Peace Be Upon You!

[Mohammad]

Hello everyone, my name is Mohammad. I'm from Kuwait and I decided to join this forum because I began to agree with everything this website (and its members) stand for.

I started to lurk around here back in September 2010. Interestingly, it all started when I searched for the 'soccersucks' website that made some fame, a few years ago. I was, like everyone else in my neighborhood and social circles, a football/soccer fanatic. It didn't matter where I was, soccer is always the number one priority for many people. Unfortunately, soccer took over me.

When I was a kid, I had a talent for the arts. And the difference between art and 'the arts' is that the former term only describes visual art, while the latter term ("the arts") describes all these different wonderful ideas: music, dance, poetry, literature, architecture, painting, drawing, movies/drama/theater, etc etc. I even consider video games as a form of art, albeit it's judgmental but even a violent game like Grand Theft Auto has some form of beautiful expression in it, such as 'sandbox, non-linear levels', 'open world environments and maps', 'free roam', etc. I'm guilty as charged; I must admit, I have a strong liking for video games, a bit of a 'geek' at it. Mostly sandbox games like Grand Theft Auto and other similar-type products from the same company (Rockstar Games company). But I also have a recent liking for Google Earth and Google Sketchup. Architecture is my pastime hobby, and I seek to revive it. I also used to write my own short novels, design my own cities, etc.

Flying is another hobby I consider an art -- I thoroughly enjoy aviation, and I was hooked with flight simulators since childhood. I also used to collect maps when I was a kid. Geography was my favorite subject in school. Learning countries' names, flag colors, national anthems, capital cities, etc was very fun for me. Google Earth was like a dream come true: incorporating my like for geography, exploration, architecture and flying all in one program/software. Despite my geek-ish side, I did also have a liking for military. But not in the macho type of way spoiled kids have when trying to emulate Call of Duty and all that junk (I consider Call of Duty, personally, as the junkiest product of the gaming industry, as opposed to well-executed games like GTA [albeit I know some of you may not like this violence, even if its virtual]). But for me, my liking for military consisted of collecting military jet models (as well as other stuff like cars, etc), and my recent liking expanded on using military simulators such as ARMA and ARMA II (well, they're classified as games but the openness they have and the amount of things you can do with their editing tools makes it the best military simulator for civilian use thus far).

Apart from that, I love reading. I know Wikipedia isn't the ultimate information source but I appreciate its idea. Things it stands for like: open/free to edit, for all. And it's not as bad as college teachers make it out to be. It has taught me lots of things. For instance, I learned about the languages of different world cultures, most notably the Persian language and other languages related to it (classified as Indo-European languages, such as English, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Persian, Kurdish, Hindi, etc). I learned about different ethnic groups pertaining to those languages, I learned about the history of major empires and civilizations in more detail than any other place I could access, etc. I even began reading on the Western world (civilization) and Western culture, from Europe (including European Russia) to the Americas (north and south America), to Australia, New Zealand, Israel and even (controversially) South Africa. I appreciate western philosophy, from things like the ideal of liberty/freedom: economic liberty/freedom (or free market), political freedom (democracy), social freedom, intellectual freedom, academic freedom, etc. I really began to love, appreciate and enjoy it. I also learned about eastern philosophies that stemmed in Iran/Persia and India, and became the centers of Zoroastrianism, Hinduism and Buddhism. One notable zoroastrian belief is: "good words, good thoughts, good deeds" - none of which applies to the average egotistical male jock.

With google Earth, my favorite part is roaming around different countries and exploring 360-panoramic pictures of different places, as well as google street views.

What the sports hype did to me was suppress my liking for many things I had when I was a child, and only in recent months-to-years I began slowly reviving my true self all over again. Sports hype overshadowed all the above things I mentioned (except for ones I lately began to embrace).

As of this past month or two, I feel like I revived my true self and liberated myself from the sports hysteria. I am currently planning to live life to its true potential and fullest. With sports spectatorship being excluded from my daily life slowly but surely, I now have more free time to myself for all these things:
1. Most important of all, my work/education in university.
2. My friends and families / social life.
3. My own personal hobbies that are defined by me and not by somebody else like the sheep mentality.
4. My own physical activities and not of watching somebody else play. That includes even the simplest of things like exploring new places, hiking, etc.
5. Photography, blogging, video blogging (maybe on youtube - for all its useless stuff, there are many educational and talented stuff on there).
6. Drawing, painting.
7. Designing 3D buildings on google sketchup for google earth.
8. Reading famous works of literature.
9. Appreciating classical music, and traditional music.
10. And yes, I might as well say it, having a bit of time to play video games every once in a while (that includes GTA lol), as well as attempting to make my own free mods/add-ons for some of them. Believe it or not, the form of spectatorship even took away time from my gaming life. That's how bad of a sports junkie I was.

I'm sorry for the long post but I had to say it.

Sports are exaggerated today. It's too much. They made a religion out of them. At least religions (as annoying as they could be) are meant for spiritual purposes, not self-fulfilling indulgences of enjoying to see the team you hate lose and its female supporters cry. Speaking of religion, I'm not atheist. I'm Muslim and if I ever leave Islam, I'd probably leave it for another religion (maybe Christianity, who knows). But until now I'm Muslim and never thought of leaving Islam, although I'm a major critic of many of its issues and I'm not afraid to speak my mind about it in front of friends and family. Though I believe in God, and my version of God is of a beautiful/peaceful one, I also believe in evolution. If God can create everything, surely he can create evolution too. Why not? After all, the universe is built on numbers and algorithms and systems of set laws, rules and some elements of ever-changing formulas. Anyway, back to the original point, modern day sports turned into a religion. I remember in Kuwait (it's an Arabic country in the middle east by the way - but I'm originally Persian, not Arab, and my family moved here many generations ago)... I remember in Kuwait, there was a local derby game between two clubs: "Al-Arabi" and "Al-Qadsia". Green vs Yellow, kinda like Celtics vs Lakers rivalry. Al-Arabi is supported mainly by Shiite Muslims, Al-Qadsia by Sunnis. I swear, the way its played out, is like a battle between the sects. Talk of ignorance. And it gets worse when women are in the game. Heaven forbid, your team winning is like an open invitation for its ultra-testosterone teenage boys to start treating themselves like the team that lost owes them their women as war booty. Pathetic.

