I consider myself to be a pretty big nerd. I’m well versed in a number of nerdclinations and keep adopting new ones, most recently Dr. Who. Even though I rep all sorts of nerd cred I have a deep, dark, non-nerdy secret.
I love sports. I love watching sports. I love reading about sports. I love talking about sports. I love listening to sports talk radio. Just last night I went to an Angels game with the youth group from our church.
Sports don’t have to be inherently non-nerdy. Below are some of the nerdiest sports around.
Pyramid
Pyramid was the sport of choice for those aboard Galactica. Even one of the show’s most influential characters, Sam Anders, was a former professional pyramid player. The sport’s rules aren’t really clearly defined on the show but, from what I can tell, it’s like basketball mixed with ultimate frisbee. Pyramid definitely qualifies as a nerdy sport because it’s based off a nerdy show and is played by people named “Starbuck” and “Apollo”. Even though pyramid is a nerdy sport, I don’t think nerds would be very good at it. It’s a full-contact sport and the only things nerds want to be in full contact with are their gaming chairs or Japanese body pillows.
Quidditch
I’ve written a lot about Quidditch, mostly because Harry Potter nerds so desperately want it to exist. In the Harry Potter books Quidditch is a great game and the matches always make for exciting chapters. As much fun as it seems, though, I’m never going to grab a broom, throw on a robe and participate in an actual Quidditch league. As someone who memorized the titles and plots of every episode of The Next Generation, I think playing real-life Quidditch is going a little far. Real-life Quidditch is nothing like real Quidditch. Running around on a broom is not the same as flying around on one. Chasing a dude in a golden morphsuit is not the same as seeking out the snitch. But if someone is so passionate about experiencing Harry Potter any way they can, who are any of us to stop them. That doesn’t mean we can’t point and giggle when we see people running around a local park on brooms with lightning bolts on their foreheads.
Baseball
Baseball may be the nerdiest real-life sport…other than real-life Quidditch. Being a nerd really just means focusing and obsessing over any given book, band, movie or even sport. Baseball, with its hundred years of history and statistics, gives people an opportunity to nerd out in a big way. Baseball isn’t only nerdy for that reason, though. It’s also nerdy because Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine loved baseball. Deep Space Nine is an incredible show and worth watching. Sisko was a great character because he was so different from Picard. One of his nuances was his love for baseball, that archaic sport that had gone the way of God and the dinosaurs. He loved the sport so much that he kept a baseball on his desk, taught his son how to play and even set up a holosuite game with the crew of a visiting starship. I myself am a big baseball nerd even though my team, the Cubs, may not win another World Series until the 24th century.
Sports don’t have to be inherently non-nerdy. We just think they are because the people who played sports more often than not teased us for being nerds. It’s 2012, though, and jocks can play Skyrim and nerds can love football. No matter the year, though, real-life Quidditch will always be nerdy.
What other nerdy sports are you a fan of?
Parisi Squares!
I’ve been to a real quidditch tournament and it was actually really epic. Muggle quidditch takes a lot of athleticism and it’s very intense. I saw a guy covered in blood from playing and then he goes right back in for more. Plus, they require all commentators to be comedians which is just plain awesome.