This is of course a very subjective thing. We all enjoy different sports, based on our local culture and the people who raised us. I'm just curious what is the favorite among my readers. Also I want to try out this Hive Polls thing. Does it only work on peakd or on any Hive portal? Let's see!
Me and Sports
I grew up enjoying baseball. My dad loved baseball, as did my grandpa. My dad grew up in Brooklyn. The Dodgers were both loved for their years there, but hated for moving away, and he grew up a Yankees fan. It was the Mickey Mantle era, so they were not only the local team, but the hot one. Grandpa, by contrast, hated the Yankees. Whenever we visited his house, he likely had baseball on. Usually the Cubs, but he wasn't picky and would watch any game on. My uncles also loved baseball and were always discussing it. They were all Reds fans, having watched those great years with Pete Rose and Johnny Bench. I can just imagine the arguments they must have had with my grandpa: Cubs (or White Sox) vs the Reds.
So that was also my first love. When Jordan started to become less selfish and when their rivalry with Detroit started, I became a big basketball fan. I continued to enjoy the game after Jordan retired, but these days I don't enjoy it at all. It seems like no one wants to play anymore, they just want to throw up 3 pointers. But I digress.
When Peyton Manning joined the Colts, I started to get into American football. It is a fun game. For non-Americans who are confused by the units, just think of 1 yard as 1 meter and that's really all you need to know. In simple terms: you have four tries to move the ball 10 yards (meters). If you do so, you get four more tries, and so on. It is surprisingly strategic once you get over the image of people killing each other (which unfortunately isn't far from the truth). But a few years ago when the neck and head injury scandal happened and when the league paid off people and swept it all under the rug, I stopped watching and I haven't looked back since.
As for soccer—well, I enjoy watching the World Cup, but beyond that, I never really got into the game. I do enjoy watching it, so I could see myself getting into it. But I just don't have the chance to watch it often enough.
Through it all, I've always stuck with baseball and now it's probably the only sport I follow (besides casually checking out the Sumo results every tournament).
When I came to Japan over 20 years ago, baseball was losing popularity. Everyone was talking about how young people didn't care for baseball anymore and how soccer was going to be the next big thing. That has since reversed and baseball is more popular than ever in this country.
I'm not in America so I don't know for sure, but my image is that the NBA has been losing fans because of the current style of play and that American football in general is declining because it is viewed as incredibly dangerous by parents and so they don't let their kids play it. Soccer is becoming more popular, and baseball, largely fueled by Ohtani, has started to rise in popularity for the first time in many years.
But maybe you guys in America can tell me differently.
What is your favorite
You can probably guess my favorite. Baseball. How about you? Vote below and feel free to leave a comment about it.
[Title photo made by me from this image by Andreas Volz]