"Ya Freakin' Hump!"

So in watching my most recent post of my favorite (and only) sports commontator, Fitzy, I noticed that perhaps all these years I've been wrong about a few things. The premium one to point out, is the fact that video gamers (aka "gamers") and sports fans (aka Jocks) have many things in common when "participating" in their select event. I say "participating" due to the fact that when I game, I'm actually affecting the outcome of the game. Now jocks, despite the fact that they refer to their favorite team as "we", do nothing to affect the outcome while watching their game.

All that aside, let's look at some of the things that sports fans and gamers have in common:

o The obvious one is that we both freak out and get pissed off when our team/side loses. This is most evident with sports fans by cussing, talking smack, throwing food, and ripping apart those little velcro referees. It is similiarly acted out in gamers by cussing, claiming the game cheated, and throwing their controllers.

o Both groups always try to get together to enjoy their entertainment of choice. Usually sports fans will get together at a house with a big screen, wear goofy sports apparel, eat pizza, drink beer, and hit the bathroom at half-time. Gamers, on the other hand, will usually get together at a house with a big screen (if using a gaming console), wear goofy nerd apparel, eat chips, drink Mt. Dew, and hit the bathroom between deathmatches or at every save point.

o Both groups always get overly defensive about their teams/games, and ESPECIALLY about star characters from their selected field of entertainment. Try talking smack to a Red Sox fan about Manny Ramirez, first Red Sox World Series MVP (had to google it). This would be the same as talking smack to any Halo fan about Master Chief. Further more, just as sports fans have a hard time agreeing on which generation of their favorite team played the best, gamers have a hard time agreeing on which chapter in a favorite game (i.e. Final Fantasy) was the best.

o Both groups scrutinez every detail of their sport/game. Loyal baseball fans know, for instance, every stat of every player in their favorite team, including hometown, hobbies, and favorite color. Gamers, specifically genre players (i.e. first person shooter, real time strategy) know the game down to the development history, all character histories, designer, and production teams. If they're really good, they know the type of "engine" that runs it.

o Furthermore, both groups can talk in complex languages. Just as a sports fan can tell you what a batting average of .333 means, a gamer can tell you what a 3D6+12 save means (yes, those stats are used also in video games).

So there are a few examples of how what seems to be a large wall between two groups of people is actually pretty thing.

But for the record, Master Chief can still kick anyone's a$$.