The Big Picture: A Nerd By Any Other Name
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Ok, let me put it that way: Sports nerds are sporty and nerds are nerdy and both are incompatible. And I reserve my right to point out things not mentioned in the video thank you.laxduck said:
Not sure if anyone will read this, but I think I might have a unique perspective on this whole jersey is a costume thing and why that's quite a jump.
Don't know if this angle was mentioned previously, but here's the back story. I am a nerd/semipro football player. Perhaps not a typical demographic here on the escapist, but I digress. While I wasn't a star on the team I played for, in 2008 I was the top back up on the O-line and started 3 games on our road to the championship in the league that season.
Why can't a sports fan cheer for a particular player in the form of a jersey without it being declared a costume? Example . . . I am not a Steelers fan, but I have a Jerome Bettis jersey because I admire his work at his craft and what his personality seemed to be on the football field. While I do believe the sports nerd is something that should exist within the realm of social categorization, calling the wearing of a sports jersey a costume is a bit of a stretch. Granted, I'm sure people can claim to wear a gold Star Fleet shirt because they admire Captain Kirk the same way as a bad ass. Can't blame them, I suppose, but being that pretty you that he was surely would have played quarterback for his high school football team back on Earth.
But the point is, what about the part where some athletes (such as Bettis in my opinion, or Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning, or Keith Byers for you REAL sports nerds out there) are actually good roll models for what working hard can get you THAT ACTUALLY EXIST! That's right. They're not stories or figments of one's imagination . . . but real people to where if you do all you possibly can, with luck, you can be a good man with all you desire. I mean, dude! Look what Tom Brady's done for Justin Beiber (sorry Bob -- couldn't resist)
Now granted, not all athletes are perfect roll models, but regardless, what about cheering for someone who is turning their ACTUAL LIFE around (i.e. Michael Vick, not me personally, but). That fact is the idolization of someone who isn't real is what makes the 'Star Fleet Uniform that's not on Halloween' it off-key. But then, I'm sure we'll have a show that comments on religion from you soon enough, Bob . . .
Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Don't know if this angle was mentioned previously, but here's the back story. I am a nerd/semipro football player. Perhaps not a typical demographic here on the escapist, but I digress. While I wasn't a star on the team I played for, in 2008 I was the top back up on the O-line and started 3 games on our road to the championship in the league that season.
Why can't a sports fan cheer for a particular player in the form of a jersey without it being declared a costume? Example . . . I am not a Steelers fan, but I have a Jerome Bettis jersey because I admire his work at his craft and what his personality seemed to be on the football field. While I do believe the sports nerd is something that should exist within the realm of social categorization, calling the wearing of a sports jersey a costume is a bit of a stretch. Granted, I'm sure people can claim to wear a gold Star Fleet shirt because they admire Captain Kirk the same way as a bad ass. Can't blame them, I suppose, but being that pretty you that he was surely would have played quarterback for his high school football team back on Earth.
But the point is, what about the part where some athletes (such as Bettis in my opinion, or Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning, or Keith Byers for you REAL sports nerds out there) are actually good roll models for what working hard can get you THAT ACTUALLY EXIST! That's right. They're not stories or figments of one's imagination . . . but real people to where if you do all you possibly can, with luck, you can be a good man with all you desire. I mean, dude! Look what Tom Brady's done for Justin Beiber (sorry Bob -- couldn't resist)
Now granted, not all athletes are perfect roll models, but regardless, what about cheering for someone who is turning their ACTUAL LIFE around (i.e. Michael Vick, not me personally, but). That fact is the idolization of someone who isn't real is what makes the 'Star Fleet Uniform that's not on Halloween' it off-key. But then, I'm sure we'll have a show that comments on religion from you soon enough, Bob . . .
Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
NO BOB! THERE IS A PLACE WHERE SPORTS AND NERD STUFF ARE COMBINED!!!
-----IT'S CALLED FIRST ROBOTICS!!!!-----
http://www.usfirst.org/
it's awesome! it's a high school sports thing where we're given a challenge (a game mode) by FIRST in janurary, we have so many weeks to make a robot that we think will kick ass at said game, then we have it out in a tourney style competition after some hundred qualifying matches. it really is awesome. last year was my first year on the robotics team, (TEAM #2834! BIONIC BARONS! WOOOO!!!) we won states in first place and went to nationals last year and i'm very excited for this year! i can't wait for the new challenge!
as dean kamen (founder of first and inventor of the segway) once said "it's football for nerds" and it is a lot like football, there's patches of one color t-shirt in the crowd rooting for their team, huge over the top mascots, tons of noise makers, but the best part above all this is that we treat the other teams kindly. gracious professionalism is the #1 goal of FIRST. mine is winning, but that's my secret.
and that's just FRC, there's also FLL, first lego leauge. it's the middle school level of robotics and what they do is practically the same as what we do.....BUT WITH LEGOS. my brother did FLL this year (team #5540 CYBOR COBRAS!!!) and as a kid on the high school team, i got to mentor them, which was a whole lot of fun. we got to states! but that was it which made us sad
but's it's ok, they'll be signing up for the high school team when they're freshman next year.
