Good thread idea... I have struggled to think of sports that I wouldn't watch, so from years of television viewing these are my conclusions: dressage - don't get it , bit like sychronised swimming its all subjective as far as I can see, but better than x-factor on the other channel American sports - ice hockey and baseball great, basketball, fun to watch, american football, dull on TV at home, great in a bar - ads every 5 minutes so time for a wee, get a round in etc. Snooker, darts - superb, I could watch for hours (and I do) Golf - hate playing but like watching Rugby - never been a fan of either code, just seems to be "get ball, run into crowd of players rather than empty space", but simple scoring rules make it easy to follow Handball, hockey, football - all good to watch winter sports - bizarre, but great viewing Cricket - love it, the beauty of tests is you can drift in and out and still keep up Tennis/Raquet sports - never a 'mustn't miss' but equally could happily spend an afternoon watching motor sports - possibly leading candidates in the least watched. F1 used to be good when there were crashes, now it all seems to be a procession. Don't think I've watched a grand prix/rally in its entirety for years. Do follow the results though. Boxing - if I'm in, and there is nothing on the other channel I'll watch. Tbh I prefer the Olympic/Commonwealth variety - 3 rounds and its over. The big bouts don't really do it for me, although I did stay up to listen to Bruno/Tyson on the radio, back in the day...Prefer to watch judo/taekwondo as its not on that much. Horse Racing - good to watch , even better if your at the course. Better still if you got a tenner on the 12/1 shot. Athletics - can watch endlessly. But then again I can watch a marathon from start to finish, and sometimes I question why...
I guess I agree with Ironwolf, I don't hate any sport, just prefer watching some over others.
To look at it from another angle, the sports I make an effort to watch are Athletics, Darts, Snooker and to a certain degree (depending on the fixture), football.
I don't like watching any sport, really. Mostly I just don't find it interesting, and would rather do something else. I'll watch the daily highlights from the TdF, but that's it.
I can ignore it in the background if my Squeeze wants to watch it, with the exception of football, where the commentators drive me potty with their ott excitement and shouting.
Fortunately he's not very interested in watching sport either. If he were, we probably wouldn't have got together!
The only sports I do are running, and I used to ski every year, but haven't done that for a couple of years.
Never ever been able to see how the likes of darts or snooker constitute as sports. And I think golf stretches the boundaires of sport...
Don't like F1, or cricket (also in my eyes a questionable sport), and find football annoying and takes up far too much space in papers etc. After the Olympics people were saying how this looks like it could be the change needed to get better coverage of other sports...but sadly doesn't seem to be that true.
Love watching swimming. And triathlon. Also love gymnastics as it just blows my mind. Athletics is a great one as so varied. Also wish there was a bit more coverage of Disability sport as that always completely inspires me
Turning this round on it's head I can't understand why more people don't watch Biathlon. Cross Country skiing and shooting. An amazing spectator sport. The last two pursuit races at the world championship were the most amazing races and yet went unnoticed on the whole in the UK. Knocks the spots off Rugby, Boxing, Formula One and even boring old football.
Good idea for flipping the question! RW forumites won't find it weird, but a lot of my colleagues and some of my friends can't understand why I like watching cycling, especially Tour de France. It's so exciting, I can't understand why they don't like it!
One really hot summer when I was about 14, my sister and I spent days watching bowls on TV. One of those weeks when it was scorching hot and we couldn't be bothered to do anything other than flop in front of the TV eating ice lollies. It was strangely soothing!
Formula 1 is ok on in the background when doing the ironing.
My boyfriend loves F1, I like watching it with him because I can stretch out on the sofa and have a nap. You wouldn't think the sound of those engines would be soothing but it always makes me want to sleep! He'll wake me up for the last few laps, so I can cheer on Vettel just to annoy him
i'm a huge F1 fan, cant think of many races ive missed in the past 28 years or so that ive been watching it. i can very much understand how people might not find it interesting though,
Yes, the Tour really is something else. Despite all the drug problems, it remains an epic of endurance and daily drama.
Exactly! Its got to be one of the toughest events in any sport.
