Why Guys Love Sports
It goes without saying that most men have engaged in some sort of physical activity that involved throwing a ball, hitting a ball, kicking a ball or doing something other than spinning it upon one's fingers.
Some, obviously were, or are, better at it than others, and those that are the best of all end up being the athletes guys watch on TV, playing college sports, pro football, baseball, hoops, futbol, or hockey.
Boys are drawn to tests of physical ability and sports from a very young age. Once young boys learn to walk, talk, and chew gum, an inexorable desire to compete and a desire for conquest emerges from deep within their DNA.
Now, some may call that hyperbole, however, and now I'll be labeled a sexist, but, according to PsychMechanics:
In Palaeolithic times, these skills made men good hunters. Superior spatial ability allowed our male ancestors to calculate speed, movement, and distance of prey, figure out how fast they had to run to catch their prey and hit their prey from a distance with a stone or a spear.
Modern men in industrialized societies no longer hunt, but their minds have evolved to hunt, and sports provide a platform where they can exercise their cognitive abilities. Sports that involve chasing, hitting, and throwing are, therefore, activities that exploit men's evolved cognitive systems for hunting.
OK, science, but there's more to it, like ego, fellowship, camaraderie, natural selection, and the age-old desire to capture the hearts of the fairest maidens.
In terms of ego, men are often blessed with enormous, uncontrollable self-images that lead them to do oftentimes outrageous things in pursuit of defined or sometimes hazy goals, aspirations, and inner desires. As boys, physical activity, from arm-wrestling, to throwing horseshoes, to swishing 30-footers on the ball court helps establish a sense of being and self-worth. The kids who can't compete usually end up all right, as brainiac astrophysicists, neurologists, and sometimes sickeningly corrupt politicians. The best of the best excel at sports and academics, become class presidents and get to date the prettiest cheerleaders.
Thus, in the extensive pantheon of grammar and high school histrionics, boys possess an inner desire to excel for reasons that go far beyond beating an opponent senseless or scoring the winning touchdown. Driven by these deeply-engrained emotions, boys compete, and as men, even after the glory of participation has long faded into the past, they retain much of the essence of the ego, rooting for their favorite teams, winning bets, and arguing over what seems to be trivial sports matters, like who is the best quarterback, how fast a track star can run, or which PGA player is the best putter.
And, it's always about the best, being number one. Not second or third, there's an emphasis on winning, which dovetails into the need for camaraderie and fellowship, i.e., bonding.
As boys become men, engagement in team sports is standard for the course of human evolution. Nine guys on a baseball diamond or 11 on the gridiron, it's all the same when a team pulls together toward a common goal, be it a little league game or the Super Bowl. Men need to lean on each other, learn from each other, depend on each other for survival. In the depths of our collective psyches, we are drawn to others like ourselves, endowed with natural ability to get things done, to defend the flag, fight for the team, even to sacrifice one's own personal aspirations for the good of the group.
That's why when World Series MVPs or Super Bowl stars are interviewed after a victory, they're always in praise of their teammates. It's not a joke, it's not just talk. They mean it. Without the other guys, the one guy at the microphone is just another cog in the wheel and he knows it.
As high school or college jocks or professional athletes, boys and men revel in the competition, crave the physical action and the limelight, and bathe in the glow of triumphant exploits. Our ancient ancestors celebrated the slaying of a beast before eating it, just as today, we wallow in the afterglow of a sports victory, a win for our old college team, the horse we picked hitting the finish line a nose ahead of the favorite.
Lately, and I'm talking about the last 20 years or so, some of the natural tendencies of boys and men have been under assault mostly by left-leaning, incurious groups comprised of dykes, soy-boys, and misfits who defile nature by claiming men have an overabundance of testosterone, are uncompromising, or exhibit extreme levels of male aggression and they impart those feelings onto boys from a very young age.
Mostly, these people are simply overcompensating for their lack of physical skills, mental acuity, or personal appearance, trying to convince the rest of the world that their brand of morality and lifestyle is superior to the natural flow of human endeavor. By and large, it's complete propaganda and nonsense, disguised as political righteousness and it's wrong and destructive.
Anybody who knocks a kid for being a brute linebacker in Pop Warner football or denigrates sporting activity in specific or general ways needs to take a long look in the mirror at their own short-comings and maybe have their head examined as well.
Boys will be boys, men will be men and we will always love to compete or watch others engage.
- - FR
A few Notes on this and previous issues of idleguy.com.
