gettingold

I have always been a huge sports fan and loved playing sports growing up. More and more, I find my interest in mainstream sports has waned. I still watch the occasional Giant's game and I still love hockey and lacrosse, but my biggest television interest now is Barclay's Premier League soccer and cycling during the TDF. Can't stand pro basketball, cant sit through a whole baseball game, and the breathless commentary about whether Tim Tebow can throw a pass properly drives me crazy. I can barely watch ESPN and its bloated, self promotion. But instead, I'll stay up late or get up early to catch an Arsenal game or a rerun of the morning stage. I'll drive from Syracuse to Baltimore to watch a good lacrosse game. I would rather take a rail spike to the skull than play fantasy football.

Anyone else?

Wesley36

When I was younger hockey, football and baseball were interesting (in that order). Now I follow footie (FC Barcelona) and, to a lesser extent, cycling. But I would also generally rather be out on my bike than sitting and watching someone else play sports.

LowCel 

I watch a WVU football game if it is convenient, in other words I refuse to not do something that I enjoy in order to watch other people doing something. I do not enjoy pro mainstream sports, to me it is a bunch of overpaid babies crying about not making enough money. I would love to see these people live on my salary.

RacerOne

The only time I'll watch televised sports is if I'm at work and the TV is on.. otherwise, why waste my time?

JonnyV

In central Pa, I don't get to watch my favorite baseball team, the newly named Miami Marlins. Big Steelers and, I'mstill a big Penn State football fan. The Pittsburgh Pirates were tolerable and most of the season even fun to watch. I try to catch as much of the Tour as I can but that's only about 7 total hours over the entire month.

MDfive21

could not care any less about american sports. currently i watch EPL, bundesliga, champions league and some cycling. very occasionally i'll DL an aussie rules footy match.
i used to watch a lot of hockey, but after the lockout and the goalie rules change a few years back i stopped watching.

also, fwiw i have not had cable for years, and only DL torrents now. it is near impossible to watch sports with commercials every 2 minutes, and like you said, the espn splash promos and the frking ticker on the screen kill any interest i have in watching live sports in the US.

ColinL

I queue up hockey games on my dvr to watch while I ride the trainer. I generally watch the NFL whenever I'm able to fit it in, but I don't dvr any games or read every score. I rarely watch college football, but I do like college basketball. (WSU 2011 NIT champs! )

ColinL

BTW this is sooo headed to foo unless Lowcel protects us.

guadzilla

Hockey FTW!

dalava

That's exactly how I felt and what I do too.

Arsenal is my first choice of football team to watch. I am also interested in Liverpool and Barca, but to a much less degree.

I would watch any road cycling coverage, but it's slim pickings these days. Only Universal Sports has decent amount but they are not HD and the commentary is sometime suspect.

I do watch and go to the occasional hockey games (Maple Leafs is my team) and golf tournaments (still a Tiger fan).

You comments about EPSN/Tim Tebow are spot on. I can't stand them or of that ilk.

MegaTom

Hockey is about it for me. I like baseball and I do follow major league ball, but unless it's playoff season and the Phillies are still in it, I can't be bothered to watch a game on TV. I love going to the Spring Training games though and they're a great day trip for the kiddo & I. Premier League if I happen to catch a game, but I won't seek it out... World Cup football is never missed though.

gregf83 

I'm surprised how many here list Hockey. I dvr and watch the Canucks, if it's not going well I'll watch at 48x speed. Gave up on football and baseball.

rousseau

Football, definitely. Especially the Premier League, though a good Real Madrid-Barcelona barn-burner is a treat. My neighbour across the street is a scouser who keeps me updated on the goings-on in Liverpool. And there always seem to be Man U fans wherever you go.

It may not be fashionable in these parts, but I like the NBA. I can watch a whole game, but only if it's the Raptors. Who suck. Still, they're the local boys (geographically, I mean--in reality, they're mostly Europeans).

