D&D 5E Jocks and Nerds: If you like D&D, do you like ... the NFL Draft? (POLL)

[Lidgar]

I'm a Detroit Lions fan. I'm happy about the new coach, but...every year, it's the same thing:

I was going to bemoan the bonehead moves the 9ers did in the draft. But really, I have no right when I remember the Lions (and Browns...)

 

[Haffrung]

I don't really know much about football, but I assume that being drafted into the NFL works like a military draft. If they ever try to draft me, I have plans to escape to Canada.

Unless it's a football-themed beer, or...football-themed architectural design? Both of those things seem weird, but not nearly as bad as forcing Amercia's youth to die on foreign football fields.

I’m imagining football players dodging the NFL draft by going to Canada... to play in the CFL.

 

[Eis]

Thats ok, im a Vikings fan (not diehard) and unhappy about our coach. He thinks its still 1982 and smashmouth football is all the rage....

he matches up well with a lot of Steelers fans then, many of whom think exactly that apparently

 

[Campbell]

I'm a Detroit Lions fan. I'm happy about the new coach, but...every year, it's the same thing:

As a fellow Lions fan this is how I feel:

 

[Stattick]

I haven't intentionally watched sports in ~25 years. I just have zero interest, and can always find something more interesting to do.

 

[pogre]

I coach high school football and played college football and I don't get the fascination with the draft. I do find Mel Kiper amusing, so I tune in for a little bit.

A story I have shared many times over the years here -

When we played D&D in my small hometown our group was all "jocks". We all played football, wrestled or played basketball, did track, etc. D&D was just something we did once a week together on Sundays. There were nine of us and we would talk openly about D&D in the locker room, in front of our girlfriends, etc. We had a little trouble with a crowd from the local Nazarene church, but for the most part it was cool. Myself and one other player had an inkling our group was unusual because we also participated in the local large university club.

Fast forward a few years and we decide to go to GenCon in 1984. It was at U of W Parkside and WOW! did we quickly realize we were NOT a normal gaming group. We had a great time anyway and I continued playing through college - even got a few teammates to try the game.

The divide is still there a little bit in the high school I teach at, but it is not nearly as pronounced. I hope it helps that the football coach and track coach also runs the D&D club

 

[Dioltach]

And I guess Football was a popular British series that got an American remake? Though from what I understand it’s more of a gritty reimagining of Rugby

I'm pretty sure the only thing grittier than rugby is wheelchair rugby.

 

[GreyLord]

Early on in D&D, jocks played AD&D just as much, if not more, than their nerdier counterparts. The Early 80s had everyone playing. It seems many just cannot grasp that these days.

Later on, there became divisions as the fad of AD&D died out. Some of the sportier types kept playing though. It became more the something stereotyped as being played by nerdy kids and ever since it's been a numbers game. I'd say the height of the nerd rule of D&D was 3e and 3.5 with how complex it got and how the numbers were everywhere. PC optimizers made it worse, and adverse to the general public. It raised the numbers of sales of D&D from a low to probably 5 million players...but that still wasn't enough of an umbrella to really include many more than the number crunchers.

Fantasy Football seems to have had a bigger umbrella. You have all sorts that participate, but normally it's also number crunchers. These are those that look at the numbers or stats of the players and calculate their fantasy teams based on that. You get the hardcore football fans, but you also get the nerdier types that like the numbers even more than the games themselves! I'd not say that Fantasy Football is a jocks game...as it has always had just as many of the more deskbound non-sporty types involved as anyone else.

PS: I never really got into fantasy football or any fantasy sports myself. I have been a High School Coach and even a club team coach for the "real" football (known as Soccer in the US). I have had some very hard core team players that are into fantasy champions league, and follow it ardently, but I was never really into the fantasy sports scene.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm pretty sure the only thing grittier than rugby is wheelchair rugby.

Rugby is like American Football with no armour, or rules. Wheelchair rugby is rugby with heavy weapons.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

If you're familiar with the 1980s movie, Revenge of the Nerds, you know that the following three things are true:

1. Anthony Edwards? Anthony Edwards!

2. Woah .... yeah ... those 80s movies didn't age well. I mean ... ouch. Just brutal.

3. Jocks and nerds don't mix. Or, to put it in terms Ogre might have understood .... NERDS!

The reason I bring this up is that there used to be a line demarcating the province of the nerd/geek (comic books, D&D, science fiction, etc.) from the rest of polite society. But, thanks to our outstanding secret plan to take over Hollywood, the Fortune 500, Silicon Valley, and popular culture, WE RULE THE WORLD! Um, wait, don't tell anyone about the secret plan. I didn't say that.

Ahem. Anyway, the one are where there has still been, traditionally, some separation is the traditional battleground- JOCKS and NERDS. Of course, that's no longer the case, is it? With the rise of statistics and fantasy sports and so on, we see that even these traditional enemies have a lot in common.

Which brings us to today's burning question for D&D players- do you know about, or care about, the NFL Draft? I was wondering, because this has probably been the single hottest topic of conversation in my office the last couple of weeks; I was wondering if the big tent of D&D has expanded to include all, or if there is still some traditional disdain for the sports.

So, a poll! Finding out if the good people of enworld who (1) are familiar with D&D also (2) are interested in the NFL Draft.

If you just want to know about nfl and D&D that’s cool.

if the broader question is sports and D&D my answer is different.

I don’t care about e draft but watch a fair amount of baseball. Boxing can be cool. Hockey can be fun and so can football. But the draft doesn’t hold much interest.