming game, or in the post-season, all of that sports talk, I think it's all complete bullsh1t. Those people just spout a bunch of redundant nonsense to fill up a time-slot and keep the more obsessed fans entertained until the next game. Of course, they try to back up all this stuff they say with their statistics, endlessly trying to predict the future (that is, when they're not talking about drama and scandal).
The truth is, all these sports statistics have little to no predictive value. The possibility of an "upset" is typically too great to be ignored, but that doesn't stop the statisticians and commentators, no sir. Let's use March Madness as an example. Millions of fans try and predict, based on past performance, who will win each matchup. A very very small minimum turn out to be correct. If statistics were of any real predictive value, practically everyone would fill out a winning bracket. Of course, fans are amateurs, we should all listen to those professional fortune tellers on TV. But they hardly ever turn out to be correct either. Again, the only reason they talk so much about prospects and stats and the future is because they need to fill the time-slot with something, and there's only so much you can really say about sports. But the stats just don't really mean much of anything, except as a record of the past (of course some predictions turn out correct, just not often enough for the practice to be of any practical worth, outside of TV ratings, that is).
I'm getting off-topic here, but I'll say this isn't only the case in sports. I think most people (or Americans, since that's the extent of my experience) just don't really understand probability and statistics. They look at records and (futilely) think they can predict which will be the winning team and who will be the best players. They rely on analysts to predict the course of the economy (and I bet some of these analysts actually think they can, lol). They go to casinos and think, despite all evidence to the contrary, that they may come out ahead. I think people just see what they want to see in the numbers, whether it be profit, victory, or just a "unique", sellable, attention-getting viewpoint. But really, stats and probability, especially probability based on those stats, is basically useless when it comes to actual prediction. Also, the more complex the thing you're trying to predict is, the more useless probability and stats becomes. And that sucks, since everybody, even in extremely important and complex fields, uses it.
Back to sports, you may have noticed that none of this was me hating on the game(s). It was me hating on all that other crap that has leeched onto the actual sports and games and become permanently associated with it. As for the actual sports themselves, as I've said, I'm indifferent. It's fun now and then to go to a game and have a beer, but I never go out of my way for it.
Edit: I guess I only went on this big rant because the dudes where I work out always have the televisions on the sports channels. Always.
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