But my dad always says "what's so special about a bloke riding a bike?" - he thinks because he rode from London to Southend on his fixie once when he was 15 that he really understands professional cycling
Good idea for flipping the question! RW forumites won't find it weird, but a lot of my colleagues and some of my friends can't understand why I like watching cycling, especially Tour de France. It's so exciting, I can't understand why they don't like it!
Same here. Most folk I know think cycling, including le tour, is painfully dull to watch and can't understand why I'm hooked on it.
I guess most of us are like that though with one sport or another. One of my best mates will watch golf and snooker all day and I do mean all day long. I've no idea how anyone can watch those for more than a couple of minutes without being bored to death.
Horse racing is another thing I have zero interest in, but I guess that's because I'm not a gambler so don't really see the point in it to start with.
Not particularly keen on swimming (watching or doing).
I like F1, but I can see why some people would be bored by a race that lasts 1.5 - 2 hours. Speedway is good if you like short races. And if you want to see some crashes then rallying is probably your best bet.
I love snowboarding (watching and doing). Usually prefer watching back country stuff to actual competitions, although Shaun White is amazing in the half-pipe
Yes, the Tour really is something else. Despite all the drug problems, it remains an epic of endurance and daily drama.
Exactly! Its got to be one of the toughest events in any sport.
But my dad always says "what's so special about a bloke riding a bike?" - he thinks because he rode from London to Southend on his fixie once when he was 15 that he really understands professional cycling
Tell me about it. My dad rode down to the west country with his cousin some time in the late 1940s - and don't I know about it!!
Yes, the Tour really is something else. Despite all the drug problems, it remains an epic of endurance and daily drama.
Exactly! Its got to be one of the toughest events in any sport.
But my dad always says "what's so special about a bloke riding a bike?" - he thinks because he rode from London to Southend on his fixie once when he was 15 that he really understands professional cycling
Tell me about it. My dad rode down to the west country with his cousin some time in the late 1940s - and don't I know about it!!
Haha! My dad also likes to tell me about the time he walked to school in the snow because the trains were cancelled. I used to be quite impressed but recently realised it was only 4 miles!
Peter, that has to have been in the winter of '63 - I walked to school with my mates too, Horley to Reigate in a couple of feet of snow. Took us hours.
Le Tour fascinates me too in spite of Lance and the other drug cheats. I use my turbo in the living room to pedal along with the riders - good training, and entertaining too!
My Mum always used to tell me about her and Dad riding a tandem down to the west country. I couldn't picture her on a bike at all!
Comments
Good thread idea...
I have struggled to think of sports that I wouldn't watch, so from years of television viewing these are my conclusions:
dressage - don't get it , bit like sychronised swimming its all subjective as far as I can see, but better than x-factor on the other channel
American sports - ice hockey and baseball great, basketball, fun to watch, american football, dull on TV at home, great in a bar - ads every 5 minutes so time for a wee, get a round in etc.
Snooker, darts - superb, I could watch for hours (and I do)
Golf - hate playing but like watching
Rugby - never been a fan of either code, just seems to be "get ball, run into crowd of players rather than empty space", but simple scoring rules make it easy to follow
Handball, hockey, football - all good to watch
winter sports - bizarre, but great viewing
Cricket - love it, the beauty of tests is you can drift in and out and still keep up
Tennis/Raquet sports - never a 'mustn't miss' but equally could happily spend an afternoon watching
motor sports - possibly leading candidates in the least watched. F1 used to be good when there were crashes, now it all seems to be a procession. Don't think I've watched a grand prix/rally in its entirety for years. Do follow the results though.
Boxing - if I'm in, and there is nothing on the other channel I'll watch. Tbh I prefer the Olympic/Commonwealth variety - 3 rounds and its over. The big bouts don't really do it for me, although I did stay up to listen to Bruno/Tyson on the radio, back in the day...Prefer to watch judo/taekwondo as its not on that much.
Horse Racing - good to watch , even better if your at the course. Better still if you got a tenner on the 12/1 shot.
Athletics - can watch endlessly. But then again I can watch a marathon from start to finish, and sometimes I question why...
I guess I agree with Ironwolf, I don't hate any sport, just prefer watching some over others.
