• Kalkaline @leminal.space
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    6 months ago

    Is roller derby a real sport? I always figured it was more performance than sport like pro wrestling.

    • Tujio@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Roller derby in the 70s was likely scripted. Modern roller derby is almost definitely not. Tons of legit athleticism and power out there.

      It’s a little dated by now, but watch Blood on the Flat Track. It’s about the Roller Derby resurgence from 15ish years ago.

      • Vandals_handle@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Even if scripted, roller derby in the 70’s took athleticisms and power. I agree the sport of roller derby is different now, but practitioners of the past deserve respect. The level of training/conditioning in all sports is very different now, does not mean past practitioners were not athletes. Comparisons across eras is difficult because standards change.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It is definitely a sport, although every time I’ve tried to watch it, I’ve been confused as hell. Even reading the rules confuses me. But I don’t doubt it’s actually as sport. Cricket is a sport and it’s really confusing too.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Cricket is a sport

        Is it, though? Really?

        Just kidding, I know cricket is a sport. Somehow simultaneously boring and nonsensical, but a sport nonetheless 🤷

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          There’s a simplified, and faster, version called Twenty20 cricket which I kind of understand after watching a couple of games, but I’m still relatively confused.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty20

          I want to understand cricket. Something about a sport so complicated that most of the world is totally befuddled by it, but yet it is super popular in a lot of Commonwealth countries and independent former British colonies, intrigues me. But I’ve pretty much given up.

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I know about Twenty20 and, while nowhere near as bad as Test Cricket, it’s still basically bizarre baseball for damaged people pining for the “good” old days of more blatant British imperialism 😉

            Btw, who the fuck calls the absolute pinnacle of excellence in their sport “test”? Ffs! 😄

            • bluewing@lemm.ee
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              6 months ago

              I have long been puzzled by the word “Test” being used also. Best I can figure is that a Cricket match is a test of of the players know how to play correctly and a test for the fans in watching a whole match.

              • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                a test for the fans in watching a whole match

                I’d fail that test SO hard! A single match takes up to five days with 6 hours of play each day!

                That’s two and a half times as long as the LOTR extended edition, for ONE match of inbred baseball!

    • sebinspace@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Don’t know why you’re being downvoted for asking an honest question. You asked it in good faith.

      Starting to think you people just can’t live without having something to be angry with.

    • dumples@kbin.social
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      6 months ago

      Go watch a roller derby event. It’s pretty fun and mostly chaos. But there’s some real skill and strategy involved.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Pro soccer Football is more performance entertaining than pro wrestling but we call that it’s still a sport

        There, fixed it for you.

      • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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        6 months ago

        tell me you have never watched a professional soccer game without telling me you have never watched a professional soccer game…

        • tal@lemmy.today
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          6 months ago

          I assume that he’s disparaging the act that soccer players put on to act like they’re much more seriously injured than they are when fouled.

          I would guess that the reason that some people really don’t like that is that in some other sports, being able to play through the pain may be considered admirable, so culture friction.

          • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Some sports, sure. But basketball is pretty popular and it seems like a pretty good chunk of the strategy there is drawing fouls.

          • 9point6@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Tbh the penalties for simulation in a lot of leagues have been turning the tides on the egregious theatrics. I’d agree what you were saying was a lot more prevalent, say a decade or so ago.

            You’ll still always be able to cherry pick incidents, and some leagues will be worse than others for it, but the game has moved on a bit, and you do see it way less frequently than we did even just a few years ago.

            Edit: elsewhere in the thread reminded me of the other aspect of this

            There’s also the tactical fouls which are (whether you agree with it or not) part of the modern game. A player can weigh up the risk of getting sent off if they think it might prevent the opposition from otherwise scoring. These kinds of fouls can look pretty cynical to those unfamiliar with it, not least of all because they tend to also be softer than genuine fouls as the players tend to not want to actually injure themselves and others. So just enough of a foul to stop play, but ideally not even pick up a yellow card, and often in this scenario if the victim of the foul clocks what’s going on, they’ll try to hit the ground harder to increase the chances the fouling player gets booked.

            A player (or even team) can probably only get away with this once or twice in a game before they piss off the ref though, and players will start getting sent off. In the same vein teams want to avoid getting a reputation for it too, otherwise they’ll end up facing much closer scrutiny.

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            the act that soccer players put on to act like they’re much more seriously injured than they are when fouled.

            Far from all players do that and it’s reviled by football (as opposed to handegg) fans too, as well as against the rules of the sport.

        • VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Tell me you’ve never seen Neymar roll about on the pitch without telling me you’ve never seen Neymar rolling about on the pitch…

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Fun fact: Neymar is an anomaly, not the norm. Pretending otherwise is just prejudice stemming from cherry picking and/or ignorance.

        • bbbbbbbbbbb@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Ive never watched a professional soccer game, Ill just tell you that. But I do watch American football and enjoy playful ribbing more than you.