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Dear Lifehacker,
Everyone talks about sports at the office. I'm not particularly interested, but I'd like to at least join in and bond with my coworkers. How can I learn just enough to be sociable without wasting a ton of time?
Sincerely,
Benched
Dear Benched,
Since it sounds like you don't want to spend too much time watching games, here's how you can learn just enough and keep a conversation with them with minimal time commitment and effort.
Sample the Culture Without Spending a Lot of Time Watching
TV networks like ESPN and Fox Sports air hour-long segments that summarize all the games and happenings of the previous night (ESPN's is called SportsCenter, Fox Sports's is called Fox Sports Live). Usually, the most timely events (e.g., mainstream playoffs coverage) air early on in the show. Watching the first 15-30 minutes will at least keep you updated with most of the current major events you need to know about. If you tune in to your local news, it might also broadcast remarkable highlights for local teams.
If you know which particular leagues or sports your colleagues are interested in, you can focus your time on following that specific league (e.g., basketball, hockey, baseball, football, or golf, etc.).
You can also have a look at web sites like SB Nation or our sister site Deadspin (which mixes sports with lots of humor and other lifestyle stuff, which can make sports more entertaining). You can also try an app for your smartphone like ESPN's SportsCenter and Yahoo! Sports apps (for iOS and Android). Here are lists of the best sports apps for iOS and Android.
Believe it or not, many conversations about sports go deeper than just the actual games. Sports are a form of entertainment. As such, having conversations about sports will naturally involve the culture surrounding the sport. Once or twice a week, browse through sites like Bleacher Report or Grantland to learn more about the major players in each league, game schedules for your local teams, the history behind the sport you're into, and more. Who knows, you might find a sport you're interested in.
Position Yourself as the Amateur
Everybody starts somewhere. Sports lovers usually get this, and most fondly remember when they first got initiated into the world of sports. Position yourself as the amateur so that your colleagues can be helpful and share knowledge with you. Ask questions or for their opinions. Contrary to what you might think, it doesn't make you look dumb—and it makes them feel good by boosting their egos. You'll also better understand their opinions, cheer for the same teams and athletes as them, and share more common interests.
Questions like, "Who are your top five NBA guards of all time?" could be an interesting conversation starter for a group of colleagues. It explores the reasoning behind opinions, and can be a great primer for you to explore athletes and their stories further. Better yet, it requires little maintenance from your end. This helps position you as the eager amateur and you'll be able to learn more about each person's opinions. They won't mind as you ask more questions.
With that said, it's important to have a rudimentary understanding of the basics. You don't want to ask anyone to explain concepts like a penalty. Video games can be useful here, because they will force you to learn the rules (e.g., I learned what "offsides" meant in hockey when I played NHL with friends. I'm a disgraceful Canadian). Video games can be time consuming, so we'll talk more about them in a bit.
Start or Join a Fantasy League with Friends
After sampling the culture and learning more from other people, if you find that you actually enjoy a sport — or sports in general — and want to get deeper into it with friends or colleagues, you can join a fantasy league.
A few of my friends are in an NBA fantasy league. I'll bet if they needed to, they could have a conversation about it for days (even months!). Although it might just look like a simple leaderboard of who has the highest scores, fantasy changes everything.
For example, if you know an athlete on your friend's fantasy team is underperforming, you can both share a laugh about it. You can also talk to them about surprising events that happen, athletes that underperform or overperform, or sympathize with them about their athletes' injuries. You can make trades with them.
The conversation topics are endless. It doesn't risk treading into any unsafe, unpredictable, conversational territory (for better or worse!). It can be a safe, entertaining, way to spend time and get to know your colleagues and friends better. And, it makes the games more fun and interesting to watch, since you have a stake in the outcome.
Read a Biography
Biographies are interesting because a good one will usually refer to rest of the sport's characters, events, and history at least in passing. This is a deeper dive into the culture and history of a sport.
If you're looking for recommendations, I found Bulls and Lakers coach Phil Jackson's biography, entitled Eleven Rings , to be a really great read because it expanded beyond just the sport—and dove into legendary characters such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
Mike Tyson's Undisputed Truth was interesting (to say the least), and talks about his rough journey to stardom, the discipline of his training, and his downward spiral.
Sam Sheridan's book, The Fighter's Mind , is a great primer on fighting and psychology. Sheridan interviews fighters from around the world and explores what they've learned through fighting and how they cope with the stress of conflict. Regardless of what you think about the brutality of the sport, the book is full of applicable lessons and interesting ideas.
Biographies could also give you better insight into how coaches manage their players, how management makes decisions about sports, and so on. These are elements of sports that you can't glean even spending hours watching games.
Find the Right Balance
Those are just a few ways to give sports a try. You can either maintain a passing interest in it, just enough to relate to colleagues. If you find that you've developed a passion or love for a sport, you can immerse yourself and become a full-out sports fanatic.
Even trying out just a couple of these four tactics should enable you to relate to sports-crazed colleagues better. It helps to pick one sport and start there. However, if you're really finding that you're forcing that sport or interest, remember that it's not absolutely crucial for you to cave into societal pressures. Don't force yourself to like things you don't actually like.
Sincerely,
Lifehacker
Photos by Chad Cooper , Rob Poetsch , Play Among Friends Paf , Erik Drost , and Pedro Ribeiro Simões .
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