Introductions

[Fat Man]

Ordinarily, I'd apologize to JimmyJohns, except I suspect that he is (or was) a troll. Either way, who cares?

I say that Jimbo Bubba Booey Johnny Boy is most definitely a troll.



He lives under an old bridge somewhere out in the country and he eats live goats!

[Skul]

Well, whatever he is, he seems to have had enough.

Already? That was boring.

[Earl]

I think I provided more entertainment than he did by being such a drama queen.

I thought trolls had more staying power than that. Perhaps he felt that he had achieved his purpose when I went ballistic on him. I certainly don't believe that I ran him away. Actually, I expected my intemperate response to egg him on to submit more irritating posts. Oh, well ... "Move along, move along. Show's over, move along."

Of course, the funniest troll we've ever had was mike_the_pain_train. I have such fond memories of that one. I read the entire thread to Mrs. Earl at the time, and she hooted with laughter.

You can't beat that for entertainment! Oh, those were the days ...

[HelloEverybody]

You see, I played football until college, and graduated with a BS in biology, and am in Medical school, and anyone who takes half a psych class would have a field day calling you projectionists and say you associate sports with people who bullied you in your past.

I was not allowed to go to school because I'm physically handicapped.

The first time I was kicked out of school was because I had failed to climb a rope in the gymnasium.


I was unable to climb the rope because of a crippled up left knee, the result of being in a car accident when I was a kid, but that made not difference to the PE coach. I was kicked out of school anyway.

Perhaps if you also had a crippled up leg, then you too would have been denied a decent education and would have been treated like a criminal.

So, fuck off and die already!

Oh bullshit. You mean to try to tell me they expelled you because you couldnt climb a rope? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?

[Earl]

Hello again, HelloEverybody!

Yes, I know your post isn't addressed to me; and I should let the addressee speak for himself. But I can't resist the temptation to get involved in this latest (of many and usually repetitive) controversies centered around the Fat Man.

I suspect the reason Fat Man was suspended was because he talked back to the coach. Seems to me schools were considerably more strict during Fat Man's youth than they are today.

Either way, Fat Man was a victim of injustice. He had been crippled in one of his knees as the result of a car accident he suffered when he was four years old. He could not run, and could walk only with a limp. Despite his physical handicap, he still was required to take mandatory P.E. Along with other handicapped students, he should have been exempted, which course I'd think common sense would dictate; but the rights of the handicapped were not a concern of public policy at that time. Sounds to me that Fat Man's coach was likely a bully. Despite relatively recent efforts to reform it, mandatory boys' P.E. that is exclusively centered around sports has a rather blemished history -- certainly nothing of which the "physical education" establishment can be proud.

Also, there is the reality that there are lousy schools (especially for students from low-income backgrounds), as compared to the better ones.

Different people have different experiences. Don't assume Fat Man's claims aren't true simply because they're beyond the range of your own experiences.

Just my two cents' worth.

[Fat Man]

Oh bullshit. You mean to try to tell me they expelled you because you couldnt climb a rope? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?

Hello again, HelloEverybody!

. . . . . there is the reality that there are lousy schools (especially for students from low-income backgrounds), as compared to the better ones.

Different people have different experiences. Don't assume Fat Man's claims aren't true simply because they're beyond the range of your own experiences.

Thank you Earl:

This occurred while my family was living in a small town up in Northern Minnesota.

Oh bullshit. You mean to try to tell me they expelled you because you couldnt climb a rope? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?

OK, as I had mention in an earlier post on the previous page . . . . .

Yeah, just like coach Sandusky didn't molest kids in the locker room at Penn State for over 12 years!

Uh huh! We get it. Things like that just don't happen in our schools! Right???

YEAH RIGHT!!!

And yes, I did get suspended from a school because I failed to climb a rope in the gymnasium.

This actually happened.

It was in grade school, when I was living in a small town up in Northern Minnesota.

I was the only kid who was unable to climb the rope in my gym class because of my crippled up left knee. I was unable to run, and I walked with a limp. Also, I was in constant pain because of my fucked up knee.

The other kids started laughing, and the PE coach grabbed me my the ear and twisted it, and took me to the principal's office.

The principal said that I was suspended from school. I protested, because I thought it was unfair to be suspended for failing to climb a rope, especially since I was passing all my other academic subjects.

Then, the principal gave me either one two choices.

1.) Being suspended and sent home to my parents.

2.) If I refuse the suspension, then I would be locked up in a closet over night, and the authorities would come in the morning and take me to the detention facility in Red Wing.

So, I chose to be sent home to my parents instead.

And, yes . . . . . THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!!

