Most the jobs I had before leaving the country were fairly nerd heavy, so I never ran into this myself. As for where I live now, I’d rather vault onto a fence sac-first than get into soccer, but that’s another post for another time.
But anyways, throughout high school and college I repeatedly heard it said that you risk being on the outs if you’re not into football and such. Being able to bullshit amiably with the guys at work, or where you *hope* to work, is made possible by being a sports fan.
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It’s really not that big a deal
I’m a big time sports fan, but it rarely comes up In the office other than passing comments. I have 8 direct reports and maybe half of them are sports fans, but outside of being part of the department fantasy league, there’s not too much talk of it.
I wasn’t into football for a long time, and I didn’t feel I was missing much at work. I have been for the last several years, and it has added some bullshitting opportunities, but whatever. And if they start talking college football I wander away slowly. So it’s, possible I lose out, but I don’t think it’s likely.
Naw. There are other things to talk about.
This isn’t an American fear. [The IT Crowd ](https://youtu.be/6yN2H3–1aw?si=ZySpHm7jx3h69mKQ)
I’ve never had that problem, and I’ve never tried to fake it, either. I can hold forth on other “guy things” like cars, guns, military service, etc.
Of course. Notice how many posters in this sub like saying “sportsball.”
The culture of hating sports is more pervasive and annoying than the culture of liking sports.
No. I’ve never been a big sports person and I’ve gotten along just fine.
I’m in a pretty stereotypically masculine job. I’m good at my job. (That’s important).
Nobody cares. It’s just something to talk about. There are plenty of other things to talk about.
My husband hates sports and works in a male dominated industry and it has never been an issue.
You don’t have to watch games. If you’re paranoid then check scores on your phone. Ask open questions to stimulate the otjer guys to talk. Or just be great at something else like beer selection *if and only if* you’re truly insecure. Be yourself and be genuine especially if you’re a funny guy.
I know nothing about basketball but can contribute to the conversation. I’m female *but* people often assume that it is the slort I would know. I’m baseball girl.
Not really. Your colleagues *might* rib you if they are Gen X or older. Otherwise… it won’t be a big deal.
I’ve worked in the same office for 8 years and am currently one of the highest paid employees on my team. I don’t think anyone has ever cared that I don’t follow sports.
Suffer? Not really. But sports fandom may endear you to some people and open certain doors to social connections. Sports is an easy icebreaker especially among men.
BUT, this works with many other interests too. That’s just the nature of having shared interests with people.
This is a “problem” world wide really. And its not even really a problem.
I’m an NFL guy personally. I’ll chat with the other ones at work that I know are also into it. I chat about other stuff with the ones who aren’t.
“Suffer” is probably way too strong a word. It might make it a little easier to meet some people — my hat has started many random conversations with people, but it’s not like you’re going to get ostracized for it.
Yes. Not with your coworkers but if you’re climbing the corporate ladder, yes.
The older men who run the place talk about sports, fitness, money, and women. If you want to be in their conversations you need to know how to talk to them.
Did you qualify for Boston? Which golfer do you hate because of his political views? There’s a club ticket you can use if the side piece can’t make it…
Sales people talk about it with clients more than anything else, as a quick ice breaking technique. It’s like this persistent act they have going for so long that it just becomes their actual personality after a while.
So there certainly are networking opportunities in the corporate world that range from dinners, to sporting events, shooting events, plays, driving events, really about anything you can think of, put on by vendors who want your company’s time and money. Going to these events can get your name out there for possible career changes, or help you strengthen your company’s relationship with these vendors, which is a positive.
My manager isn’t a fan of sports so he passes on those events, but he’s 3rd below our CTO after rising from an engineer, so I wouldn’t say that’s hurt him. I avoid the trap shooting events put on by two of our vendors, but I go to others and have a pretty good relationship with those vendors. Skipping on those few networking opportunities doesn’t seem to have stunted my career.
But then there’s Jimmy. He never goes to any of these events. He’s also been in his same low level position for 10+ years. I personally don’t believe it’s strongly related as he never seems to even try for an advancement, but it certainly can’t hurt to network when you can.
The points are, networking can help your career, but it’s not just sports. You’ll find common ground with your coworkers and professional relationships which aren’t sports related and can build off that. Honestly, the biggest buzz topics in the office of late are video games and 3d-printing, but that’s probably because the Packers aren’t doing well this year.
No. You just say your not into sports and find something else to talk about.
If the person you’re talking to has nothing else to talk about than sports, they’re probably not very interesting or worth your time, anyway.
Not an American male, but I’ll add my take.
The workforce is far more diverse than it used to be. And because of that there’s more respect and acceptance for different interests.
Think of it this way, if bullshitting about sports was key to being successful at work, why would it be limited to guys? Women would need to be able to bullshit about sports at work also, right?
And from a strictly practical standpoint, being able to bullshit about sports at the water cooler isn’t really a good predictor of how well you’d do the job
It’s not an issue
I’m quite possibly the least sports interested person in my company, but my work best friend is super into sports. If someone give me grief about it, I just tell them to get stuffed. It does not matter in the least to me and I usually can turn it into a joke and we move on
No. I’m a American male and barely ever talk about sports. I honestly don’t think most people even notice. I just talk about stuff I have an interest in or that I can relate to other people about.