I'm still young and in university but one day I hope to meet and marry a girl with a beautiful mind - one who loves to use it and to its fullest. I hope my future wife wouldn't be poisoned with this filth we see on television regarding sports and 'feeling of belonging'. Its what I call 21st century tribalism. Old-age and backward tribalism has been replaced with modern ones: the die-hard fans of corporate club-entities. At least the feeling of belonging to one's own culture, language, ethnic group (provided bias does not overcome his decision-making) is understandable. But the feeling of belonging to a football club? No thank you.

Well that's me. I don't know how it happened but I went straight from one who enjoyed football and supported teams from around the world to a guy who finally saw the light. I've been enlightened. Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post.

[Earl]

Welcome to the forum, Mohammad!

Wow! I almost don't know what to say. There's no need to apologize for submitting a long post. I've been known to do that myself. Insofar as your interests and abilities are concerned, you put me to shame. You're obviously quite intelligent and have a very interesting background.

Unfortunately, I'm going to be busier than usual for the next several days; so, I'll have to say more later.

In the meantime (just in case you haven't already read it), I've copied and pasted the text of a post I submitted in an "Off-Topic" thread that gives more information about myself so you'll have a better idea of my own point of view.

Age: 60 years old

Marital Status: Happily married for over 30 years. Proud father of two daughters.

Political affiliation: None. Was liberal when I was younger.

Religion: Christian (member of a church of Christ). "Funny mentalist" who believes in the Genesis account of creation.

Hobbies: Bodybuilding (more than just a hobby -- for the sake of my physical and mental health), currently writing a novella.

Choice of entertainment: Reading horror fiction (favorite authors: Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Ray Bradbury, and Dean Koontz); also a Harry Potter fan; watching episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits (first season only), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and Thriller from the early 1960's; big Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan; listening to certain rock songs from the 1960s and 1970s, decreasing in number from the 1980s to the present.

Brief summary of views about sports: I regard athletes and coaches as individuals, not as a group. I refuse to put them on a pedestal, but also try to not engage in negative stereotyping. Although I have never had any interest in sports, I respect athleticism as an endeavor requiring dedication and self-discipline. No, I don't favor taking team sports out of schools; but neither do I think that athletics should be emphasized over academics. I am a physically active man who knows that high levels of fitness can be achieved without participating in sports. I recognize that there is no debating personal preferences. I'm not opposed to ball games; I'm opposed to negative aspects of the sports culture. I have a low opinion of the sports media -- which (I believe) does not function as a journalistic institution, but only serves as a propaganda mill whose purpose is to turn as many people as possible into sports fans. I'm adamantly opposed to mandatory sports-based P.E. Instead, I favor the retention of the "old P.E." as an elective for athletic students and genuine fitness classes for the nonathletes. I'm concerned about the negative stereotyping of nonathletic boys and detest cliques and bullying.

Life experiences relevant to views of sports: (1) From the 4th grade through junior high (exempted from P.E. in high school as a band student), endured mandatory sports-based P.E., which was absolutely terrible and a waste of time for nonathletic boys. Have been a member of a health club for several years and have enjoyed and benefited from it immensely. The point? I know what works and what doesn't work for nonathletic guys. (2) Was being picked on in the eighth grade, low self-confidence, grades falling. Was therefore sent by parents to a psychologist who turned out to be incompetent. Psychologist sent me to dojo (judo school) taught by former white university football player, who turned out to be the epitome of machismo with an ugly physique. Always felt like an outsider in his judo classes. Felt like he was patronizing me when he promoted me to brown belt (a promotion I did not deserve). Quit in three years. Looked up same instructor eight years later. Instructor claims he "saved (me) from homosexuality," despite the fact that I never had homosexual tendencies. Went on to say that nonathletic men were not "real men." The year before, I had come across a hateful book by a New York sociology professor (Patricia Cayo Sexton) denouncing nonathletic boys and men as "feminized males" with patently false stereotypes. Explained a lot to me. Hence, my strong aversion to the negative stereotyping of nonathletic boys.

Personal views of this website: I consider myself to be a moderate with strong views. We make the very big mistake of succumbing to prejudice and bigotry if we don't recognize individual athletes who are decent persons and young men/women of good will. After all, PE4Life (which benefits nonathletes in more ways than one) was designed by a coach; and one of its leading proponents is a former high-school football player.

Other info: I believe in being civil, try to be understanding, and do have a sense of humor.

Again, welcome to the forum. I have no doubt that your comments will be most appreciated.

[recovering_fan]

Hello everyone, my name is Mohammad. I'm from Kuwait and I decided to join this forum because I began to agree with everything this website (and its members) stand for.

Welcome Mohammad.

Flying is another hobby I consider an art -- I thoroughly enjoy aviation...

...my liking for military consisted of collecting military jet models (as well as other stuff like cars, etc), and my recent liking expanded on using military simulators such as ARMA and ARMA II (well, they're classified as games but the openness they have and the amount of things you can do with their editing tools makes it the best military simulator for civilian use thus far)....

Apart from that, I love reading.

Those sound like interesting, worthy hobbies. That's fascinating about how you can turn ARMA into a military training program. I was never into video games, but I played a little game called "artillery" with my friends when I was growing up. It involved some trig calculations.

I know Wikipedia isn't the ultimate information source but I appreciate its idea. Things it stands for like: open/free to edit, for all. And it's not as bad as college teachers make it out to be.

Yes, it's a good starting place, especially if you want to learn about a topic with no real controversy surrounding or if you want the mainstream view on a controversial topic.

I appreciate western philosophy, from things like the ideal of liberty/freedom: economic liberty/freedom (or free market), political freedom (democracy), social freedom, intellectual freedom, academic freedom, etc. I really began to love, appreciate and enjoy it. I also learned about eastern philosophies that stemmed in Iran/Persia and India, and became the centers of Zoroastrianism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Wow, sounds like you got more mileage out of Wikipedia than any of us!

What the sports hype did to me was suppress my liking for many things I had when I was a child, and only in recent months-to-years I began slowly reviving my true self all over again. Sports hype overshadowed all the above things I mentioned (except for ones I lately began to embrace).

Yes, that's about how it was for me, too.

As of this past month or two, I feel like I revived my true self anu liberated myself from the sports hysteria. I am currently planning to live life to its true potential and fullest. With sports spectatorship being excluded from my daily life slowly but surely, I now have more free time to myself for all these things:
1. Most important of all, my work/education in university.
2. My friends and families / social life.
3. My own personal hobbies that are defined by me and not by somebody else like the sheep attitude.
4. My own physical activities and not of watching somebody else play. That includes even the simplest of things like exploring new places, hiking, etc.
5. Photography, blogging, video blogging (maybe on youtube - for all its useless stuff, there are many educational and talented stuff on there).
6. Drawing, painting.
7. Designing 3D buildings on google sketchup for google earth.
8. Reading famous works of literature.
9. Appreciating classical music, and traditional music.

