As a man who writes poetry, I'm used to people having stereotypes about me. I don't own a beret (though I used to, and I would wear it at poetry readings for the students I taught, for fun); I don't smoke cigarettes; and I don't really enjoy coffee. I'm not particularly effeminate; I even spent most of my early life playing sports, not mooning around in the woods composing poems with awkward rhymes (though I did do a bit of that in college). Since I'm in the South, people especially think I don't like football, the area's other religion. And that part is true, as I don't like football, no matter the level. It's not my being a poet that makes me dislike football, though; my sport of choice is running, as I've found I like my sports with fewer concussions.
Now I've just stereotyped football fans as people who are uncaring, as they enjoy a sport that injures the players they claim to love week in and week out. Those fans do care, of course, especially as so many are in fantasy football leagues. If their players get concussions, they'll miss valuable weeks of amassing points for the fans. I’m doing it again. Seriously, these fans really do worry about injuries. I know because, when they find out I'm a runner, they tell me that my knees are going to be useless by the time I'm sixty. They used to tell me fifty, but I've passed that point now, and they've had to adjust their estimations, but they're still clearly concerned about sports-related injuries.
I'm kidding (sort of). My point, though, is that we have all kinds of stereotypes when it comes to people who enjoy sports we don't really understand, or even those we do. We have a number of stereotypes about runners, even beyond the untruth about runners' knees (for the record, my knees do give me trouble at times, but they've been doing that since before I could drive, back when my sports of choice were baseball, basketball, and tennis, not running). Unfortunately, these stereotypes often keep people away from running, a sport or hobby (depending on how seriously one takes it) that's accessible to almost anyone.
Now I've just stereotyped football fans as people who are uncaring, as they enjoy a sport that injures the players they claim to love week in and week out. Those fans do care, of course, especially as so many are in fantasy football leagues. If their players get concussions, they'll miss valuable weeks of amassing points for the fans. I’m doing it again. Seriously, these fans really do worry about injuries. I know because, when they find out I'm a runner, they tell me that my knees are going to be useless by the time I'm sixty. They used to tell me fifty, but I've passed that point now, and they've had to adjust their estimations, but they're still clearly concerned about sports-related injuries.
I'm kidding (sort of). My point, though, is that we have all kinds of stereotypes when it comes to people who enjoy sports we don't really understand, or even those we do. We have a number of stereotypes about runners, even beyond the untruth about runners' knees (for the record, my knees do give me trouble at times, but they've been doing that since before I could drive, back when my sports of choice were baseball, basketball, and tennis, not running). Unfortunately, these stereotypes often keep people away from running, a sport or hobby (depending on how seriously one takes it) that's accessible to almost anyone.