Peer Pressure

 When I was 5 I would go to Cary S.'s house after school and eat snacks, watch Aladdin, and hang out. One day she insisted to be in her club I would have to squish a red berry in my hands. I knew my parents had said don't eat those berries, they're poisonous and I took that to heart. I didn't want poison on my hands, what if I needed to lick them later? I refused, and Cary was a real bitch about it trying to coerce me. Well it didn't happen and I told my mom I didn't want to go to her house anymore and that was that. 

When a dog runs to chase a ball it's a beautiful thing, their bodies stretch and contract, they get it in their mouth and a smile comes over them, they are joyous. Anytime growing up a soccer ball went out of bounds or a basketball bounced too far I internally groaned. "For fuck sake it rolled that far?" I would think. I would floppy body trot over and retrieve it begrudgingly and wonder when this activity would be done. At least in bowling the balls come back to you. It didn't even matter if the game was small scale. Ping pong ball bounced away? Leave it, let's be done with this. Dogs chase balls, I do not. Yet there is a peer pressure for me to play sports. My in-laws are sports fanatics. The TV is tuned to sports day in and day out year round. It's always some season; baseball, followed by football, followed by basketball, with soccer sprinkled throughout. Those are the viewing sports, then you have the sports you play. In this case they are over 50 so there is only one sport. Pickleball. It is not an exaggeration to say she worships Pickleball. If Jim Jones handed her a glass of Kool-Aid and said "this will take you to a Level 4 pickleball player" she would drink it down faster than you can say "well actually it's growing so fast." 

Pickleball is for all ages she will say. Pickleball should be in the Olympics, you just wait she'll state in the summers. You can't get injured she'll murmur as she hobbles along on a walk with her swollen ankles. Lot's of people watch it she'll say watching a YouTube video of the world championship with 18,000 views and 6 comment. Yes those are the actual numbers on Youtube for the World Championship 2021. For reference a 60 second video on gay birds was posted 17 hours ago  and has 57,000 views and 4,400 upvotes. 

But none of that matters, what matters is I won't bend to the peer pressure and obsession. What makes a sports obsession just that and nothing more? Sure I could play it an have fun. I ironically did cheerleading at a summer camp and pretended to give a flip just so I could win the spirit stick. Was I being a sociopath at church camp? Yea it seems like it, why was I being so manipulative to win something ironically? I don't freaking know, ask a therapist. But I did it just so I could say I could and it was stupid. Like the song "I could if I wanted to, but I don't."

I've been watching Love on the Spectrum where people with autism date. Some have very specific hobbies. One girl loves lions, one guy loves Renaissance Fairs, one guy loves trains. These are all seen as strange or weird little obsessions. The girl even remarked "mom said not to bring my stuffed lions around because adults don't do that." Yes they freaking do, and it's applauded, just when that obsession is sports. 

How is a lion stuffed animal than wearing a Detroit Lions jersey with your favorite player on it? How is it socially awkward to know the 7 train leaves Grand Central to Newark at 6:57pm  but not knowing that Jordan scored a buzzer shot in 1989 to clinch the championship? That is only good information to know for a Sports category of Jeopardy (and let's be real, those categories almost always lead to dead air time as three people stare blankly until the buzzer rings). At least memorizing a train schedule can help someone. 

I'm starting to think all sports writers are people with autism, they just happened to be sports obsessed. Why else would the commentary be things like "this is the first time since March 2019 that Steph Curry has scored 11 layups in the first quarter" only to hear three seconds later " The last team to be down by over 30 points at the halg and still win was in 2003 Lakers vs Celtics with Kobe at the helm."

It sounds the same. So why is it that sports obsession isn't looked at in the same way? Why is it some people with these habits are neuro divergent but if the habit is sports you're just athletic, or a fan, or a jock, or a bro at the bar? I'm tired of the peer pressure to partake in a sport, much less enjoy it. Believe me when I say I don't want to chase a ball, run back and forth on a field, or watch an adult millionaire throw a ball into a net. And I don't care to watch or listen to it. There are many things I enjoy more than being an extroverted necrotic ball chaser. I'd much rather see an adult woman carry around a lion stuffed animal and excitedly dish about lion facts. I don't see any difference between a man dressed like a blacksmith sweating profusely walking around some field in New York at a Ren Fair than a man fully decked out in Warriors gear with the incorrect name of Curry on his back. Maybe we'd get more people with diverse interests if diverse interests were as accepted socially as sports. And maybe that's changing.

I suppose sports people push sports because they need a person to play with. In the case of a ball and paddle game I suggest a wall. Most of my pursuits are solo activities like running, crafting, and leisuring. But if I need to snark and I don't have anyone to snark to, I suppose I may bleat on trying to get someone to listen. Or I may just write a blog on it. Dang, I really am self sufficient.