This is the 11th issue and something of an anniversary, the first "test" issue produced in September, 2003.
Some of the articles and stories are incomplete. There was a good effort and good intentions, but time was short, and, being on a monthly schedule means always looking forward. It's regrettable, but necessary.
The first three issues - the test issues - contained nudity and profanity, most of which has been since edited out. That's because, originally, idleguy.com was designed as a 21st century men's magazine along the lines of Playboy. That concept wasn't tracking well, despite the obvious allure of unclad females, and a decision was made with the first "true" issue, January, 2024, to change the concept to a more mainstream - albeit with healthy doses of snark, curiosity, and cynicism - publication.
Since the March issue (Volume 1, #3), the number of pages has been kept to 12, with an additional, page 7a, Sports Extra, added in May. That's largely because it's plenty to produce over the course of a month and because such a limit puts a premium on quality over quantity. Fearless Rick would like to produce 20, 40, even 60 pages a month, but he's still very much a one-man operation (not very much, actually is), and still isn't ready to commit to hiring anybody, although free-lancers are more than welcome to submit articles or ideas.
Being one year into this project, it's actually moving along at a reasonable, steady pace. There's no impetus to be all things to all men all the time. There is plenty of information out there on the internet, some good, some bad, most of it, trash. IdleGuy.com strives to deliver a quality product that is entertaining, enlightening, and an enjoyable experience. That is the goal each and every month.
Part of the reason why men are more into sports than women is that they generally have a better spatial ability than women. Spatial ability means the ability to manipulate objects in one's mind. It means being able to picture in one's mind the shape of things, their dimensions, coordinates, proportions, movement, and geography.
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Your ad could be in the next issue of idleguy.com for as little as $6 per month. Contact Fearless Rick using the form on page 12 for more information.
Baseball and Football Historical September Events
1: On this date in 2007, Appalachian State defeated Michigan, 34-32. The upset in the Big House in front of 109,218 fans, by a school with a stadium capacity of 16,650, is considered one of the greatest college football upsets of all time.
1: The New York Mets' Tom Seaver becomes the first pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters for eight consecutive years in a 1975, 3-0 whitewashing of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Shea Stadium. Seaver stuck out 10 and became a 20-game winner for the fourth time.
2: Ernie Banks cranks his 400th home run in a 1965, 5-3 Cubs win over St. Louis. Banks, aka "Mr. Cub", finished his career with 512 HRs.
6: In 1995, Baltimore Orioles shortstop, Cal Ripken Jr. plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking Lou Gehrig's record set 56 years prior. Ripken homered in the game and received a 22-minute standing ovation from the crowd of 46,272 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Ripken finally missed a game three years later, in 1998, ending the streak at 2,632.
6: In 1980, Macalester College (St. Paul, MN), 17 Mount Senario College, 14. The victory by the Macalester Scots ended an NCAA record 50 consecutive game losing streak that stretched from 1974 to 1980.
6: 2003: Rockford defeated Trinity, 105-0, marking the last time any college football team scored 100 or more points in a game.
7: 1979: ESPN is beamed by satellite to a transmitter in Bristol, Connecticut and on to roughly five million homes in the United States.
9: 1972: UCLA pulls off a shocker, upsetting the preseason No. 1 team, Nebraska and its 32-game unbeaten streak. In his first game as the Bruins' wishbone quarterback, Mark Harmon throws a 46-yard touchdown pass, runs two yards for another, and leads UCLA on its winning, 57-yard drive late in the fourth quarter for a 20-17 win before 67,702 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
10: Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals steals two bases in a 1974 game against the Phillies, giving Brock 105 stolen bases on the season, breaking Maury Wills' record. Brock is presented second base by "Cool Papa" Bell, the Hall of Fame base thief of the Negro Leagues. "They decided to give him this base so he could take it home," Bell says. "If not, he'd steal it anyway." Brock ended the season with 118 thefts and ended his careering 1979 with 938. We all miss still him.
11: Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's 57-year-old major league record with his 4,192nd base hit with a single to left center off San Diego's Eric Show in 1985. Rose retired in 1986 with 4,256 hits.
13: Willie Mays reaches the 500 club with his 47th homer of the season, a 440-foot blast off Houston's Don Nottebart inside the Astrodome in 1965. The Giants win, 5-1. In 1971, Baltimore's Frank Robinson also joined the elite club, socking two homers in a double-header against Detroit. Baltimore, playing at home, won the first game, 9-1, helped by Robbie's three-run, first inning shot, but dropped the nightcap, 10-5. Robinson's 500th came in the ninth inning of the second game, played in Baltimore.