That's livin'.

10. And yes, I might as well say it, having a bit of time to play video games every once in a while (that includes GTA lol), as well as attempting to make my own free mods/add-ons for some of them. Believe it or not, the form of spectatorship even took away time from my gaming life. That's how bad of a sports junkie I was.

Wow! You're quite programmer, by the sound of it.

Though I believe in God, and my version of God is of a beautiful/peaceful one, I also believe in evolution. If God can create everything, surely he can create evolution too. Why not? After all, the universe is built on numbers and algorithms and systems of set laws, rules and some elements of ever-changing formulas.

Yes, I'm not very religious, but I don't mind religion.

Not even the creationists really bother me.

However, there are some Christians in the United States who worry me (upwards of 50 million of them) because they seem to believe the world is soon going to end and that we should all prepare our souls for the end. I have heard that a certain fraction of adherents of other religions (Islam, Judaism, etc.) have similar apocalyptic views. All I can say is that I don't think that that is a positive way of looking at the world. When we think about the future, we need to view the continued survival of the human race as a GOOD thing. We don't need to "prepare for the end" like 50 million Christian Americans seem to be doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znqfKXod ... ature=fvwp

When I was in college at my first school, I had many Muslim friends, and they all seemed like moderate people with interests in peace, science, dialogue and understanding.

I remember in Kuwait, there was a local derby game between two clubs: "Al-Arabi" and "Al-Qadsia". Green vs Yellow, kinda like Celtics vs Lakers rivalry. Al-Arabi is supported mainly by Shiite Muslims, Al-Qadsia by Sunnis.

Sounds more like Celtic vs. Rangers in Glasgow. That's supposedly a sectarian war between Catholics and Protestants.

Well that's me. I don't know how it happened but I went straight from one who enjoyed football and supported teams from around the world to a guy who finally saw the light. I've been enlightened. Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post.

Congrats.

--RF

[Mohammad]

Welcome to the forum, Mohammad!

Wow! I almost don't know what to say. There's no need to apologize for submitting a long post. I've been known to do that myself. Insofar as your interests and abilities are concerned, you put me to shame. You're obviously quite intelligent and have a very interesting background.

For what it's worth, my father-in-law is a Palestinian Arab who immigrated to this country (the United States) in 1948; and my father was a very successful architect.

Unfortunately, I'm going to be busier than usual for the next several days; so, I'll have to say more later.

In the meantime (just in case you haven't already read it), I've copied and pasted the text of a post I submitted in an "Off-Topic" thread that gives more information about myself so you'll have a better idea of my own point of view.

Age: 60 years old

Marital Status: Happily married for over 30 years. Proud father of two daughters.

Political affiliation: None. Was liberal when I was younger.

Religion: Christian (member of a church of Christ). "Funny mentalist" who believes in the Genesis account of creation.

Hobbies: Bodybuilding (more than just a hobby -- for the sake of my physical and mental health), currently writing a novella.

Choice of entertainment: Reading horror fiction (favorite authors: Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Ray Bradbury, and Dean Koontz); also a Harry Potter fan; watching episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits (first season only), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and Thriller from the early 1960's; big Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan; listening to certain rock songs from the 1960s and 1970s, decreasing in number from the 1980s to the present.

Brief summary of views about sports: I regard athletes and coaches as individuals, not as a group. I refuse to put them on a pedestal, but also try to not engage in negative stereotyping. Although I have never had any interest in sports, I respect athleticism as an endeavor requiring dedication and self-discipline. No, I don't favor taking team sports out of schools; but neither do I think that athletics should be emphasized over academics. I am a physically active man who knows that high levels of fitness can be achieved without participating in sports. I recognize that there is no debating personal preferences. I'm not opposed to ball games; I'm opposed to negative aspects of the sports culture. I have a low opinion of the sports media -- which (I believe) does not function as a journalistic institution, but only serves as a propaganda mill whose purpose is to turn as many people as possible into sports fans. I'm adamantly opposed to mandatory sports-based P.E. Instead, I favor the retention of the "old P.E." as an elective for athletic students and genuine fitness classes for the nonathletes. I'm concerned about the negative stereotyping of nonathletic boys and detest cliques and bullying.

Life experiences relevant to views of sports: (1) From the 4th grade through junior high (exempted from P.E. in high school as a band student), endured mandatory sports-based P.E., which was absolutely terrible and a waste of time for nonathletic boys. Have been a member of a health club for several years and have enjoyed and benefited from it immensely. The point? I know what works and what doesn't work for nonathletic guys. (2) Was being picked on in the eighth grade, low self-confidence, grades falling. Was therefore sent by parents to a psychologist who turned out to be incompetent. Psychologist sent me to dojo (judo school) taught by former white university football player, who turned out to be the epitome of machismo with an ugly physique. Always felt like an outsider in his judo classes. Felt like he was patronizing me when he promoted me to brown belt (a promotion I did not deserve). Quit in three years. Looked up same instructor eight years later. Instructor claims he "saved (me) from homosexuality," despite the fact that I never had homosexual tendencies. Went on to say that nonathletic men were not "real men." The year before, I had come across a hateful book by a New York sociology professor (Patricia Cayo Sexton) denouncing nonathletic boys and men as "feminized males" with patently false stereotypes. Explained a lot to me. Hence, my strong aversion to the negative stereotyping of nonathletic boys.

Personal views of this website: I consider myself to be a moderate with strong views. We make the very big mistake of succumbing to prejudice and bigotry if we don't recognize individual athletes who are decent persons and young men/women of good will. After all, PE4Life (which benefits nonathletes in more ways than one) was designed by a coach; and one of its leading proponents is a former high-school football player.

Other info: I believe in being civil, try to be understanding, and do have a sense of humor.

Again, welcome to the forum. I have no doubt that your comments will be most appreciated.

Thank you for the warm welcome and kind words.