I'm not making this up! Yes, I know it sounds unbelievable, but you can't make this shit up.

Bizarre things do happen.

And I also said . . . . .

My 5th grade teacher was an arsonist! Yeah! That's right! Before coming to Minnesota, he had lived in Michigan and taught in a small two-room school house out in the country, and he was responsible for a fire there.

And, being a small town, we had a sheriff, a deputy, and only one cop. Our only cop, before coming to my home town, had been a cop in St. Cloud, and he was kicked off the police force after he had beaten and raped a 12 year old girl.

So, an arsonist was able to get a job as a school teacher, and a scum-bag pedophile and child rapist was able to get a job as a cop in my town.

But, I get kicked out of school for failing to climb a rope!

Yeah! A really nice town! It was a creepy sort of town, just like the small New England towns depicted in many Stephen King novels.

We had some really creepy people in that town. The only thing we didn't have were a clown living in the sewers, or Tommy Knockers!

And here's some more from the previous page . . . . .

When I was in high school, my so-called "science" teacher was also the school's football coach, who was too damn busy coaching his team of pre-frontally lobotomized baboons, so he couldn't be bothered with teaching science in the classroom.

So, instead, he would set up the movie projector, then turn off the lights, and go out the door, leaving us all in the dark to watch stupid cartoons.

Yeah! I went to some really crummy schools and had some really shitty teachers!

Also, it's a well documented fact, that handicapped students are more severely punished than the more able-bodied students, while athletes can get away with all kinds of shit!

I'm really getting sick and tired of re-hashing my past experiences to every drooling moronic, slack-jawled, knuckle-dragging sports-tard who comes into these forums just for the sole purpose of harassing me.

GET A LIFE!

[Mrs. Earl]

I'm really getting sick and tired of re-hashing my past experiences...

I think the reason you have to keep rehashing your past is because these children who come to criticize this website believe that history began with their birth. Therefore, anything you write about times prior to that is beyond them.

By the way, you might be interested to know that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has changed things for schoolchildren with disabilities. I know some boys who, because of their disability, were able to eschew P.E. entirely and spend their P.E. period in the computer lab.

[Fluffy Tinkapoo]

Like many posters here, I found this website when I googled "I hate sports!"

In grade through high school, I was, like most North American school children, subjected to the unholy trinity of sports: Baseball, Basketball and Football. It's not that I sucked as a player, I was OK - and I was never bullied. It's just that I could never SEE THE POINT of playing sports. Sports are just so - insipid! Putting a ball into a net or a hoop? WHY??? WHY??? WHY????

My high school had a World Class Sporting Program, which meant Friday night football games (an excuse to get drunk), and basketball assemblies (time to read Italian Vogue cover to cover). I was fortunate to spend my junior year as an exchange student to Germany. I could go on for pages about the beer, but I'll limit my comments to this: it opened my eyes to a much bigger world, and made my suburban American high school experience seem.... so... small. Especially the jock-ocracy (as one person here on this board so eloquently put it). It was a bad joke.

As an adult, I recognize that sports, in the most Machivellian way, are truly necessary to keep the unwashed masses from rioting and pillaging their neighbors villages on a regular basis. Instead, sports give them a few choice Sundays to do so. Though I absolutely loathe sports, I'd LOVE to own a NFL franchise. I'd change their name to the Fluffy Pink Kitties. Just imagine the marketing possibilities!

Like many women, I also understand that sports, or sports chat, is an easy way to 'get to know' a guy if you are interested in him. Also, I suspect many women use sports time as an opportunity to steal their husbands wallets while they're mesmerized by a little round object, and go charge obscene amounts of money on ebay. So I guess it's a win/win. Pardon the sporting terminology.

I DO advocate physical fitness. I swim and run regularly, but mostly to keep my BMI below 23 so that I can drink copious amounts of red wine and indulge in raw steaks. And fit into my bustle gowns.

So here's reason why I HATE sports so very, very much right now.

My dear husband, who is perfect in every other way, insists that our children play sports. He was in Little League. They have to be in little league. He played soccer, so they have to play soccer. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! So I'm stuck schlepping kids and gear to baseball games and soccer practices. And here's the absolute worst part: HE SIGNED ME UP TO COACH SOCCER!

WTFFFFFFF???? I loathe soccer. I know nothing about the sport, and I would like to maintain my ignorance!

Ok, I guess I know the game is played with a truncated icosahedron and two nets, but more importantly: WHO CARES how it's played? It's so flipping STOOOOOOPID! I can't back down now because I'm a confirmed volunteer and it will look bad if I do. I'm also the type of person who follows through when committed. I'm stuck! I am a soccer coach. GAH! This is going to be the worst 10 weeks ever.