FIRST robotics is awesome bob! you should check it out!!!
-----IT'S CALLED FIRST ROBOTICS!!!!-----
http://www.usfirst.org/
it's awesome! it's a high school sports thing where we're given a challenge (a game mode) by FIRST in janurary, we have so many weeks to make a robot that we think will kick ass at said game, then we have it out in a tourney style competition after some hundred qualifying matches. it really is awesome. last year was my first year on the robotics team, (TEAM #2834! BIONIC BARONS! WOOOO!!!) we won states in first place and went to nationals last year and i'm very excited for this year! i can't wait for the new challenge!
as dean kamen (founder of first and inventor of the segway) once said "it's football for nerds" and it is a lot like football, there's patches of one color t-shirt in the crowd rooting for their team, huge over the top mascots, tons of noise makers, but the best part above all this is that we treat the other teams kindly. gracious professionalism is the #1 goal of FIRST. mine is winning, but that's my secret.
and that's just FRC, there's also FLL, first lego leauge. it's the middle school level of robotics and what they do is practically the same as what we do.....BUT WITH LEGOS. my brother did FLL this year (team #5540 CYBOR COBRAS!!!) and as a kid on the high school team, i got to mentor them, which was a whole lot of fun. we got to states! but that was it which made us sad
but's it's ok, they'll be signing up for the high school team when they're freshman next year.FIRST robotics is awesome bob! you should check it out!!!
Technically speaking, Pro Wrestling fans are cheering for 'Captain Kirk' or Captain Insano . . . the point is they are celebrating fake characters played by real people.
sports are just more socialy exceptable and thats what it all boils down too is what sociaty thinks is normal, and what most people like.
Simple, Sports fans show a love for something physical, something masculine while nerds usually love things only aimed at children. Sports fans are just as retarded and insane as Geeks are but that sports fan is believed to be able to impregnate far more women and beat the shit out of far more men then said nerd can or ever will. Alpha male mentality.
Simple, Sports fans show a love for something physical, something masculine while nerds usually love things only aimed at children. Sports fans are just as retarded and insane as Geeks are but that sports fan is believed to be able to impregnate far more women and beat the shit out of far more men then said nerd can or ever will. Alpha male mentality.
Whats kinda funny is I got a Pittsburgh Penguins Brooks Orpik home Jersey and a Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby Winter Classic jersey, so as soon as I wore it out in publci I said i was cosplaying and got the weirdest look. Nerds got it, but sports fans just shook their heads at me. Whihch is weird, since I'm a bit of a hockey nut and people I talked to knew that.
but yeah, sports fans really need to see they're nerds. Especially since I saw that commercial on ESPN and Versus where the jocks are planning out stats for sports teams and group of nerds walks over and calls them nerds.
but yeah, sports fans really need to see they're nerds. Especially since I saw that commercial on ESPN and Versus where the jocks are planning out stats for sports teams and group of nerds walks over and calls them nerds.
So Raiders fans are the only real cosplayers of the sports world? Seriously, go google them, you'll see what I mean.ironlordthemad said:
Nah I know what raiders fans are and thats not all fans, thats just the black pit, I'm a raiders fan, but I don't paint my face like a silver/black darth maul...emeraldrafael said:
Cause that would be cosplay and I'm not a cosplayer, I'm an american football fan (in the uk...) and that is the difference.
and you're a raiders fan? ew, way to scrape the bottom of the barrel. XD I'm joking. I'm not as big into (american) football as I am hockey, but I know the raiders are a relatively decent team recently and a good team back when. I'm a steelers fan, but thats more home town then anything. But is nice to see fans of (american) football outside of America.ironlordthemad said:
But yeha, I know what you mean. I've seen the Steelers fans that dress up. It gets.... disgraceful. XD but oh well, to each his own and its all in good fun. But you can be a fan and dress up like that.
For any who dont know, we're talking about this:
http://www.sportnooz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/777_raidersfans.jpg
This
http://www.gambling911.com/files/publisher/Raiders-Nation-070109L_6.jpg?0
This
http://www.gambling911.com/files/publisher/Oakland-Raiders-2008_0.jpg?0
This
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZJIII74zuT8/SwrzpujM4QI/AAAAAAAADvA/s7LFp7w1_po/s1600/steelers-fan.jpg
And This
http://www.philebrity.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/steelers-fan-pictures-1L.jpg
Sorry, I liked to examplify the extent Raiders and Steelers "fans" go to to look ridiculous.
I love the pointed out similarities. Humans will have the same reactions to something they love. I suppose why nerd culture is seen as out of place could be contrived by sports celibrating real people while nerds tend to go for the fantastic, Characters created from the imagination rather than the old fasioned way. This could be looked down upon. I rememeber thousands of times being made fun of for acting as if something fictional could actually be possible. (still do, which is why i love Sci Fi). Sports are acted out in reality and therefor generaly excepted as normal and undenyable or undebateable.