I enjoyed reading about your background. Surprisingly, I don't have anyone in the family who's an architect. My father is a Systems/Industrial engineer, but I don't really know the full details of what he's doing. Strangely, it seems that he moved away from the industrial side and went into investment banking, consulting, etc. Don't know how they do it but they always tell me that engineers have the ability to enter the business/finance field as well. As for me, I strangely found myself pursuing Medicine. Nevertheless, my passion for art will always be there, but I'm also happy for my decision to become a doctor. If I could get the chance of saving peoples lives one day, then why not, it will be an honor and I know it would be one of the most satisfying feelings on Earth.

Fascinating to know your father-in-law is from the Middle East. What a small world it really is. Well, ethnically speaking I'm Persian (Iranian). Not really an Arab, apart from the fact I was born into an Arabic country so that makes me an Arabized person I guess, lol. I've heard of many famous Arabs who migrated to America. Of course the one whose work I always adored was Lebanese-born Khalil Gibran. His most famous work, according to many people around here, is the book titled 'The Prophet'. I've already ordered my copy and should expect it to arrive sometime soon. My all-time favorite quote from him is: "If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were."

I love your choices of entertainment. Do you suggest any horror novel I should definitely read in my lifetime?

I generally agree with your views on sports. I don't want to take away people's freedom from practicing/enjoying sporting activities. It is their basic human right and, as an individual who only recently explained his admiration for western philosophies of liberty, I would only look like a hypocrite if I said otherwise. So indeed I agree that sports shouldn't be banished from school, as long as there is a demand for it from the students/pupils. As well, I also agree that it shouldn't be mandatory. If someone doesn't want to participate in sports, he/she should have the choice of selecting another program during that session. He could have an extra study hour, or select an extra subject to study, e.g. sociology or psychology, etc. And most definitely, the purpose of an academic institution is to provide the necessary academic/educational tools first, recreational issues second.

Your life experiences are quite interesting. It is very true that bullying does lead to low self-confidence. It never ceases to amaze me how parents are often dismissive of the fact that it is their child's suppression by bullying causing his poor grades, not his lack of preference towards sports. Sadly, not many parents realize that. I was somewhat picked on when I was a kid, but mostly for wearing glasses at a young age. Although I never considered myself a die-hard athlete (perhaps because the 'child' in me always tried to pull me back into embracing my true passionate hobbies), the irony was that I was quite good in soccer. I kept outscoring the other players and it somewhat agitated them, which I found hilarious. During my last few years in highschool, I remember we were rotated as team captains each week. One time it was my turn to be captain of a team, therefore it was up to me to select who I wanted in my team. The opponent team captain simply picked his players based on their individual abilities. I, on the other hand, chose my friends to be in my team (most of whom were poor in sports). I hated the fact some very nice people were being picked last, simply because they weren't good enough. So whenever I captained, I always made sure I chose them first. Again, it came out as weird for the rivaling teams. But I still remember that time we played field hockey, and my team of 'underdogs' ended up winning, simply because we were all friends who knew each other, and our unity overcame our weak points. It was an interesting lesson for the egotistical jocks, but it only happened one time and that was all I could remember from highschool PE.

I'm so glad I'm in university right now, lol.

Once again, thank you for your kind words and welcoming. Glad to be part of this niche community, but you know what they say, quality is better than quantity.

[Mohammad]

Welcome Mohammad.

Thanks for the welcome, RF!

Those sound like interesting, worthy hobbies. That's fascinating about how you can turn ARMA into a military training program. I was never into video games, but I played a little game called "artillery" with my friends when I was growing up. It involved some trig calculations.

Well, Arma is the spiritual successor to the famous Operation Flashpoint game that was made back in 2001. The developers always make sure to include SDKs/mission-editors in their product, meaning you can create your own battle scenarios, skirmishes, etc. You can create your own battles and then play them out as you wish, selecting to be one of either sides, or a neutral civilian, or even an animal, lol. You can simply just roam about the open-world environment, which is usually as huge as a small-scale country (e.g. the size of Kuwait maybe, which is very good for a map/level). It's quite nice, since you don't need to play online in order to enjoy it. With the mission editor and setting out the AI bots, you can play endless of different battles each time, as different factions. That's the artistic element I appreciate about these games, what is known as 'sandbox' in computing terminology.

Wow, sounds like you got more mileage out of Wikipedia than any of us!

Well, Western studies was always something I was fascinated about and I'm glad Wikipedia gave me a taste of the beauty that culture and civilization possesses. But also language studies and ethnic studies, too. I am so grateful for these wonderful tools we have today. I just hope one day more people around here can appreciate what is offered to them in this golden age of information.

Wow! You're quite programmer, by the sound of it.

Lol, no, not really. I am learning how to sketch 3D buildings/models for Google Earth right now. Hopefully I can then slowly work my way up into creating add-ons for flight simulator using several tools like GMAX. Hopefully I will one day reach the level of making proper mods for games I really enjoy, like GTA and Battlefield, etc. But that obviously needs others to work with me, and thankfully I met some incredible people back in my highschool years who appreciate the computing world, but sadly didn't get the credit they deserved from the teachers who were mostly interested in scoring points/goals for the local school team.

Yes, I'm not very religious, but I don't mind religion.

Not even the creationists really bother me.

However, there are some Christians in the United States who worry me (upwards of 50 million of them) because they seem to believe the world is soon going to end and that we should all prepare our souls for the end. I have heard that a certain fraction of adherents of other religions (Islam, Judaism, etc.) have similar apocalyptic views. All I can say is that I don't think that that is a positive way of looking at the world. When we think about the future, we need to view the continued survival of the human race as a GOOD thing. We don't need to "prepare for the end" like 50 million Christian Americans seem to be doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znqfKXod ... ature=fvwp

I agree with this, you're spot on. I also have a tendency to dislike what religious eschatologists have to say, but sometimes they make for good entertainment to listen to, lol.
I think all religions have these end-day scenarios but what all these groups need to realize is that our concept of God should be of that who encourages us to live our lives and not worry about giving our souls up or living in a basement in fear of anything. We're in this world to produce, to expand our knowledge, to improve ourselves, to live to our potentials and scientific/technological capabilities. To appreciate this one-time shot, so at least we should make it right. I did meet a few Christians who personally believed that they and the West are somehow destined to face an apocalyptic war against Islam and the Arab/Muslim world. Whenever they ask me for my opinion, I always disagree with them and say that there is no clash as long as we teach our children that we're all on the same boat. Nevertheless, I respect their freedom and personal liberties to believe in as they wish. Similarly, we have those here who think of themselves as the good guys and of the rest as the bad guys. At the end of the day, the ones who I met I knew had good hearts and, even though they did have a negative interpretation of something, I still respected them solely because of their good hearts. I hope one day they realize that we're all on the same boat, we're all looking for the truth, the right path and ultimately peace & prosperity.