I knew it would be horribly, horribly wrong when I went to the coach's orientation meeting, wearing platform clogs and a dress. Everyone was dressed in soccer shirts, shorts and cleats. I had to laugh! The only thing I learned at coach's orientation was: beware of soccer parents. They are all monsters. Here is a smidgen of the conversation I had with Head Coach Biff:

Me: I'm not really confident that I'll be a good soccer coach. You see, I just don't understand the game.
Coach Biff: Don't worry, you'll learn the rules of scrimmage soon enough.
Me: I understand the rules of scrimmage, Coach Biff, it's just that I don't understand WHY anyone would get their jollies from kicking a ball repeatedly at a net.
Coach Biff: (looking perplexed) Well, you'll see - Soccer is AMAZING!
Me: The Large Hadron Collider is AMAZING. Kicking a ball at a net? Not so much.
Coach Biff: (looks even more confused and walks away)

As bad as soccer parents are, baseball parents are worse. I've never seen such ghetto behavior as displayed at a Little League Game. At our (mercifully) last game, I sat in the opposing team's bleachers, mainly because it was shady and I could see the screen of my computer better. There were tears running down my face, from laughing so hard at the baseball parents when their sons scored. You would think they were cheering because their FICO scores went up to 550. Right before the game ended, I announced to the assembled crowd: "If you parents spent as much time and effort coaching your kids to read and do math, the dropout rate of your schools wouldn't be 70%!" In retrospect, I suppose I was lucky nobody threw a beer can at my head.

But back to soccer. Soccer, Oh soccer, how do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways..... I vow to be the worst soccer coach EVER. By that I mean, I will love the kids unconditionally, praise them if and when they suck, and above all, make sure they are having as much fun as possible, damn the game, damn the score, damn the asshat parents on the sidelines, too lazy to volunteer themselves.

Only ten more weeks to go.....


p.s. Thank you for allowing me to rant. I feel much better now. Happy Friday!

[Skul]

Welcome to the forum, Fluffy. Or would you prefer Tinkapoo? Or maybe just simply FT?

Sorry it took so long to approve your post â?? I didn't notice it was waiting for approval. Understand that the first few posts of yours will need to be approved before you can start posting normally. This is an anti-spam measurement. We do still get it, but regular forum members don't see it, as unapproved posts are invisible to any except moderators and administrators.

Me: I understand the rules of scrimmage, Coach Biff, it's just that I don't understand WHY anyone would get their jollies from kicking a ball repeatedly at a net.
Coach Biff: (looking perplexed) Well, you'll see - Soccer is AMAZING!

Well, that's got to be the best reason to enjoy soccer; because some guy said it's "amazing"! Amazingly dull and trite, you mean?

I hate soccer, too. And over here in the UK, people seem to eat, sleep, breathe, drink and live this children's game. In the past, I have actually tried to watch a couple of matches, but they were so mind-numblingly boring, I had to stop before my brain leaked out my ear.

Anyway, I hope you'll continue to post, Tink (hey, there's another name possibility)

[Earl]

Welcome, Fluffy Tinkapoo! I tell you, when I first saw your username when you were online previously, I was afraid you were a spammer or a troll. I hope you won't mind if I call you "FT" for short. Yes, I'm the husband (of 30-plus years) of Mrs. Earl, who posted above. I'm also the sole currently active moderator of this forum. Needless to say, "Earl" is neither my first name nor my last.

I never had an interest in sports. I never wanted to watch any games, and I never wanted to participate in any sport. To this day I don't even know how the games of football and basketball are played. Otherwise, I was a typical boy who loved snakes and monster movies. Why I never developed an appreciation for sports was a mystery to me until recently. I might save my speculations for another post.

I DO advocate physical fitness.

So do I. The negative stereotype of boys and men who have no interest in sports is that we are all sedentary and have our noses stuck in books, and let me say immediately that there's nothing wrong with that. Nearly ten years ago I was diagnosed with late onset type II diabetes, which has run in my family. (By the way, I'm in the 20 percent of middle-aged adults who have come down with this disease who have not been overweight.) So, I need to control my blood sugar level by exercising. Five years ago I decided to join a local health club and hired a personal trainer to work with me on a bodybuilding program. I love working out! My health club experience has been totally different from the mandatory P.E. of my youth that was centered exclusively around sports, which truly was an exercise (no pun intended) of some of the worst hypocrisy ever foisted off upon students by school policymakers.