13: 1992: In Buffalo's 34-31 win over the 49ers, punters Klaus Wilmsmeyer (SF) and Chris Mohr (Buff) don't take a single snap in the only NFL game ever played in which neither team punted. In the game, 49er QB Steve Young passed for 449 yards and three TDs, while the Bill's Jim Kelly passed for 403 yards and three scores. The two teams combined for 1,086 offensive yards.
14: Denny McLain wins his 30th game in 1968 - the first 30-game winner in 34 years - when the Detroit Tigers rally for a 5-4 win over the Oakland A's. In the mayhem following the game, McLain is embraced by Dizzy Dean, the last hurler to win 30, back in 1934.
16: 1989: Notre Dame sophomore Raghib Ismail, nicknamed "The Rocket" by an eighth-grade track coach, scores two touchdowns on kickoff returns to lead the defending national champion Irish to a 24-19 victory before 105,912 fans in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
17: In 1920, a group of 14 men gathered at Ralph Hay's auto showroom in Canton, Ohio, and formed the American Professional Football Association (APFA), precursor to the NFL. Teams included the Cleveland Indians, Dayton Triangles, Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, and several others from Illinois, Ohio, New York, and Indiana. Jim Thorpe was named president of the league. The league woud be renamed the National Football League (NFL) two years later.
17: Reggie Jackson clocks his 500th home run in 1984, seventeen years to the day after hitting his first, a drive off KC's Bud Black at Anaheim Stadium. Jackson ended a 21-year career with KC/Oakland, Baltimore, and the New York Yankees with 563 home runs.
18: Roger Clemens ties his own record, set ten years earlier, striking out 20 Detroit Tigers in a 1996 4-0 victory at Tiger Stadium. Clemens fans Travis Fryman for the fourth time in the game with two down in the ninth, tying the record.
19: In 1965, Baltimore Colts' Lenny Moore extends a streak that began in 1963, scoring a touchdown in his 18th consecutive game as Baltimore topped Minnesota, 35-16.
21: In 1996, Arizona State defeated two-time defending national champion, Nebraska, 19-0, snapping a 26-game Cornhusker winning streak.
22: Don Shula records his 300th win as a head coach in 1991, his Dolphins winning, 16-13. over Green Bay at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium.
24: In a 1994 college game, Colorado QB Kordell Stewart lets fly with a Hail Mary from his own 36-yard line on the game's final play against Michigan at the Big House. The ball is tipped by receiver Blake Anderson into the end zone, where Michael Westbrook dives and cradles it into his arms for the 27-26 victory over the Wolverines. Commenting on Stewart's 73-yard heave, coach Bill McCartney said, "Actually, I didn't think he could throw it that far."
25: In 1884, Yale conquered Dartmouth 113-0, marking the first time a college football team scored 100 points or more. The following week, Princeton defeated Lafayette 1400.
26: In 1953, Led by coach Frank Leahy, Notre Dame topped Oklahoma 28-21. Sooners coach, Bud Wilkinson, guided his team to a 7-7 tie at Pitt in the next game, which then embarked on an NCAA-record 47 consecutive wins.
26: In 1908, Chicago Cubs' righty, Ed Reulbach throws a 5-0 shutout over the Brooklyn Dodgers and pitches another shutout, 3-0, in the nightcap, the only pitcher to ever record two shutouts on the same day. Over the two games, Reulbach allowed just eight hits and five walks, striking out 10.
26: 1920, at Douglas Park in Rock Island, Illinois, the local Rock Island Independents triumphed over the St. Paul Ideals, 48-0, in the first APFA game. In 1922, the league became the NFL.
27: In what was most likely his last start of the 1973 season, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels breaks Sandy Koufax's record with his 383rd strikeout of the season, recording it with two outs in the 11th inning, fanning Rich Reese for the record. The Angels scored in the bottom of the 11th, for a 5-4 victory, Ryan's 21st win of the season.
28: Teddy Baseball, Boston's Ted Williams, finishes off his playing career with an 8th inning, 425-foot home run off Baltimore's Jack Fisher, which bounces off the Red Sox bullpen roof at Fenway Park for his 521st home run, retiring on that day in 1960 with a slugging percentage of .634 and an on-base percentage of .483.
30: NBC, in 1939, aired the first broadcast of college football, as Fordham whipped Waynesburg, 34-7.