I think pro-apocalyptic European Christians in the West have one thing in common with pro-apocalyptic Middle Eastern Muslims in the Islamic world: they both fear the opposite end.
If only they realize they both fear each other, and then laugh about it and realize it can all end tomorrow, if both accept only the beauty that both of their civilizations possess, then it will all be over.

Thanks again for replying.

[Fat Man]

Good evening Mohammad:

Sorry I didn't post sooner, I always try to be the first to welcome a new member to our anti-sports forum.

I was out all day. I had a doctors appointment then I had to do some shopping and I didn't get home until after 7:30 PM.

Hey! For a Muslim, you sound pretty cool!!!

My only real gripe about Islam is the sharia law in the Arab countries where women are so severely oppressed. I know a lot of Muslims really don't approve of sharia law, but unfortunately, many good Muslims are fearful to speak out against it in the Arab nations.

But then almost all religions have their strict Fundamentalist factions as well as their more moderate and more liberal sects.

Yes, I'm not an atheist either, and like you, I'm also a strong supporter of science and Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Astronomy is my favorite science. So, I'm an evolutionist.

As for me, I'm in the process of converting to Judaism, and I go to a reform Synagogue on Saturdays for Torah Studies. My Rabbi also supports science, and like me, he also subscribes to the TFN Newsletter, the Texas Freedom Network, and he also believe that Creationism should never be taught in a science class. In fact, back in 2009 during our services we actually honored the 200th Birthday of Charles Darwin. Now is the cool, or what?

Notice, I joined the anti-sports forum back in February 12, 2009 which was the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin.

You know, Jews and Muslims actually have more in common with one another than they do with Christians! For example: Jews and Muslims don't eat pork, their dietary laws are similar in many ways. Also, their was a time when Jews and Muslims were at peace with one another, although, not exactly close friends, they at least tolerated each other.

It wasn't until the Crusades by the Roman Catholic Church that trouble was stirred up between the Jews and Muslims. Yeah, I'm very much into the history of The Roman Catholic Church and the history of the Inquisition.

When it comes to history, I'm a real Inquisition buff. It's one of my favorite topics. The Inquisition really fucked things up for all humanity.

I have a Jewish friend here in El Paso Texas who once told me that his great grandfather living in Mexico was falsely accused of witchcraft, and was burned at the stake back in the 1840s.

Now, I have always thought that the Inquisition officially ended with the last person being burned at the stake in Mexico back in 1830.

But then I came across some YouTube videos on the history of the Inquisition.

Please do check out one of my topics in the OFF TOPIC section of these forums.

THE INQUISITION - 20 Videos - Please Watch And Reply!
http://www.sportssuck.org/phpbb2/viewto ... f=7&t=4779

If you watch the last 5 videos, you'll learn that the Inquisition really didn't end until some time back in 1858.

Believe it or not the Office Of The Inquisition still exists!

Of course, now, the Office of The Inquisition has been renamed, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Well, you can take a pig, give it a bath, spray it with the finest perfumes and tie a pretty pink ribbon around its neck, but it's still a pig, and the moment you turn it loose, it will head back to the mud wallow again.

So, re-naming the Office Of The Inquisition to, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is the same damn thing, it's still the same evil rotten edifice it has always been and always will be. It will never change.

It appears that the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Anyway, once again, welcome to our anti-sports forum.

As you continue to explore these forum topics, you'll probably notice that I'm the most radical and outspoken member here, and sometimes the board moderators tell me that I need to cool it when I really start to get off the wall.

But that's just me.

I can be a real bitch sometimes.

As I'm so fond of saying . . . . .

There is no such thing as a fat bastard!

We fat guys are bitches!!!

Once again, a hardy hail and welcome!!!

[ChrisOH]

A belated welcome from me as well, Mohammad!

My experience of "deconversion" from sports fan-dom is pretty similar to yours -- I started to realize late last year just how much time watching sports was taking up in my life, and how I could be using that time for much more important and interesting things. I was doing Google searches on people who didn't like or watch sports, and --shazam! -- that's how I found this site!

Like yourself, there were many things I was interested in as a child that got pushed to the back burner as my following of sports took over. I was interested in animals from a very early age, and know scientific names and taxonomy by the time I was in about second grade of school (about eight years old). I continue to be a birding enthusiast, as you can see from my avatar of the ivory-billed woodpecker. I also was interested in astronomy and could identify all of the major constellations in the sky. On the social studies end, I even read quite a bit about U.S. and world history, and could name each U.S. president in order.

Unfortunately...that's when my interest in sports caught on. I don't really remember why I became interested in them, although I remember liking the statistics part of it all. It just seemed like sports were the things "boys my age" were supposed to like -- it wasn't very "cool" to like astronomy, zoology, or history, especially at the redneck school district I attended from second grade on. So, probably part of my interest was just to "fit in". I never actually stopped liking the other subjects; but they seemed to take more and more of a back seat to sports-watching.

On the subject of sciences, don't we derive much of our mathematics and astronomy from early Muslims? I know "algebra" is from the Arabic, and some star names are Arabic in origin. Were these influences from Islam, or from pre-Islamic Arabs? I know Islam uses a lunar calendar, so it would make sense that they would have a cultural interest in astronomy.

BTW, how are things in Kuwait as far as the reaction to the turmoil taking place in the rest of the Middle East? Is there much popular unrest or opposition there?

[Mohammad]

Good evening Mohammad:

Sorry I didn't post sooner, I always try to be the first to welcome a new member to our anti-sports forum.

I was out all day. I had a doctors appointment then I had to do some shopping and I didn't get home until after 7:30 PM.

Hey Fat Man, there's no reason to be sorry about it. I hope your doctor's appointment wasn't anything serious. Nice to meet you!

Hey! For a Muslim, you sound pretty cool!!!

Lol, cheers.

My only real gripe about Islam is the sharia law in the Arab countries where women are so severely oppressed. I know a lot of Muslims really don't approve of sharia law, but unfortunately, many good Muslims are fearful to speak out against it in the Arab nations.

But then almost all religions have their strict Fundamentalist factions as well as their more moderate and more liberal sects.