My dear husband, who is perfect in every other way, insists that our children play sports. He was in Little League. They have to be in little league. He played soccer, so they have to play soccer. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

Ordinarily I have a "live and let live" attitude; but many of the fans of school sports are clearly coercive in their own attitudes, which is one of the reasons why I've been fed up with the sports culture for years. I believe that most boys have a need to be physically active. But thanks to the sports culture, boys usually aren't offered a choice of physical activities other than competitive team sports; and boys who show no interest in sports are stigmatized. The most notable example of this cultural phenomenon is the glaring hypocrisy of mandatory "sports only" P.E. I never so much as heard of exercise programs in the P.E. I was forced to endure. There wasn't even any mention of bodybuilding, which is a great way for nonathletic boys to build up their self-confidence. I probably will have more to say about this later.

So I'm stuck schlepping kids and gear to baseball games and soccer practices. And here's the absolute worst part: HE SIGNED ME UP TO COACH SOCCER!

WTFFFFFFF???? I loathe soccer. I know nothing about the sport, and I would like to maintain my ignorance!

Oh, no! Believe me, you have my complete sympathy. What did I say about the sports culture having its coercive aspects? I wish you the best of luck. Please keep us posted about further developments. I'm sure that will be interesting.

There's a lot more I could say now, but time does not permit. I hope you will continue to post. I think you would be an asset to this forum. If I remember correctly, once you've posted for the 14th time, your posts will be displayed automatically for all to read as you submit them. Please be patient. I'm retired; so, I have some flexibility in my schedule. I shall be checking the forum frequently for your posts so they may be approved as soon as possible.

Thank you for allowing me to rant. I feel much better now. Happy Friday!

Please feel free to rant anytime. You have a great weekend, too.

Again, welcome!

[Fat Man]

Good evening Fluffy Tinkapoo:

Welcome to our anti-sports forum.

Hope to see more of you here.

[HelloEverybody]

""""""Hello again, HelloEverybody!

Yes, I know your post isn't addressed to me; and I should let the addressee speak for himself. But I can't resist the temptation to get involved in this latest (of many and usually repetitive) controversies centered around the Fat Man.

I suspect the reason Fat Man was suspended was because he talked back to the coach. Seems to me schools were considerably more strict during Fat Man's youth than they are today.

Either way, Fat Man was a victim of injustice. He had been crippled in one of his knees as the result of a car accident he suffered when he was four years old. He could not run, and could walk only with a limp. Despite his physical handicap, he still was required to take mandatory P.E. Along with other handicapped students, he should have been exempted, which course I'd think common sense would dictate; but the rights of the handicapped were not a concern of public policy at that time. Sounds to me that Fat Man's coach was likely a bully. Despite relatively recent efforts to reform it, mandatory boys' P.E. that is exclusively centered around sports has a rather blemished history -- certainly nothing of which the "physical education" establishment can be proud.

Also, there is the reality that there are lousy schools (especially for students from low-income backgrounds), as compared to the better ones.

Different people have different experiences. Don't assume Fat Man's claims aren't true simply because they're beyond the range of your own experiences.

Just my two cents' worth. """""""


Then in my eyes, he shouldnt just go around stating that he was expelled just for that. He gives no explanations. He makes it sound like he couldnt do it, so the teacher said get the fuck out. Hes completely putting it out there wrong. Lay the facts down and it wont get misinterpreted.

Then on step 2 of this, he shouldnt have mouthed off to his superiors.


And judging from his other posts Ive sen on here, Im not going to bother responding directly TO him, because all it gets is someone getting called a pedophile blah blah blah and some other form of incoherent argument.

Good day gentlemen

Thanks for a decent response Earl, and not a blow up pedophile your a retard respond

[Fluffy Tinkapoo]

Thank you for the welcome and for letting me vent.

I plan on purchasing your "I hate sports" hat to wear at all soccer games... let's see if the soccer parents actually have reading comprehension. It should be fun!

I'd love to post progress reports, the "Soccer Coach From Hell", so to speak. To me it's a giant joke, or perhaps a scientific experiment.

Some random thoughts, in no particular order:

1) As of late, I've become interested in genetics. I wonder if there is a "Sporto" gene that most of us who hate sports have 'switched off'... due to evolution, of course. Strictly speaking, there was great evolutionary advantage, 500 -10,000 years ago, to being jock-ish. Post industrial revolution, not so much. I wonder if you could design an experiment to find out if the Sporto gene (let's call it DSA: Drooling Sports Ass) exists: Say you have a random group of guys, confined in a basketball court for 4 hours without food, drink or entertainment. Throw a basketball in when they begin to get restless.... and see who 'starts to play'. Compare DNA of players vs. non-players. That sort of thing. Search for the DSA gene, and then find out how to eliminate it.

