Getting back into sports: Possible? Worth it?

As a kid I followed baseball, football, and a little bit of basketball. Around high school I got increasingly obsessed with music and fell out of interest with sports, and since have not really followed. I'm now finding that sports are one of the main interests of most of the guys I'm around all the time and I feel weird about having nothing to say every time it comes up, especially when I'm otherwise friendly with the people.

I've considered getting back into at least maybe baseball and football, but I face hurdles

1) I don't have a lot of free time for it
2) I don't own a television right now and I'm hesitant to get TV and cable just for that
3) I feel like I've lost so many years of sports knowledge that I'd always be behind
4) Maybe I'd just come off as fake and forced anyway (although it's possible I'd genuinely regain interest if I gave it a little time - I mean I wouldn't do it if I had zero interest).

i follow baseball mostly through the internet - boxscores, fantasy baseball and the occasional newspaper article or visit to espn.com

3 & 4 are going concerns for me too so you're not alone

you should follow a sport that you were never even remotely interested in and then be a total stan for it. it'll make you look interesting. (like squash for example!)

but seriously.. worth it? yes if you're feeling a little bored right now. point 3 should be off the list, i think you'll easily be up to date in a couple of months, i mean the world of sports moves fast, no one remembers a thing anyway. like soccer is obviously really big in Europe, but i bet most people couldn't tell you the last 3 winners of the Champions League.

I was living abroad for a number of years and totally tuned out sports. Now that I'm back in the U.S., I've started to follow sports a bit more. Right now I only really pay close attention to the NFL, because it's more limited schedule makes it more digestible and easier to follow. I've found reading columns like Peter King's "Monday Morning Quarterback" really helpful, because it's basically a run-down of the big NFL stories of the weekend. You should also download the podcast of ESPN's PTI. It's a daily show hosted by Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser (with lots of other columnists filling in). Again, it's a rundown of the major sports stories packaged in an entertaining and somewhat thoughtful way.

The nice thing about the NFL is that there is a one week period to digest results, standings, performances, etc. It feels much more manageable. That said, I couldn't imagine trying to follow sports without a TV. Are you going to go to sports bars (yuck)? Stream on the internet? Seems like watching games is kind of an important aspect of following sports.

Baseball is better on the radio than TV.

Do you have teams that interest you? Players? Why do you want to be interested again - if it's not a natural thing (other interests still take precedence), why bother?

If you don't suddenly want to become one of those dudes with an entire den devoted to their team, try fantasy football and baseball. You get to follow individual players and make the interest about your own ability to judge talent/beat your friends/etc..

it's possible and worth it if you are actually interested. if you're doing it just to have something to talk about with dudes, less so.

Seems like watching games is kind of an important aspect of following sports.

this seems perfectly reasonable, but weirdly i disagree, at least for baseball. never watching a game would be odd, but only catching a few games and watching clips here and there on the net works well for me

I could see how not seeing games could work for baseball fandom (I mean plenty of people followed the sport prior to the advent of TV). I guess it depends what you want to get out of following sports. I like to actually see the sport being played, but I guess looking at numbers on a page is fun too.

I kid. But for me the drama and suspense of sports is the appeal. The way dramas play out on and off the field. I'm not particularly interested in stats.

It would be like 50% easier for me if games just didn't have commercials and were that much shorter. Baseball and football are so fucking long!

baseball is made for background listening/watching. get a little transistor radio and put it on while you make dinner or do the dishes.

If you don't suddenly want to become one of those dudes with an entire den devoted to their team, try fantasy football and baseball. You get to follow individual players and make the interest about your own ability to judge talent/beat your friends/etc..

this

also join my fantasy football league, cause I need 3 more people

football is pretty easy--you really only need to worry about it a couple days out of the week, there's tons of good info in the internet, and knowing nothing about it is not really an obstacle--each season is kind of its own edition anyway, with a brand new narrative. just start next weekend. i bet you could even find someone with a tv who's going to watch sunday's games.

also whoever recommended peter king and pti was otm--very accessible and will get you caught up on what ppl are talking about.

also yes yes yes to baseball on radio.

College Football fun: go to sports bar, start rooting against whatever team's fans are most annoying. I had a fantasy football auction this afternoon, there was a group of Iowa fans crying out in ecstasy for every tackle the team made against Division Two (or maybe I-AA) Northern Iowa, doing shots while giving speeches about sacrificing for the Hawkeyes, etc..

So everyone in my auction started loudly cheering the Northern Iowa Panthers and making fun of the Iowa dorks. It was the most fun I've had watching football since Joe Montana retired.

Regarding commercials and length of sports events, DVR is an absolute revelation. I don't think I could sit through a regular sports broadcast anymore. It's maddening. With DVR, 4 hour games become 2 hours long.

i would def. start with the playoffs of whatever sport you're interested in. more energy all around - even the commercials, if you're not gonna get dvr (^ otm). broadcasters play up the drama and give more backstory so you'll be way more engaged and up to speed than some random game where everyone involved may be going through the motions (thinking of basketball, which is all i follow, football seasons don't seem to flag this way for obvious reasons). you'll end up rooting for one of the teams very quickly for any number of reasons and get your wish i guess.

i think i got into basketball this way, sort of. hated watching sports growing up, then in high school some friends were all excited for a lakers-blazers playoff series (91) and i decided to start watching and rooted for portland just to mess with them (and thought their logo was cool or something). lakers won and i started rooting for them by default, all of a sudden becoming a lifelong laker fan just in time to see michael jordan eviscerate them lol. it just happens or doesn't; if you're just concerned about keeping up don't bother, as far as the time 'wasted' relative to your current situation it's kind of like deciding to get hooked on cigarettes or something.

i'm talking like you never watchd sports before ever lol, just trying to be helpful

basically you live in the wrong country for getting into sports

XD

post to/read i love baseball and (especially) i love nfl

I only read and don't post on both of those boards, but tbh I don't think they'd be immediately accessible to someone who isn't already pretty schooled. espn/yahoo sports/SI type articles would be better reading material.

i love baseball would be a little harder, especially if you aren't hugely into obscure statistics and anti-conventional wisdom like we all are there, but ilnfl is much easier to follow imo and is probably the most fun board on ilx

btw hurting if you decide on football there is one surefire resource that will undeniably enhance your fan experience.

xp k3v beat me to it but worth repeating.

i was thinking you meant getting back into playing sports. cuz i'm trying to quit smoking and was thinking i might become a pro tennis player to take my mind off it.