Believe me, your gripe about Islam is mine too. I am of the believer who interprets Islam in his own cheerful way. To me, I always say "Islam is against oppression" therefore Islam is for "freedom", just like any religion that wants to be 'ideal' ought to be. Furthermore, I keep reminding the people I meet with a 'slightly extremist' tone that Prophet Mohammad always said the following statement: The middle path is the only true/right path, and any deviation off that path is a form of extremity, and that extremists are the ultimate losers.

Thankfully, Kuwait is very liberal in Middle Eastern standards, albeit conservative in World standards. But it's nice to be somewhere in-between. We're quite Westernized to an extent, which I have no quarrels with (given that - as you may know after my introduction now lol - that I am an admirer of Western civilization).

I think countries like Saudi Arabia (especially) ought to take a grip and start respecting their women, instead of treating them like dirt. It reminds me of a famous speech one Islamic scholar once said: "Men are to daylight as women are to night. When a man meets a women, he falls to her arms and the beautiful sunset colors appear. When sunrise occurs, the light slowly comes out of the darkness as the man tries his best to hold onto his woman's bond. There are two types of males: the real men, and the rats. The real men love their women and treat them as companions in their lives, as the prophet did. The prophet had wives who traveled alone on business trips, who used to publicly race him for leisure in front of people, without any sign of him being an oppressive individual that only sought to lock women inside his room like a sex slave. His women were proudly shown to the world during the daylight. Those real men were made into warriors. The rats, on the other hand, are ones who do not show their women in the daylight. They only appear at night and they only interact with their women in the darkness, because they view them as sex slaves due to whatever tribal/backward attitudes they had, and those men are nothing but cowards in front of the real men. These men are not the warrior type, neither are they the ones who will fight wars against oppression or for the good of mankind."

Yes, I'm not an atheist either, and like you, I'm also a strong supporter of science and Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Astronomy is my favorite science. So, I'm an evolutionist.

As for me, I'm in the process of converting to Judaism, and I go to a reform Synagogue on Saturdays for Torah Studies. My Rabbi also supports science, and like me, he also subscribes to the TFN Newsletter, the Texas Freedom Network, and he also believe that Creationism should never be taught in a science class. In fact, back in 2009 during our services we actually honored the 200th Birthday of Charles Darwin. Now is the cool, or what?

Notice, I joined the anti-sports forum back in February 12, 2009 which was the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin.

You know, Jews and Muslims actually have more in common with one another than they do with Christians! For example: Jews and Muslims don't eat pork, their dietary laws are similar in many ways. Also, their was a time when Jews and Muslims were at peace with one another, although, not exactly close friends, they at least tolerated each other.

It wasn't until the Crusades by the Roman Catholic Church that trouble was stirred up between the Jews and Muslims. Yeah, I'm very much into the history of The Roman Catholic Church and the history of the Inquisition.

Indeed, you are right. Judaism and Islam have more in common with one-another than Christianity does, i.e. perhaps stricter than the words of Jesus in the new testament. I view Christianity as a 'liberal' religion in some sense; mind you, in a way that is appealing to me. I must admit, even as a Muslim I do find Christianity quite appealing. The whole history it contained in the Western world (especially in its early years in Constantinople and Rome), as well as the Roman, Byzantine and Holy Roman Empires. In a way, there's something exotic about them in my Middle Eastern perspective, just as I'm sure there might be something exotic about our region to a Westerner.

Indeed, Islam and Judaism had a nice 'understanding' or even friendship throughout history, especially in the Jewish Golden Age, which took place in Islamic Spain back in 700-1000 AD. Sadly, however, Islam and Judaism today is politically split into the opposite ends of the spectrum or 'scale of allegiance'.

What dominates our world today is a new alliance, between Judaism and Christianity, known as the Judeo-Christian order (or Judeo-Christian values as some like to call it). This is mostly a result of the upbringing to what is now the modern Western civilization, which brought about the friendly relationship between Jews of Israel and Christians of Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In a way, Israel and the rest of the Western world developed an alliance (Judeo-Christian alliance), much stronger than any mutual understanding or formal relationships that Islam used to have with Judaism back in Islamic Spain.

This is life, and in no means is there are anything wrong with that. As a Muslim, I appreciate the facts presented in our world, and I realize that the only way forward is an alliance between all 3 religions of Abraham.

When it comes to history, I'm a real Inquisition buff. It's one of my favorite topics. The Inquisition really fucked things up for all humanity.

I have a Jewish friend here in El Paso Texas who once told me that his great grandfather living in Mexico was falsely accused of witchcraft, and was burned at the stake back in the 1840s.

Now, I have always thought that the Inquisition officially ended with the last person being burned at the stake in Mexico back in 1830.

But then I came across some YouTube videos on the history of the Inquisition.

Please do check out one of my topics in the OFF TOPIC section of these forums.

THE INQUISITION - 20 Videos - Please Watch And Reply!
http://www.sportssuck.org/phpbb2/viewto ... f=7&t=4779

If you watch the last 5 videos, you'll learn that the Inquisition really didn't end until some time back in 1858.

Believe it or not the Office Of The Inquisition still exists!

Of course, now, the Office of The Inquisition has been renamed, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Well, you can take a pig, give it a bath, spray it with the finest perfumes and tie a pretty pink ribbon around its neck, but it's still a pig, and the moment you turn it loose, it will head back to the mud wallow again.

So, re-naming the Office Of The Inquisition to, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is the same damn thing, it's still the same evil rotten edifice it has always been and always will be. It will never change.

It appears that the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Unfortunately, this is something that can be attributed to all religions, and even Islam to some degree. The inquisition was what Europeans always told me about being known as the 'dark ages' in their history. One of the most beautiful things to have defined the modern world was the European Renaissance and 'Age of Enlightenment' that followed suit. These two phases/eras of history have shaped the modern world we see today. The Renaissance was mostly an artistic revolution, that opened people's minds to critical thinking, intellectualism, etc. The Enlightenment that came afterward culminated the Renaissance movement by encouraging debating societies, masonic lodges, French salons, English coffeehouses, etc to come out into order and establish a basic foundation upon which great minds came out of. This began in the 1400s and reached its peak in the 1700s and 1800s, especially with (in chronological order): the French revolution, English civil war, the advent of the United States, second British Empire, and finally the great rapprochement between two sisterly nations.

Christianity had undergone reformation, and in my opinion it was to the better. If anything, I think the reformed version of Christianity - without any of the oppression and killing of 'blasphemous' people simply for speaking their minds - is most probably the kind of Christianity that Jesus wanted in the first place. Otherwise if he really wanted that inquisition-style of Christianity then I'd be scared for my life lol.

