The Big Picture: A Nerd By Any Other Name
- Thread starter MovieBob
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like he said unless you have business or money invested in the team (like say money given to the bookie for whther the chargers or the jets win this sunday) the outcome of the game doesn't matter. The economy will not twist and turn based on who wins countries will not go to war and peopole may have a couple of scuffles but after the initial loss/win the everyone will shrug their shoulders. honestly do you or anyone else still care that the cowboys beat the vikings in 1996?it doesnt matter who wins the game"
NOT TRUE.
Try asking any of the local gambling establishments if they agree with that statement
So much truth in this video. Man this has been a superb series so far, but this one really chimes with me a lot.
As everyone else here who is both a self confessed nerd and a BIG sports fan, I think all of us understand that its all the same kinda stuff. Nerds are good at seeing when they are being nerdy.
Its the rest of the world who stands up and proclaims that sport is different because they are healthy, out-door kinda things. Its because we get brought up being encouraged to PLAY sports that makes the difference. Nerds stay home, jocks go play sports. From then on its set in stone. Even people who haven't touched a ball in years think they are not nerds because once upon a time sport made you cool (well not at my school, but that's England for you).
Football is awesome (proper football with violence and blitzing and hail mary passes not this soccer bullshit my fellow countrymen for some reason seem to hold dearer than jesus)and its awesome in broadly the same way as everything else I think is awesome. At any second, any play can turn into a game winner, and it only can happen in a crazy spectacular way. On the flip side, I can get my teeth into average yards per carry and so forth, and appreciate it the same way I can appreciate the math involved in a good RPG system. Particularly the fact that mostly you have to play the odds, but sometimes you just gotta role the dice and pray for a natural 20.
Anyways, great video Bob. Am looking forward to seeing the Steelers whoop the Pats for the AFC title
As everyone else here who is both a self confessed nerd and a BIG sports fan, I think all of us understand that its all the same kinda stuff. Nerds are good at seeing when they are being nerdy.
Its the rest of the world who stands up and proclaims that sport is different because they are healthy, out-door kinda things. Its because we get brought up being encouraged to PLAY sports that makes the difference. Nerds stay home, jocks go play sports. From then on its set in stone. Even people who haven't touched a ball in years think they are not nerds because once upon a time sport made you cool (well not at my school, but that's England for you).
Football is awesome (proper football with violence and blitzing and hail mary passes not this soccer bullshit my fellow countrymen for some reason seem to hold dearer than jesus)and its awesome in broadly the same way as everything else I think is awesome. At any second, any play can turn into a game winner, and it only can happen in a crazy spectacular way. On the flip side, I can get my teeth into average yards per carry and so forth, and appreciate it the same way I can appreciate the math involved in a good RPG system. Particularly the fact that mostly you have to play the odds, but sometimes you just gotta role the dice and pray for a natural 20.
Anyways, great video Bob. Am looking forward to seeing the Steelers whoop the Pats for the AFC title
I always wanted to make a documentary short showing a die-hard Sox fan and a D&D nut in a split-screen, each talking at the same time about their respective area of expertise, the premise being that there would be times the viewer would have trouble distinguishing between them.
Now, I don't have to. For all intents and purposes, Bob made it for me.
Thank You, Bob
(also: the "Cosplay" angle is brilliant. Never heard anyone make that analogy before.)
Now, I don't have to. For all intents and purposes, Bob made it for me.
Thank You, Bob
(also: the "Cosplay" angle is brilliant. Never heard anyone make that analogy before.)
WHat would happen to tabletop games, if sports fans and traditional nerds came together?
'Roll for agility or do 30 pushups for a +8 bonus'
Oh joyous images in my head.
'Roll for agility or do 30 pushups for a +8 bonus'
Oh joyous images in my head.
Why can't nerds and sport nerds come together you ask? Simple. Nerds are intelligent.
They did not choose to live in a subculture, only noone else liked what they liked, things that challenge the brain more than any jock could deal with. Later, nerds became more self-confident and the social and cultural exile became a subculture.
Sports jocks always pick on the more intelligent pupils at school. Intelligent jocks are rare and so are sporty nerds, and with ill feelings and almost no intersection between these two groups they can never unite no matter how many things these groups may have in common.
They did not choose to live in a subculture, only noone else liked what they liked, things that challenge the brain more than any jock could deal with. Later, nerds became more self-confident and the social and cultural exile became a subculture.
Sports jocks always pick on the more intelligent pupils at school. Intelligent jocks are rare and so are sporty nerds, and with ill feelings and almost no intersection between these two groups they can never unite no matter how many things these groups may have in common.
And you think game/comic companies dont do the same thing? They do exactly the same thing. They generate communities that they give the appearance of caring about and occasionally take into consideration what the community cares about but only for the sake of making money. Sports teams, video game companies, car companies, the whole lot of them are all in it to make money. Don't act like the marketing for sports is any more dishonest than for another other genre of products.milkkart said:
P.S. Your use of profanity and your current ban make me think that you were raging. Brah.
Great rant. I think a point that gets missed often, though, is the rise of the internet. "Nerd culture" has been on a rapid rise in the last 10 years because nerds everywhere, who for ages have been confined to small sports towns where they are the minority, can now log on to online havens (like the escapist, hm?) and see their true numbers, and interact without scrutiny. What was assumed to be a militia is actually an army, and high ranking media forms like movies and TV have been unable to ignore it.
