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My boyfriend is not a fan of spectator sports but he's still manly; he would much prefer to play the sports himself. I'm the one who enjoys watching sports out of the two of us. He generally has no clue as to who's who or what's what in the world of sports, with only a couple of exceptions--he loves watching soccer, especially the big international tournaments like the World Cup and the UEFA European Football Championship. Admittedly, I'm not sure if he really loves it on his own or if my obsessive watching of international soccer tournaments has inspired him to be equally into it. I'm also starting to rub off on him when it comes to watching college football.
For me growing up, it was impossible to avoid watching spectator sports/professional sports on television as one of the televisions in my family's house was ALWAYS on sports. My brother would watch SportsCenter before school every morning. My father didn't go to church with us on Sundays; rather, he attended the Church of the National Football League. If you wanted to talk to Dad during the week, you would have to catch him while he was watching CNN Sports Tonight and wait for a commercial break. My brother grew up obsessed with baseball. We're also a family of die-hard Seattle Seahawks fans (if you're a Seahawks fan, you HAVE to be die-hard; their performance through the years is not generally encouraging to more fair-weather fans) and Seattle Mariners fans (same sort of deal, but with Ichiro). I was deeply saddened when they decided to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City.
I will never be into professional sports to the degree my brother is, but I'm okay with that. He's memorized more stats than anyone else I know. I really don't need all those stats floating around in my head when he's just a phone call away.
I'm not a big fan of professional sports beyond my hometown sports teams--the Seahawks and the Mariners. I follow my college football team--the Oregon State Beavers. I really enjoy college football in general and look forward to fall for the prospect of getting to watch college games. I also watch the Grand Slam tennis tournaments, particularly the French Open and Wimbledon, with relish. I love the Olympics for their variety of sport; generally when it comes to watching them I gravitate to the events that feature athletes that aren't necessarily famous professionals. As I mentioned before, I also really love international soccer, and typically cheer for the Netherlands (Go Oranje!). I don't idolize these people, but I do enjoy watching them compete. And while I do enjoy teasing my boyfriend for not knowing who Peyton Manning is, I wouldn't do the same to another person.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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