Anyway, once again, welcome to our anti-sports forum.

As you continue to explore these forum topics, you'll probably notice that I'm the most radical and outspoken member here, and sometimes the board moderators tell me that I need to cool it when I really start to get off the wall.

But that's just me.

I can be a real bitch sometimes.

As I'm so fond of saying . . . . .

There is no such thing as a fat bastard!

We fat guys are bitches!!!

Once again, a hardy hail and welcome!!!

Thank you very much, Fat Man. It's nice to meet you.

[Mohammad]

A belated welcome from me as well, Mohammad!

My experience of "deconversion" from sports fan-dom is pretty similar to yours -- I started to realize late last year just how much time watching sports was taking up in my life, and how I could be using that time for much more important and interesting things. I was doing Google searches on people who didn't like or watch sports, and --shazam! -- that's how I found this site!

Like yourself, there were many things I was interested in as a child that got pushed to the back burner as my following of sports took over. I was interested in animals from a very early age, and know scientific names and taxonomy by the time I was in about second grade of school (about eight years old). I continue to be a birding enthusiast, as you can see from my avatar of the ivory-billed woodpecker. I also was interested in astronomy and could identify all of the major constellations in the sky. On the social studies end, I even read quite a bit about U.S. and world history, and could name each U.S. president in order.

Unfortunately...that's when my interest in sports caught on. I don't really remember why I became interested in them, although I remember liking the statistics part of it all. It just seemed like sports were the things "boys my age" were supposed to like -- it wasn't very "cool" to like astronomy, zoology, or history, especially at the redneck school district I attended from second grade on. So, probably part of my interest was just to "fit in". I never actually stopped liking the other subjects; but they seemed to take more and more of a back seat to sports-watching.

On the subject of sciences, don't we derive much of our mathematics and astronomy from early Muslims? I know "algebra" is from the Arabic, and some star names are Arabic in origin. Were these influences from Islam, or from pre-Islamic Arabs? I know Islam uses a lunar calendar, so it would make sense that they would have a cultural interest in astronomy.

BTW, how are things in Kuwait as far as the reaction to the turmoil taking place in the rest of the Middle East? Is there much popular unrest or opposition there?

Hey Chris, thanks for the warm welcome.

Speaking of animals, were you ever interested in dinosaurs? That was another pastime hobby of mine, but sadly I never was able to revive it again, for some strange reason. Nevertheless, Paleontology remains to be a hidden secret locked away inside me, and I am sure I'll find the keys to unlock it all over again someday. Just the mere fact there were gigantic prehistoric creatures that roamed the Earth long before humanity came to existence sends a chill down my spine. Yet here I am, sitting at the comfort of my flat, visiting home every once in a while and being embraced by my parents. Yet the Earth itself, let alone the entire universe, is so chilling when you read about its history. I think the saddest day would be the one when we'll have to depart this world we have, the very planet that housed all of us and never said no.

As far as I'm aware of, the numbers we currently use (1,2,3,4,etc) are Arabic numerals, believe it or not lol. Here's the irony, Arabs don't use Arabic numerals. Instead, they use another numeric system that comes from Persia and India, mainly because Persian/Indian numbers were the ones the Islamic civilization got accustomed to. That's mostly because the majority of notable scientists and great thinkers of the Islamic golden age weren't actually Arab; i.e. most were Persian, Kurdish, and 'other Iranian'. Example: Avicenna (Ibn Sina) was Iranian/Persian. So the Arabs adopted Persian/Indian numerals and ditched their own numeric system, since the flow of knowledge mostly came from Iran/Persia and India.

Islam, like Judaism, uses the lunar calendar and I never knew the reason why. To me it's just tedious. The solar calendar (we call it Christian calendar) is more appropriate. And, as an admirer of Numerology, the solar calendar is not only convenient but also a lot of fun to use lol.

In Kuwait, there were protests a few days go to remove the prime minister. I think it's time our constitution goes through amendments. Here's the thing, our country has been a constitutional monarchy since 1961. We are the oldest country in the region with parliament and elections. We have democracy. Sadly, our democracy is limited. Yes, we can vote people into parliament. But there are no political parties (which may not be such a bad idea) but our MPs who got elected aren't the ones who form the government. The government is formed by the Emir, who appoints the prime minister (always from the royal family), and he appoints his cabinet of ministers.

We want that to change now. It's about time we have political parties and it's about time the party/coalition with most seats in the parliament get to form their own government and appoint a prime minister. Then we'll have a real functioning democracy, such as the one in England. In the mean time, we're halfway through. I hope we can reform.

But apart from that, our protests are nothing extreme. Nobody wants the ruling family disposed or anything like that, and quite frankly I prefer constitutional monarchies. Many monarchies have successful democracies around the world, in England, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Japan, etc.

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

Welcome Mohammad!

I also have a recent liking for Google Earth and Google Sketchup. Architecture is my pastime hobby, and I seek to revive it.

Architecture is also a hobby of mine, and I'd like to pursue a career in that field. I've created several architectural renderings of existing buildings as well as designing my own, some of which I spent several months working on. I've also used Google Sketchup, and thought it was a neat program. I spent a good amount of time creating buildings on that program, however, I personally enjoy doing hand-drawn architecture more than using programs. I've also used the program AutoCAD before, but I've never owned it myself because it is quite expensive. However, I thought it was a great program and I'm sure I'll use it in the future.

Speaking of religion, I'm not atheist. I'm Muslim and if I ever leave Islam, I'd probably leave it for another religion (maybe Christianity, who knows). But until now I'm Muslim and never thought of leaving Islam, although I'm a major critic of many of its issues and I'm not afraid to speak my mind about it in front of friends and family. Though I believe in God, and my version of God is of a beautiful/peaceful one, I also believe in evolution. If God can create everything, surely he can create evolution too. Why not? After all, the universe is built on numbers and algorithms and systems of set laws, rules and some elements of ever-changing formulas.

I am not religious, although I don't consider myself an atheist, as I don't like to put labels on myself for what I'm not. I'm just unaffiliated with all religions and don't really have much of an opinion on the subject, a bit like someone who doesn't vote in the political system. However, I have several friends who are Muslims. I really hate how the Islamic faith is portrayed by some parts of the Western media as well as some political groups, especially since 9/11. It's really a shame how people can judge an entire faith based on the actions of a few outspoken individuals that only amount to an extremely insignificant percentage of the population. Every single friend I have who is a Muslim, is a quite intelligent and peaceful person. I admire their work ethic as they try very hard in their academic pursuits, as well as their devotion to their faith which I believe can be beneficial to most people.