I remember that it was still a little embarassing in the early 90's to be crazy into Star Wars, but not anymore (though maybe it should be more now than then...lawl). More recently, Star Trek has followed suit with it's ELECTRIFIED reboot. Nerds used to be charcteristically socially awkward but that's slowly going away, and I know many jocks who have gone out of their way to become more interested in nerdier things.
It's just clear that the meaning of "survival of the fittest" is changing with our technology. Think about that next you see an incredibly beautiful girl dressed up as Spock. Oh, it happens.
I remember that it was still a little embarassing in the early 90's to be crazy into Star Wars, but not anymore (though maybe it should be more now than then...lawl). More recently, Star Trek has followed suit with it's ELECTRIFIED reboot. Nerds used to be charcteristically socially awkward but that's slowly going away, and I know many jocks who have gone out of their way to become more interested in nerdier things.
It's just clear that the meaning of "survival of the fittest" is changing with our technology. Think about that next you see an incredibly beautiful girl dressed up as Spock. Oh, it happens.
Unfortunately, nerd culture and sports culture can never be together. The sports nerds think they are better than the nerd nerds either because sports happen in real life with real people (but comic books and sci-fi are written by people) or because sports are an older and more culturally accepted tradition and therefore cannot be nerdy, of course.
Warning: Long post.
I do agree that a very devoted sport fan is just nerdy as someone like me who has seen over (an estimate) two thousand hours of anime and owns over 150 video games for consoles, PC and handhelds. Also, I wouldn't be surprise that more sports fans agree then disagree. As you mention, you are a nerd and a sports fan yourself. Thus I think they a lot of sport fan/nerds out there.
But there are those sport fans that don't want admitted that they are just nerdy because they despise anything nerdy or, better yet, don't want to associated themselves with nerds or anything nerdy. There are those people, like Carson Daily, who hate geeks/nerds and anything they are about. Those meat-head, jock, sports fans will simply say, "Yeah but, that is different." when the parallels are brought to the forefront. When inquired further about the subject and specifically, "Why?" most of the time they will just say, "It's just is." or, "That is the way it is." The best they can say is, "Because it is more socially acceptable to be a devote sports fan than a nerd." Being more socially acceptable doesn't make it any less nerdy.
I do agree that a very devoted sport fan is just nerdy as someone like me who has seen over (an estimate) two thousand hours of anime and owns over 150 video games for consoles, PC and handhelds. Also, I wouldn't be surprise that more sports fans agree then disagree. As you mention, you are a nerd and a sports fan yourself. Thus I think they a lot of sport fan/nerds out there.
But there are those sport fans that don't want admitted that they are just nerdy because they despise anything nerdy or, better yet, don't want to associated themselves with nerds or anything nerdy. There are those people, like Carson Daily, who hate geeks/nerds and anything they are about. Those meat-head, jock, sports fans will simply say, "Yeah but, that is different." when the parallels are brought to the forefront. When inquired further about the subject and specifically, "Why?" most of the time they will just say, "It's just is." or, "That is the way it is." The best they can say is, "Because it is more socially acceptable to be a devote sports fan than a nerd." Being more socially acceptable doesn't make it any less nerdy.
Hehehe next year if the Twins play the Yankees again (#@*ing Yankees), I'm going to figure out some way of incorporating Twilight and the Yankees into one glorious mashup of loserdom. And hopefully get my sign circled. Thanks, MovieBob!
I like that you're using your nerd powers for good; exploring a/typical archetypes in games, comic history, rallying the people to go to space, and even making comparisons between what one would normally think of as diametrically opposed social groups. HOWEVER, 'A Nerd by Any Other Name' feels one sided. Example: all of the comparisons you made were distinctly male dominated. Where does the nerd girl fit in with the jock female? Is it even really a solid comparison when put against the masculine versions? You deftly used images that featured girl nerds, but the comparison was still against boy sports fanatics. The Twilight fans were girls, but the Yankees are... one could argue that their fans are a bunch of chicks, but I think they really are majoritively men. There were women in the pictures of stadiums and you were kind enough to show us that one female sports fan's "these," but again, it's completely lopsided. I feel kind of petty pointing it out and I'm sure someone out there will rip me a new one for even mentioning it, but your explanation breaks down a bit when looking at it from a gendered perspective...
I know you are male, so I can understand, but throw us gals a bone? Maybe even make one of those face icons a girl? Don't tell me you have absolutely no feminine aspects to your personality? Actually, scratch that. If you did, I'd probably complain about you using it only when in reference to something sexist...
Oh, and to all those about to rip me that aforementioned new one: I'm sorry I didn't just adoringly fawn over Bob's vid. Frankly, I love MovieBob and all of his emanations, but it's for that reason I don't like coming away from his vids feeling left out or over looked. I'm a nerd too, damn it!
I know you are male, so I can understand, but throw us gals a bone? Maybe even make one of those face icons a girl? Don't tell me you have absolutely no feminine aspects to your personality? Actually, scratch that. If you did, I'd probably complain about you using it only when in reference to something sexist...
Oh, and to all those about to rip me that aforementioned new one: I'm sorry I didn't just adoringly fawn over Bob's vid. Frankly, I love MovieBob and all of his emanations, but it's for that reason I don't like coming away from his vids feeling left out or over looked. I'm a nerd too, damn it!