I take comfort of my own sanity to know that while Simple minds talk about people, Good minds talk about facts and Great minds talk about Ideas. Nerds are all about ideas. Seeing something and thinking about it is easy, but thinking about another thought, or someone elses thought not yet seen takes skill.
Anyway, under all this text i think i found my point.
While i would absolutly love to call any prick with a jersey a great costplayer, I'll keep it to myself especially when i'm at the next convention with my Sailor Jupiter outfit.
I shall not be called intelligent as if it were a good thing, nor will i be called nerd, or greek, as if that were a bad thing.
I take comfort of my own sanity to know that while Simple minds talk about people, Good minds talk about facts and Great minds talk about Ideas. Nerds are all about ideas. Seeing something and thinking about it is easy, but thinking about another thought, or someone elses thought not yet seen takes skill.
Anyway, under all this text i think i found my point.
While i would absolutly love to call any prick with a jersey a great costplayer, I'll keep it to myself especially when i'm at the next convention with my Sailor Jupiter outfit.
I shall not be called intelligent as if it were a good thing, nor will i be called nerd, or greek, as if that were a bad thing.
I think it's more about how easy it is for people to relate to the content. The harder it is generally the nerdier people think it is. I see the word Nerd as a stamp closed minded people put on things that they don't want to understand. But that's only because I would most likely be stamped too. Sport has been around for a long time and I think it's easy to relate too so it isn't perceived as nerdy. Don't let it get to you, we have to just accept that we are more open to non-traditional entertainment and just be pleased that there is so much content for us.
Wonderful comparison, Bob! My best friend is a big sports fan, complete with trivial knowledge of decades of sports, fantasy teams in several leagues, wearing jersey's on a regular basis, and even collecting hats from all of his favorite teams.
The same guy hosts board game nights at his house, collects Nintendo games, listens to eclectic musicians like Bjork, and watches foreign and independent films at every opportunity. He covers a wide spectrum of nerdiness, from sports, to music, to games, to movies. Are he, and the others who obsessively follow any of those topics, not nerds by any other name?
Being a nerd means being passionate about something, perhaps to the point of obsession. Whether it's gardening, scrapbooking, literature, music, film, sports, bottle caps and coins, animals, games, or anything else that people like, there are nerds of all kinds.
It's unfortunate that society has stigmatized obsession with only certain topics as being nerdy and that it has equally associated such an atypical, extreme behavior with it. As all us nerds can attest that, though some people do fit the stereotype, there are significantly many more of us who do not. The stereotype is associated with the image, but our obsessions get mixed in with that stereotype. The glasses, acne, squeaky voice, and social ineptitude are themselves a stereotype, independent of being obsessed with any given interest. The "nerd" stereotype has nothing to do with being a nerd.
I've often seen people try to differentiate between the two by discriminating between the term "geek" and "nerd", but the two have been confounded for so long in common speech that it's futile to try. We need a new name.
Incidentally, this awkward stereotype more closely resembles that of pubescence than that of nerdy obsession. Perhaps this is where we can turn to draw the lines between "being obsessed with a subject" and "pimples, glasses, social awkwardness, and unusual clothing styles". A healthy interest in and devotion to a subject does not preclude one from graduating from puberty into adulthood.
The same guy hosts board game nights at his house, collects Nintendo games, listens to eclectic musicians like Bjork, and watches foreign and independent films at every opportunity. He covers a wide spectrum of nerdiness, from sports, to music, to games, to movies. Are he, and the others who obsessively follow any of those topics, not nerds by any other name?
Being a nerd means being passionate about something, perhaps to the point of obsession. Whether it's gardening, scrapbooking, literature, music, film, sports, bottle caps and coins, animals, games, or anything else that people like, there are nerds of all kinds.
It's unfortunate that society has stigmatized obsession with only certain topics as being nerdy and that it has equally associated such an atypical, extreme behavior with it. As all us nerds can attest that, though some people do fit the stereotype, there are significantly many more of us who do not. The stereotype is associated with the image, but our obsessions get mixed in with that stereotype. The glasses, acne, squeaky voice, and social ineptitude are themselves a stereotype, independent of being obsessed with any given interest. The "nerd" stereotype has nothing to do with being a nerd.
I've often seen people try to differentiate between the two by discriminating between the term "geek" and "nerd", but the two have been confounded for so long in common speech that it's futile to try. We need a new name.
Incidentally, this awkward stereotype more closely resembles that of pubescence than that of nerdy obsession. Perhaps this is where we can turn to draw the lines between "being obsessed with a subject" and "pimples, glasses, social awkwardness, and unusual clothing styles". A healthy interest in and devotion to a subject does not preclude one from graduating from puberty into adulthood.