As a Canucklehead, I'm surprised at all the love for hockey here. I first laced up the skates at the age of three, and half my ice-time was on the local river during the frozen months of January and February (I'm in southern Ontario--in other parts of the country winter is a lot longer). At five I turned myself into a goaltender and played competitively until fourteen, when the pucks started coming harder than I liked and I realized I didn't have the burning passion for it anymore. I don't really like hockey anymore, but it's still in my blood, and it's everywhere here in "Leaf's Nation," so you can't avoid it.

jmX

I don't get watching other dudes throw around a ball on TV. It does absolutely nothing for me. Maybe if I coached HS football I'd watch Pro/College football games just to see how they play the game, but for the average fatty on the couch watching a game on a sunday it just seems strange to me. Then to scream "we won!" after you helped the team solely by working your way through 2 bags of potato chips? Amazing.

The only bit that I can personally sympathize with is to actually go to a physical game and take in the atmosphere of the spectacle while sucking down the worst $9 beer ever. There is a bit of magic in that, and I like to go to a game of some sort every couple of years.

caloso

I like sports. I like playing them. I like watching them.

gettingold

Surprises me as well. Mainstream media acts as though hockey fans don't exist. My 4 kids (23, 21, 17 and 15) could barely tell you the rules of football but they have all been huge NHL fans since they could barely walk (or skate).

I am so much more into EPL now that I read the sports pages in the UK Guardian each morning on line.

david58

Football is the only game that even begins to tempt me to not take a ride (Chelsea v Liverpool this weekend is causing me heartburn), but I do have a dvr. Now the trainer is set up in front of the tv, so in lieu of some Sufferfest I can watch a good football match. My wife is the same way - we might occasionally watch a throwball game (49ers or Volunteers or Beavers), but we might have to get another trainer so we can watch football together whilst we spin.

idc

I've been a fan of the EPL for most of it's existence. I've always liked soccer in general. Cricket is probably the only other major sport I still follow. I like rugby and AFL too but it's hardly televised in the USA. I used to follow NBA in it's boom era of the 90s but hardly since then. Of American sports, NHL is my favourite, but that's not saying that much. I'll be looking forward to the 2012 Le Tour.

James1:17

key scrabble tournaments and putt putt championship

Commodus

Just cycling for me. I like the game of hockey, but I don't know how to be a fan. The teams are nothing but for-profit corporations and the players are grotesquely overpaid. Canucks are my 'home' team, of course, but few (none?) of the players are local. The tickets are hugely expensive, it's tough to justify going to see a game live.

ColinL

Taken at a the surface, this comment applies to every successful major sport. I do not know why Alex Rodriguez needs to make $20 million a year, but he does. Wayne Rooney makes an assload too. Cycling has a super narrow peak where there a very, very few millionaires and a ton of dudes not making very much compared to a NFL 3rd-string player. That's because there's a boatload more money in and moving around football.

Now that I've ranted a bit, the point of being a hockey fan is enjoying the game. The players are the best. Well, except for Luongo. If you can appreciate any sport, you can appreciate the skill of the top competitors.

snowman40

Hockey and football (not soccer...). I don't get to watch as much hockey as I'd like as my kids struggle to get their homework don in timely manners. We watch mostly on weekends if there isn't a football game on that stokes my passion.....oh look! The Leafs are still above .500! Sweet....Ducks (local team)....meh.

For instance, this week I will be getting only 2 good games on Sunday (SD at Chi, and Iggles v Jersey/A).

surgeonstone

I'd rather go for a ride. Seriously though I do love watching a really good boxing match.

chaulky61

....and for all love of the EPL and other footie. Not what you would consider mainstream on this side of the pond. I use to watch every Man U game that I could, but I no longer have cable, nor feel like hanging out at the pub at 10 am on a Saturday morning so I rarely watch any sports. Commercials/time outs ruined hockey, N.A. football,etc for me. The beauty of real football is that you get 45 + uninterupted minutes of action (barring injury)

dalava

Comparing to other "major" sports, hockey players don't really get paid that much. It's one of the similarities they share with pro cyclists; the other being hard work, and in general, hockey players work hard and don't really get pampered like basketball or throwball players growing up (even in hockey crazy Canada and the junior leagues). Perhaps that's why hockey is one of the favorites for cyclists here.