Being a good sport
Shoes, cheesecake, tall blood-sucking Swedes - all things worth getting obsessed about in my world. 
Obviously not everybody's cup of tea but all things that I have a strong interest in, it's fair to say. But once upon a time I had strong interest in other things - scrums, Achilles injuries other than my own, sometimes even the state of the batting order. All things I couldn't give a monkey's about these days.
Sports. Where did you and I go astray? When did we lose the love?
My childhood was awash with rugby in the wintertime and cricket in the summer. As kids we leapt up in the air at the end of the haka and couldn't understand very much of what followed but everybody else was into it so we lay on the loungeroom floor and watched it (and also back in those days games were begun and finished before bedtime).
In the summertime the stamina required to watch a test or one-dayer was beyond us and we were banished outside since the TV was off-limits all day.In my mother's opinion cutting off the end of the cricket just so the news could be broadcast on time was an example of a TV network with its priorities all wrong, and as far as I know she still does.
So it wasn't too much of a surprise to find that I grew up to be the kind of person who would buy an Canterbury All Blacks jersey right before they changed to Adidas just so she could have "the proper one and none of this foreign muck", who actually went to the World Rugby Museum, who felt hushed reverence at Lords, who may have cried during successive Rugby World Cups. I used to care about sport. What the hell happened?
Well, one thing that happened was that I got a boyfriend (the full-time, no room for other hobbies, kind). And suddenly if I needed to see a hot guy in shorts exerting himself then I could just ask him to put some kitset furniture together on a hot day. I continued to watch sports but I think it's safe to say that there was a certain lack of intensity to it. A "phoning it in" if you will.
But the thing is, even with the absence of a time-consuming, short-wearing, life-partner, the joy of sport has not come back to me. Sure, I got a wee bit excited when I got a photo op with Toddy last year, but really that was residual hero-worship left over from the nineties.
I don't even know when there's a game on now and I certainly have no idea who all the players are, so I think that there must have been more to my initial engagement than mere "thigh appreciation". As best as I can tell there's still thighs involved, yes?
I think that my current lack of interest might be more to do with the fact that few of my friends are into sport (unless you count football, which I don't because I watched more of that during my OE than I really cared to and wouldn't be bothered if I never watched another game, well except for live games where you get to experience bellowing fat guys with their shirts off which has a certain self-affirming effect of the "I'm way too hot for you" kind...oh and the singing, of which I am quite fond) and working in libraries does not necessarily put you in the path of sports enthusiasts.
Apparently, I am but one of many. Evidently interest in rugby, particularly, has been dropping off for years. So where are you with the love affair? Still blissful? Bored and looking elsewhere, or getting past the divorce? Ladies, have you ever lost interest or gained interest in sport because of the guy you were with?
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The only man I will watch Rugby for is my Grandad - thankfully my man isn't into watching much sport :)
I rang Sky yesterday and cancelled the sports channel subscription. We only had it for this long because of the Winter Olympics were coming.
'Nuff said.
I can't ever imagine my cricket obsession dropping off Moata! But I do hear what you mean. Somehow, life has gotten in the way these days.. it's not that the sport is less interesting, I just think there are that many more options with how to spend your time. Somehow, it seems you have to make more of an effort to be a sports fan these days, when it used to just be part of life in NZ and happen organically.
Rugby = a waste of a good flat paddock. It's not our national game and never has been. Sure, we had a reasonably good team for a while but now we rate as average at best.
And what's with the all year round nature of it now? Used to be a winter sport. Now seems they play all year round.
Kiwis do a wide range of sports, and for the size of our tiny population, we do quite well on the world stage with far more than our fair share of the spoils. I reckon its about time the media stopped beating on about 30 grown men fighting over a ball and actually covered more sports we participate in.
I think my peak sport phase was at university when I flatted with a bunch of sport fans. Rugby and cricket were top of the list and I even learnt how cricket worked. I used to watch rugby with my dad and granddad when I was at high school - part of that was to do something they liked though.
Nowadays I will occasionally join my mates at the pub to watch a game but really I'm more interested in catching up with mates than the game itself.
Never been much of a rugby fan, except the odd international test. More a cricket and league girl. BUT I don't follow religiously. If I don't have plans and either of the two are on, I'll watch (and usually end up screaming at the TV). I'll even make an effort to go to a game or match (I love crowd atmospheres).
The other 'sport' I'll watch is the V8 supercars. But, unless I'm bored and have nothing to do, the only race I'll make an effort to watch is Bathurst.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on my mood), no man has come inbetween me and sport, nor has one lumped too much sport on me.
I've never been especially interested in any sport that doesn't involve internal combustion engines.
Having grown up in a rugby/cricket mad family too, I can say that I have totally lost the love for rugby. Now, it's all kick, line-out, kick, scrum, kick - hey, when are you going to run with that ball? I'll watch a test match to keep the boss happy, but I'm usually reading a book while I do it.
Did watch the one-day match last week - it was pretty exciting, so I can love it, but only if the Black Caps aren't being completely useless.
I love league and will always watch the Warriors as they break the starting line - but by mid-season, I have usually lost the love for them as well.
Did watch some of the winter olympics - the curling, the biathalon and the downhill racing were all strangely compelling.
PS. I think if they played rugby in see-through shorts, hordes of women would return to the game.
Sorry - couldn't get past "tall blood-sucking Swedes". Hmmmmmm...
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My only interest in team sports died off as I became more influenced by friends and less influenced by a keen sport on TV watching father.
I used to be a mad keen motorsport on TV viewer, but the waffle / racing ratio has been tending in the wrong direction. This resulted in my sitting in front of the TV cursing all the puff pieces they pack in around the racing. These days all I can watch on the screen is rally coverage (which I love), anything else now results in my falling asleep in front of the TV in a snory rendition of a nana nap.
I don't think I've watched a rugby, soccer, cricket game for possibly 20 years.