POLL: BOOSTS APPRECIATED even if you don't like sports so more people will see. Which of these sports do you basically know the rules of enough to follow what's happening? Some popular games that I see people play a lot have rules that are incomprehensible to me.
I have a suspicion that I'm not alone in not understanding American Football at all (even as an american who grew up watching with parents).

@wyatt8740 I am literally a certified baseball umpire. :)

@monsieuricon Baseball is the one sport on this list I love, too! - and the one where I think I best understand the rules. Plus the history of the sport and the sociology of it is really fun to learn about.
(Go Sox! - the ones on the east coast)

@wyatt8740@tech.lgbt @monsieuricon@social.kernel.org the only good answer of the two Sox-es

@amyipdev @monsieuricon I've been to Fenway Park and would love to go again. it really is an excellent park with a lot of charm. And it feels so intimate.

If I wanted to see Baseball in Illinois, I'd go to Wrigley Field. :)

@wyatt8740 Calvinball should be on everyones list. You just make it up as go.

@wrenderlust Yeah I was astonished; iirc the only rule is that you can't play the same way twice. Pretty reasonable to me.

@wyatt8740@tech.lgbt @monsieuricon@social.kernel.org agreed to all!

@wyatt8740 I always recommend that parents put their kids into baseball. I know "baseball is life" is a bit of a trope, but when I compare the skills kids learn playing baseball, they are remarkably similar to those they will face in their life. As opposed to many other team sports where the outcome is often decided by one or two "star players" on a team, in baseball everyone must work well both by themselves (when batting) and together (when fielding). Just as in real life, there will be situations when a team loses if they don't work well together, but there will also be times when the outcome of the entire game is down to a single player stepping up to bat. It's just like that in real life -- there will be times when success is a team effort, but there will also be times when everything is down to just you, and you can't just "pass the ball" to someone else. And sometimes, you can do everything right and still lose simply because luck was not on your side.

So, put your kids in baseball! :)

@wyatt8740 i tried to watch american football once or twice and was immediately bored out of my mind.
talked to an half american former school friend about it once and he said we'd meet up to watch together and he'd teach me the rules.

none of us followed up. haha.

real football, i love. hockey, i used to like but tv ruined it with incessant ad breaks. i lost patience and for real, fuck that shit. (football and hockey were my votes. the rest feels like rich people hobbies)

@wyatt8740 btw i also love winter sports.
cross country skiers are the real fucking athletes, just going and going like maniacs, while i scream from my couch mouth full of candy.

@wyatt8740 ok maybe i should've added basketball. one of my best friends daughters is on our national team and i remember some rules from my youth and trying to get myself knowledgeable on what i've forgotten. not yet quite there, though.

@maria Baseball is a rich people hobby? :p

As for the rest, yeah.
I like watching baseball but only in-person.

@wyatt8740 ha! i thought someone might react on that. i'm not american and know jack all about baseball, i admit. focused unfairly on tennis, polo and golf i guess.
baseball could probably be affordable to anyone. in that case: good!

@maria Definitely! - Tennis, Polo, Golf are wealthier sports. Baseball (used to be) "America's Pasttime™" because it was affordable for the masses. It still is pretty affordable but American Football has become more popular for our short attention spans.

@wyatt8740
Boosted just for the Calvinball inclusion.

@dpflug The best sport on this list!
It was a moment of inspiration.
I have the complete printed collection of that comic here :)

@wyatt8740 Baseball and Motorsports are all I know.

@exclava baseball is my favourite on this list besides Calvinball!

@wyatt8740 I know there's a game where you hit a ball with a stick and a game where you kick a ball through a hoop, but I couldn't pick them out of the list.

@stevendbrewer D: Sorry, that's my bad.
You could put them both under calvinball though

@wyatt8740
I was somewhat surprised by the omission of volleyball

@maeve crap -_-
I decided it was close enough to tennis and that the list was getting too long. Maybe I shouldn't have.