Fanaticism

Just watched the movie "Fanboys". For those of you who haven't seen it, the plot involves a group of friends road-tripping to Skywalker Ranch to steal a preview of Episode 1. It was very funny, but when the movie was over I turned to my wife and said "see, I could have been one of those, but I chose sports". She said she was glad I chose sports but it is still weird.

I couldn't help but wonder as I watched it why a fanaticism like that can be portrayed as somewhat nerdy, but cute (just like in "40 Year Old Virgin"). Sadly, the one movie that comes to mind about a sports fanatic was that horrible Jimmy Fallon movie about the Red Sox. Or the one scene in "City Slickers" where they talk about sports around the fire. So why is it that sports fanatacism can be looked upon as worse than a Fanboy or Trekkie? By worse, I mean that I have heard on many occasions that I follow because I couldn't play, or get a life it's only sports, blah, blah, blah. And yes, you would be right in saying that the Star Wars or Start Trek nerds endured the same thing. BUT - has a sports fanatic ever been romaticized on the big screen? No, we get movies like "The Fan" with DeNiro going overboard and trying to kill Wesley Snipes. If you can think of a sports fanatic being portrayed in a good light in a movie, please let me know.

All I ask is for fair treatment Hollywood. Some of us out here will remember that Fred Lynn won the MVP and ROY before Ichiro did it (with the Red Sox 1975 - and that he was the 1st player to hit a grand slam in an All-Star Game, 1983 with the Angels at Comiskey Park off of Giants pitcher Atlee Hammaker). Until then I will just have to keep watching Big Bang Theory and enjoy watching it even though they like comics and such and not sports.