No one cares if you don’t like sports
I’m a woman, and not being a sports fan is weird in CO, especially when the teams win something big. Do you “suffer”? No. But ppl do kinda, not ostracize, but maybe “gently chide” you for not being sports aware.
Happens very seldom. I had the perfect job interview once, for a position I was willing to commit felonies to get. Everything was 100%, I had gotten the job and I knew it, down to my bone marrow!! and on the way out the door, the owner said, “And of course, you’re a Local Sportsball Team fan, right?”
And I said, “Huh?” with a wrinkled nose.
and I could almost SEE that perfect job pop like a soap bubble. I could have said nearly anything else, but noooooo, my indifference/scorn for sportsball was too obvious.
But, on the other hand, that was the one and only time it happened to me.
The ONE thing I miss about working in the office is sports talk. I’ve been remote at various places since COVID and I only work with DND/Star Wars Nerds. I’ve never watched more than 10 minutes of Star Wars as it’s just not interesting to me and I did do a campaign of DND just to give it a shot and I’ll never do it again. Just didn’t do anything for me.
Yes it is. I’m a 39 year old male that does not like sports. It’s very hard for me to strike up conversations with other men as men often relate through sports fandom. This doesn’t apply to everyone but it is super common.
When it becomes clear that you can’t talk sports the other man is usually seems uncomfortable.
You might be less popular around the water cooler, but you certainly aren’t gonna suffer
Possible? Yes. Likely? No.
I’m a huge sports fan and have worked with many guys who are not. We managed to not only work together but become friends. There are other things to be interested in, it’s totally fine.
Client facing in Alabama…..yes
I love sports but I work in a garage so most of the dudes I interact with on a regular basis don’t give a damn about sports because they’re “car guys.”
Depends on the work place, I think. In my previous job it never came up at all in the 15 years I was there. I have been in my current job for 2 weeks and just got back from a week long trip to their Philadelphia office. This office seems to be massively into sports. They seem to be a huge hobby of the entire leadership team and most of the people in the office are either into sports or pretend to be because everyone else is (both male and female).
Personally, I am not into sports at all and I can see that potentially limiting my growth in this job. Though I admit that I did enjoy watching the Phillies games last week. I can see why people are interested in them, I just don’t have sufficient spare mental capacity to keep up with it.
No. I don’t give a fuck at all and no one cares.
54 here. I’d say that may have been more likely in the 90s than now. Never really gave it much thought, but I remember going with my boss to a few different games with customers, Eagles, Phillies, Nets (lol). I’d say my knowledge of sports was a huge help in engaging customers.
Did that help my standing in the company? I would say that’s likely. I was not in sales though so it wasn’t all that regular, I imagine if I was it would have been very important. The idea of what constituted being a “man” was very different in the 80s and 90s. At least where I worked (NYC, then Philly), the stereotype of men being into beer, sports, and cars was very much in play. (Not soccer though, we didn’t watch “foot fairies”). Honestly now that I’ve had this chance to look back on it, we’ve changed a lot as a society. I’m also a big fan of Tottenham, Philadelphia Union, and NC Courage, back then watching soccer was not the thing to do.
Soccer catching yet another stray in this sub
I suppose it’s possible, just not likely. I never watch or care about sports and it’s never impacted my work life
It might be more regional. Some people particular sports and teams closely and others it never comes up. I am from California, where its much less of a thing outside of actual sports fandoms.
As a rule of thumb, I have found car guys do not give a fuck about team sports but will frequently follow automotive sports. I have often said, you can have a world class car show on Super Bowl Sunday and it won’t have an issue. But even then, I know car guys who don’t follow NASCAR but actually participate in automotive racing like the Baja 1000.
Construction guys do not care about sports at all. My friends who work trades do not follow sports, all of my dad’s friends who worked trades I remember as a kid never followed sports.
If you work for a University it might be a good idea to attend home games for the that University’s teams.
I haven’t experienced that. I despise sports and it isn’t been an issue for me. I’m not a chatty person anyway, and prefer to be left alone when I am in actually working on something. People don’t try to talk sports with me because it is fairly obvious I don’t follow them, and am antisocial.
[I made this relevant post.](https://reddit.com/r/offmychest/s/7b5DNgRWGG)
I’m American male and don’t like sports. I get teased for it but that’s about it.
I’m also in B2B sales. I don’t know how to play golf, I don’t care about last nights football scores or your fantasy league. I get teased for it at work too, but I’m doing well in Sales so whatever.
Career suffer? No, if you can do your job you can do your job. I’d think you’re weird though for not being into *any* sport and so would everyone in my industry (trades/construction) most likely lol.
If you work with boomers, yes.
If you work with millennials/gen z, no.
Theres also significantly more women in the workplace now than say 30 years ago and so this work “bro” culture around sports has definitely changed because of it.
Not really. Men bond over all kinds of things. If you think it’s only over beer and sports then you’re probably listening to too many boomer comedians.