To look at it from another angle, the sports I make an effort to watch are Athletics, Darts, Snooker and to a certain degree (depending on the fixture), football.
Isn't darts something that fat blokes and their chav girlfriends do between drinks?
I don't like any sports, as for watching them?
You can put me down for biathlon as well. Great to watch, and they've got the TV coverage down to a fine art over the last few years.
Basketball leaves me completely cold. Far too much scoring.
I don't like watching any sport, really. Mostly I just don't find it interesting, and would rather do something else. I'll watch the daily highlights from the TdF, but that's it.
I can ignore it in the background if my Squeeze wants to watch it, with the exception of football, where the commentators drive me potty with their ott excitement and shouting.
Fortunately he's not very interested in watching sport either. If he were, we probably wouldn't have got together!
The only sports I do are running, and I used to ski every year, but haven't done that for a couple of years.
Great thread.
Never ever been able to see how the likes of darts or snooker constitute as sports. And I think golf stretches the boundaires of sport...
Don't like F1, or cricket (also in my eyes a questionable sport), and find football annoying and takes up far too much space in papers etc. After the Olympics people were saying how this looks like it could be the change needed to get better coverage of other sports...but sadly doesn't seem to be that true.
Love watching swimming. And triathlon. Also love gymnastics as it just blows my mind. Athletics is a great one as so varied. Also wish there was a bit more coverage of Disability sport as that always completely inspires me
Good idea for flipping the question! RW forumites won't find it weird, but a lot of my colleagues and some of my friends can't understand why I like watching cycling, especially Tour de France. It's so exciting, I can't understand why they don't like it!
One really hot summer when I was about 14, my sister and I spent days watching bowls on TV. One of those weeks when it was scorching hot and we couldn't be bothered to do anything other than flop in front of the TV eating ice lollies. It was strangely soothing!
My boyfriend loves F1, I like watching it with him because I can stretch out on the sofa and have a nap. You wouldn't think the sound of those engines would be soothing but it always makes me want to sleep! He'll wake me up for the last few laps, so I can cheer on Vettel just to annoy him
i'm a huge F1 fan, cant think of many races ive missed in the past 28 years or so that ive been watching it. i can very much understand how people might not find it interesting though,
Yes, the Tour really is something else. Despite all the drug problems, it remains an epic of endurance and daily drama.
Exactly! Its got to be one of the toughest events in any sport.
But my dad always says "what's so special about a bloke riding a bike?" - he thinks because he rode from London to Southend on his fixie once when he was 15 that he really understands professional cycling
Same here. Most folk I know think cycling, including le tour, is painfully dull to watch and can't understand why I'm hooked on it.
I guess most of us are like that though with one sport or another. One of my best mates will watch golf and snooker all day and I do mean all day long. I've no idea how anyone can watch those for more than a couple of minutes without being bored to death.
Horse racing is another thing I have zero interest in, but I guess that's because I'm not a gambler so don't really see the point in it to start with.
Football - 22 millionaires ruining a lawn.
Not particularly keen on swimming (watching or doing).
I like F1, but I can see why some people would be bored by a race that lasts 1.5 - 2 hours. Speedway is good if you like short races. And if you want to see some crashes then rallying is probably your best bet.
I love snowboarding (watching and doing). Usually prefer watching back country stuff to actual competitions, although Shaun White is amazing in the half-pipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4fzyOTIWqE
I love American Football. It's basically violent chess with clock management.
Tom77 - Snowboarding is a good shout. During the winter OIympics a couple of years ago I absolutely loved the snowboard-cross races.
Tell me about it. My dad rode down to the west country with his cousin some time in the late 1940s - and don't I know about it!!
Haha! My dad also likes to tell me about the time he walked to school in the snow because the trains were cancelled. I used to be quite impressed but recently realised it was only 4 miles!
Peter, that has to have been in the winter of '63 - I walked to school with my mates too, Horley to Reigate in a couple of feet of snow. Took us hours.
Le Tour fascinates me too in spite of Lance and the other drug cheats. I use my turbo in the living room to pedal along with the riders - good training, and entertaining too!
My Mum always used to tell me about her and Dad riding a tandem down to the west country. I couldn't picture her on a bike at all!