What's the most selfish of sports??

[goughy]

So I got to wondering about this yesterday while having a haircut. Our hairdressers hubby is a top local cricketer, and while it was raining much of yesterday, and she said there'd be little to no chance of play, he was gone from mid morning to late arvo, sitting around with the other cricketers, probably having a meal at the pub. Then I was thinking, even if playing, how much of a game do you spend sitting on your arse? Say you're a bowler and not much of a batter, then it'd be nearly half a match just lazing around. Me, I couldn't do that. It would bore the absolute shit out of me, let alone telling my family I spent the arvo sitting on my arse. By bil is in the same situation. Plays cricket, and will play on the weekends when he has his daughter (only one weekend a fortnight) and I know it's his sport and all, but again to me, I couldn't do it. I mean, over the years I've seen DC68 say he couldn't play a game on a weekend cause it was hi weekend with Fin (probably less of an issue now days of course).

So what else do you guys consider a selfish sport? Not just things that take you away from family, but even take you away while you end up not doing much!

I'll say triathlon, if you try and do it right, fits that mold. I saw a coach years ago just for some advice on where to improve. Mind you, this was just improve, not become great at it. And my biggest issue was not training enough. I needed to be swimming and running at least 3 times a week each, and as it's my weakness I should be riding 4 times a week. And this wasn't to become great! Just better. Now I don't do anywhere near that, and my results over the years show that because I'm not really improving. The guys that do long distance stuff (IM etc) can spend up to 10+ hours on a weekend alone training (long ride, long run, maybe swim), let alone all the stuff they do during the week. Then add in travelling to races where you can be away for 3 or 4 days at a time (at many venues now the accommodation places have 3 and 4 night minimum bookings) and races can cost between $250 to $800ea! Writing this down makes me understand why I only do 2 or 3 a year at most.

What else do you want to add to the list, or rebut my two suggestions so far.

[PeteyD]

Ask my wife about American Football ...

[AndyP]

Selfish is harsh. There is nothing wrong with having your own individual activities, instead of letting kids run your life.

[talbo]

Selfish is harsh. There is nothing wrong with having your own individual activities, instead of letting kids run your life.

Agreed.

I do feel bad sometimes about the $$$ my hobbies cost with most guitars, fishing and golf gear not being exactly cheap but I think you have to have your own hobbies/ activities or sports!

[goughy]

Yeah, probably a harsh word to use, but couldn't think of a better one. And yes, we all need or own time. Even me.

[AndyP]

Golf can be very time consuming, particularly if you have 5 day trips to Melbourne.

[WBennett]

Golf can be very time consuming, particularly if you have 5 day trips to Melbourne.

If that is your one trip away for the year, its ok.

If its one of 20 trips away for the year, then that becomes a family time problem.

There are times I think the 6 hours a weekend I am away for golf is a problem, but I try to ensure the Sunday is family day. Take the kids out, do something out of the ordinary. A normal winters golf day has me doing the groceries at 7, then at netball for two hours before tee time anyway, so its a bit of give and take...

I would like to get into long distance cycling, but I can't do it and golf. Not enough hours. I still ride to work and back most days, so if I am up early and motivated I can punch out 30-40k before work, but that is the exception rather than the rule as I find myself ready for a nap after lunch!

[Grunt]

Paddling is time consuming but at the same time i do 80% of my training while the other 2 in my house are sleeping, with 5:30am paddles 3 days a week.

[jimandr]

Selfishness is in the eye of the beholder, but I'm perceiving Goughy's defition to be something time consuming, expensive and you can't include loved ones in the activity.

When thinking about this, my mind flashed back to the number of times I saw a devoted girlfriend on the sidelines watching boring low-level amateur sport just because the boyfriend was there as well. But I actually wouldn't include team sports like cricket and football in the selfish category for two reasons. Firstly, at least the family can watch, and usually make friends and intermingle with other families. And secondly, because most sports of that nature have some type of social function after the game and a support activity during the season.

Therefore, I nominate most individual games that require long hours training to reach an elite level. Athletics, canoeing/kayaking, cycling, swimming etc all have no attraction to the spectator when in training mode. I tip my hat to all parents who have supported their offspring through their quest to become good at any of those sports.

But the gold medal goes to deep sea fishing, if you can call that a sport. Ultra expensive, anti-social hours, and the kids can't go.

[Jarro]

Marathon running

[Dotty]

+1 to cricket.

After the events of the last fortnight, you would have that thought that Phil Hughes was the first person to die under the age of 30.

[mrbluu]

Would u classify diving for abolaone shellfish???

[Hux]

Marathon running

Yeah my wife has done a couple. The training and dedication to the training works like this
Want to go out for dinner Friday night. Nah, I am up at 4 to do a long run.
Want to go out for dinner Saturday night. Nah, I'm too tired, I was up at 4 and run.

Ironman would have to be the worst though....massive time commitment for training.