Anyway, welcome to the forum. I hope you continue to visit this site and post on our forum, you've already made a few intelligent posts and I can see that you will be a great addition to this forum.

[ChrisOH]

Speaking of animals, were you ever interested in dinosaurs? That was another pastime hobby of mine, but sadly I never was able to revive it again, for some strange reason. Nevertheless, Paleontology remains to be a hidden secret locked away inside me, and I am sure I'll find the keys to unlock it all over again someday. Just the mere fact there were gigantic prehistoric creatures that roamed the Earth long before humanity came to existence sends a chill down my spine. Yet here I am, sitting at the comfort of my flat, visiting home every once in a while and being embraced by my parents. Yet the Earth itself, let alone the entire universe, is so chilling when you read about its history. I think the saddest day would be the one when we'll have to depart this world we have, the very planet that housed all of us and never said no.

Hello Mohammad!

Oh absolutely, I was a total "dinosaur nut"! My mother told me a story once when my parents went to parent-teacher conferences with my kindergarten teacher, the teacher told them that she would ask me for advice on how to pronounce the dinosaur names! (I don't personally remember that; however, I was reading at age four, and knew how to pronounce the dinosaur names from the books I had with pronunciation guides, so I have no reason to disbelieve the story.)

One of the amazing things about dinosaurs is just how many species have been discovered even since I first became interested in them (which would have been about the mid-1970's). Given the small fraction of animal remains that are ever fossilized, there's probably a multitude of dinosaur species and other contemporary creatures that we still don't even know existed (and may never know, if the bodies/bones were not preserved).

[i_like_1981]

A belated welcome to the forum, Mohammad. Might I say, it is excellent to see such detailed and informative introductory posts as yours. Keep them coming. I am in full agreement with your cynical attitude towards the modern sports culture; how the masses have succeeded in creating a "religion" out of them. You're not the first person who has joined this forum having been a sports fan who has now "seen the light" - we've had a few members like that in recent months. Perhaps the world of sports fans is now coming to its senses and this website is about to receive the recognition it deserves! Well, we'll see about that. Returning to the point, I have absolutely nothing against the idea of physical activity, and I'm not even that strongly against the idea of others enjoying watching the physical skills of others. What I am strongly against is a world that will heap unnecessary levels of prestige upon sporting individuals who, on the grand scale of things, really do not do anything that will better society as a whole, and a world that will make those people who do not feel such an enthusiasm for competitive sports feel like second-class citizens, as I have felt many a time here living in the UK, which is rather a sports-mad country. We do like our football over here - beer and football are two defining aspects of British weekends. No wonder we are gaining a reputation as Europe's laziest and least-healthy society. I noticed that you apologised for the long post - please do not be sorry! Long posts are somewhat of a novelty round here, given the fact we like to consider this forum as a centre of strong, cogent arguments against the overwhelming influence of sports. Indeed, it is the only one of its kind on the internet. I have done some incredibly long posts in my time on this board - the more posts like this we get, the more our website will rise in prominence and become more acknowledged! The number of posts on this forum has swelled quite significantly in the year and a bit I have been a member. Indeed, it has practically doubled, and this forum has been around for five years. One can say that we're getting there! Anyways, congratulations from breaking away from the sports hysteria, and I hope to be seeing more of you on this forum. You sound like you keep your life and mind really busy with stuff that you're interested in - if only I could learn to do the same a bit more!

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Indurrago]

Welcome to sports suck, Mohammad. Aviation and Dinosaurs, and the art in video games. Wow you sound alot like me but I was never an athlete and I was never very religious. Yeah I used to be so into dinosaurs as a kid and....Godzilla(cuz he was a mutated dinosaur they blow things up ) my parents bought this book series with each book dedicated to certain specific dinosaur species. I'll be honest my favorite parts where near the end of the books where they often had the dedicated dinosaur fighting another one, surprisingly got alittle Gorey for a kids' book series. My second great love as a kid was art-specifically drawing and can you guess what I was drawing? Dinosaurs. LOL. Though my skill never advanced very far and when I finally took an art class in school we did everything but drawing.......I was disappointed to say the least. My first great love as a child were video games, my oldest memory was when my parents bought my brother and I a sega genesis at Toys R US around a year after immigrating to the United States. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles came with it and my parents were that big fans of video games so we didn't get any new games til years later and to this day I could probably play it all day if only our genesis finally didn't break down or was it because my mother cut the wires? I forgot lol. Skip a few video game generations and we finally get a ps2 but overall I spent more hours playing pc games the most but enough of that.

Now on to sports, I've never been a sports fan....ever. P.E., physical education here in the U.S. for the most part was usually my least favorite class, not only because one wasn't the best of players but I just didn't enjoy the games being played anyway. Baseball, basketball, soccer(football internationally known), football, kickball, etc. Also the atmosphere of playing with my classmates and how vicious they could get if you didn't perform that well and these games were "mandatory" even tho they were graded in anyway. The times I did enjoy P.E. and was I wasn't expected to be the best in front of many, and I could just relax and play for the fun of it with a friend or two who wouldn't judge me on my athletic abilities(or lack of). Despite my lack of love for athletics they really didn't have a such a powerful effect on my life(for better or worst) like it did with fatman. My great gripe with sports and actually religions as well is that they have their own creeds on what excellent human should be, should do, and should have. For example, I got this from an article posted by Earl last year, "Sports is actually an incredible way to teach character, but itâ??s got nothing to do with role models. Thatâ??s all a Madison-Avenue construct designed to sell more merchandise or tickets. Madison Avenue promotes what I call the three myths of masculinity: that men need to possess athletic ability, that they need to have sexual conquests, and that they have to have economic success. Athletes have all three of those lies embedded within their lives." Short summary, according to sports culture if I don't achieve these three things I am unworthy of being a called a "man." And I just find that offensive and full of bullshit when look back at my life and great figures who made great changes in past like Einstein and Edison who didn't accomplish 2 or often 3 of the above. At least they don't promote the lie that being a masculine sports-man is necessary to being a happy man or do they? Most us, will never be world-famous or super rich or even perform a miracle but all of us can be just as happy or even happier than any of them because we're all human beings in the end.

So I say peace be within you, Mohammed and once again welcome to sportssuck.