2) I just remembered my soccer coaching orientation from last Thursday (as hard as I might try to wipe it from my brain). The "head" coach spoke about why he loved soccer - he remembered his school teacher "picking on him, berating him and being so negative", and "the wonderful, positive encouragement his soccer coach gave him during practice"... so, he had the exact OPPOSITE experience of many of the posters on this board. How bizarre is that? I guess it's something to think about. Maybe sports ARE a safe haven for certain types of people.

3) Earlier in this thread (I forgot who said it) someone said: sports in school should be EXACTLY as important as: balancing a chemical equation, writing a convincing essay, graphing a parabola, performing at the school talent show, etc. I couldn't agree more. Why is the talent to throw or kick a ball regarded so much higher than the talent to cook a souffle or change brake pads?


Have a great weekend!
Fluffy

[Fat Man]

. . . . . Then on step 2 of this, he shouldnt have mouthed off to his superiors.

Yeah? I only said to the principal that I thought it was unfair that I was going to be kicked out of school for failing to climb a rope in the gym when I was passing all my other academic subjects.

So, that's mouthing off! Eh?

I guess I should have kept my moth shut, and meekly accepted my expulsion from school!

Oh! Just like back in the 1960s blacks should have meekly accepted the Jim Crow laws which restricted their voting privileges and rights to decent employment.

By the way, the principal and the coach were not my superiors, they were my inferiors!

My mother taught me how to read and write before I even started school, and by the time I was only in the third grade I was already able to read at high school and adult level. I spent my summers in the public library instead of playing sports out in the hot sun.

As far as I'm concerned, all PE coaches, jocks, and right-wing Republicans are my inferiors. I don't give a flying fuck how rich they are, they just have more money than brains, and most of them have no brains at all.

For example: fuck-tard Bill O'Reily on FOX NEWS during a debate on Science vs. Creationism made the comment "Well, the tide goes in and the tide goes out and you can't explain it!"

Yeah! Uh huh! I knew that it was the moon that causes tides back when I was only in the second grade after checking out my first Astronomy book from the school library. And Isaac Newton explained it 300 years ago!

Bill O'Reily doesn't know jack-shit about science, and I knew far more than he does when I was only in grade school, and yet, that moron get paid about $8 million dollars per year slobbering and drooling onto his microphone in the FOX NEWS studio, while I'm living in poverty.

A college professor who teaches astronomy or physics only gets paid about $80,000 to $120,000 dollars per year. Football players make up to $5 million dollars per year.



In America, stupid people make more money than smart people!

So, you may FUCK OFF!!!

I'm in a bad mood right now!

[JimmyJohns]

. . . . . Then on step 2 of this, he shouldnt have mouthed off to his superiors.

Yeah? I only said to the principal that I thought it was unfair that I was going to be kicked out of school for failing to climb a rope in the gym when I was passing all my other academic subjects.

So, that's mouthing off! Eh?

I guess I should have kept my moth shut, and meekly accepted my expulsion from school!

Oh! Just like back in the 1960s blacks should have meekly accepted the Jim Crow laws which restricted their voting privileges and rights to decent employment.

By the way, the principal and the coach were not my superiors, they were my inferiors!

My mother taught me how to read and write before I even started school, and by the time I was only in the third grade I was already able to read at high school and adult level. I spent my summers in the public library instead of playing sports out in the hot sun.

As far as I'm concerned, all PE coaches, jocks, and right-wing Republicans are my inferiors. I don't give a flying fuck how rich they are, they just have more money than brains, and most of them have no brains at all.

For example: fuck-tard Bill O'Reily on FOX NEWS during a debate on Science vs. Creationism made the comment "Well, the tide goes in and the tide goes out and you can't explain it!"

Yeah! Uh huh! I knew that it was the moon that causes tides back when I was only in the second grade after checking out my first Astronomy book from the school library. And Isaac Newton explained it 300 years ago!

Bill O'Reily doesn't know jack-shit about science, and I knew far more than he does when I was only in grade school, and yet, that moron get paid about $8 million dollars per year slobbering and drooling onto his microphone in the FOX NEWS studio, while I'm living in poverty.

A college professor who teaches astronomy or physics only gets paid about $80,000 to $120,000 dollars per year. Football players make up to $5 million dollars per year.



In America, stupid people make more money than smart people!

So, you may FUCK OFF!!!

I'm in a bad mood right now!

Football stars entertain millions, a teacher educates thousands.

Also, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are far richer than anyone else.

You are just bitter with a defeatist mentality.