[LarryLong]

Having quit cricket a few years ago, I now wonder how I ever thought it was a good idea. Way too many hours. Golf is only acceptable to me because I get my round over before lunch time on a Saturday.

As for the theory that your family can get involved with cricket - my wife tells the story of how she only ever saw a couple of balls of my cricket career. When we were in uni, she and a friend rocked up to a game. I was bowling. Wifey watched two balls, then turned to her friend and famously said "This is boring, let's go". She never came back, and I never blamed her. She also came to one of my footy games and read a magazine while the game was on. I got hip-and-shouldered over the boundary, under the fence and under our car, and she didn't even notice.

I'll second ironman triathlons though - a bloke at work did one a few years ago and said he will never do one again because he just can't justify the training hours.

[PerryGroves]

A vote for cricket.

LL, same as your story, got to the point with cricket after 20+ years where I was praying for rain on a Friday night. I remember one day near the end where I was at mid on, mate was mid off, we were chasing leather all day in 40 degrees. Said to him, see if we can come up with 1000 things we would prefer to be doing.

Girlfriend was the same as your wife, she got the shits with me playing cricket after a 60hr week, told her to come along as there was a few other wives/gfs, she stayed 30 mins, I looked over when I got 50, gawn, said it was the most boring thing she had ever attended, hard to disagree.

[Shreko]

Great Thread Guys!! I would have to say Indoor Cricket, after seeing mates spending almost 20k over the last 3 years at Club/Zone/State/National and World Cups and almost 5k on one trip alone(without better halves) I am bewildered by the costs of this sport. $15 midweek games then 2-3 games @ $15 ea on a Sat then $ 20 for training for 2 hours on Sunday (plus 2 hours of team bonding) I can see why some partners get upset. My wife has no interest in any of the sports I have played! Then again I have no interest in spending 6 hours at the shops either.

[goughy]

One of the major reasons I chose cricket, was because in a say local 2 day match (say 2 x saturday arvo') there is the opportunity for a player to spend more than that arvo just sitting around doing nothing! How many other sports out there require so little of a player that they may spend half or more of the game not actually involved in it? NFL I guess.

[PeteyD]

Plenty. Reserves in Rugby might play 10 minutes, if they get on the field. Any innings type sport you can spend a fair bit sitting on your butt. Does not mean you are doing nothing though.

[LeftyHoges]

Why I ever chose to play cricket beyond juniors still baffles me. For senior cricket I was a decent first change bowler, but that's about it. I was fast in the field so they'd put me wherever the ball needed to be chased the most. Awesome on a 40° day.

So I'd chase balls for the first 15 or so overs, bowl 8 overs of my own (while still chasing balls in between) and then chase balls for the remaining 20 overs.

Then the next week I'd sit around for 5 hours, come in at no. 10, face 3 balls then get bowled or LBW, and wonder what the **** I was doing.

Rinse and repeat.

[PeteyD]

Strangely and speaking of cricket, searching for sheds on Gumtree, for some reason this came up - Gumtree Cricket Ad (http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/edwardstown/sports-partners/stuck-at-home-lawns-to-mow-escape-it-all-come-play-cricket-/1058919722)

[goughy]

Does not mean you are doing nothing though.

Playing cards doesn't count!

[coalesce]

Strangely and speaking of cricket, searching for sheds on Gumtree, for some reason this came up - Gumtree Cricket Ad (http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/edwardstown/sports-partners/stuck-at-home-lawns-to-mow-escape-it-all-come-play-cricket-/1058919722)

Not far from me - I'm in!

[Toolish]

Any sport or hobby can be selfish.

Regarding golf - I know local guys here in a similar family situation to me (2 kids under 6) and they will play all of the local open golf tournaments. So that is about 6 weekends in 8 where they are playing a round on Saturday and a round on Sunday, generally both in the afternoon so gone from 11:30am until 6pm at least each day. On the other hand when I play it is first thing in the morning and I am home before 12 and only ever 1 day on the weekend.

Ironman training, if you are selfish, can be very selfish. But it can be got around providing you don't want to be a superstar. A good portion of the guys and girls doing 10 hours every weekend are out there as much for social reasons and to say they trained that long than the actual physical benefit. I got through an ironman in under 13 hours without doing more than 5 hours total on any weekend and only had 2 weeks over 10 hours total. I had decided I wanted to do an ironman but I also wanted to be there for my kids.

It is all about balance and mindset.

[Johnny Canuck]

Would u classify diving for abolaone shellfish???

Pay that.

[meh]

+1 to cricket.

After the events of the last fortnight, you would have that thought that Phil Hughes was the first person to die under the age of 30.

Finally! Completely agree it was terrible but talk about over the top!

[oldracer]

+1 for cricket, played cricket my whole life until my boys took up baseball, wow what a difference in a game, all over in 2 and a bit hours, even accounting for the elongated warmup baseball has, it's still a far shorter day than cricket ever was. Played masters baseball for a bit, just over two hours then into the refreshments, very enjoyable.