For physicists, most animals can be assumed to be spherical and frictionless. It makes the math much easier.

I'm frequently the person who has no idea what sporting events are afoot and the person who is explaining the sports thing to someone who has no idea what I'm talking about, especially since hockey is not big in California. Like, using a team name means almost nothing to me if I don't follow the sport, so it doesn't help me figure out what sport even is being played.

I tend to use "sportsball" as an FYI, like if you see me flipping out like a mammal, it's because it's related to sports, so don't worry if you see me flailing or cursing or shit-posting for the next few hours.

If someone doesn't give a shit about "sportsball", why even bring it up?

"Sportsball" clogs my town's roads and parking lots on a regular basis, and I feel I should get to bitch about that without having to care what manifestation of sports (with or without balls) are in play at the time. If various collecting clubs--say, for stamps, quilts, salt-glazed pottery, and My Little Ponies--had regularly scheduled events that affected my life in the same way, I'd probably cuss about "collecter-folk" on whatever social media I was on and not much care which group was making me give up on getting a table at a local restaurant that night.

Huh. It is just me.

I didn't intend to get salty about this (which doesn't matter), and I'm sorry I was so rude about the use of that term (which I hope counts for something) (being sorry, I mean). I'll keep it to myself.

"Sportsball" clogs my town's roads and parking lots on a regular basis, and I feel I should get to bitch about that without having to care what manifestation of sports (with or without balls) are in play at the time. If various collecting clubs--say, for stamps, quilts, salt-glazed pottery, and My Little Ponies--had regularly scheduled events that affected my life in the same way, I'd probably cuss about "collecter-folk" on whatever social media I was on and not much care which group was making me give up on getting a table at a local restaurant that night.

This. Also, again, bemused reaction to the reaction.

When 7 out of 10 or so people are talking about a thing, the thing registers, even if we're unclear on the exact nature of the thing.

Damn crossposts!

"Sportsball" clogs my town's roads and parking lots on a regular basis, and I feel I should get to bitch about that without having to care what manifestation of sports (with or without balls) are in play at the time.

Bingo. The only impact sports have on my life is bad traffic, crowds, and my insane neighbors blasting airhorns at random times. This makes me surly enough that I don't even want to spend the few seconds to google what's going on, I just want to vent about it.

I didn't intend to get salty about this (which doesn't matter), and I'm sorry I was so rude about the use of that term (which I hope counts for something) (being sorry, I mean). I'll keep it to myself.

Oh, no one likes to hear people dismissing stuff they care about, and it is kinda rude when people go into your space to do so. When I was writing, an acquaintance wanted me to come hang out instead of working on my book and referred to what I was doing as "that writey stuff." I wanted to clock him.

Well, speaking only for my own posting habits, if I wanted to say "there is a sporting event happening in town and I have no idea what's going on and I wouldn't care except the streets are kinda impossible" I *might* say "there seems to be a sportsball thing going on today" which I would expect to convey both my ignorance and my irritation at being inconvenienced by something I'm not involved in. Much as folk who want to use downtown Atlanta for their own purposes might say around Dragon*Con time, "the nerds are out in force this weekend" because they don't know what Dragon*Con is about and they don't care. Maybe we're all being little shits about it. But honestly. I've been mocked my whole life for not knowing about sports by sports fans who didn't know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek just like I don't know the names of all the teams of all the balls. As many times as I've heard the equivalent of "blah blah blah *nerd*" I'm afraid I can't muster up any shame about "blah blah blah *sportsball*". I'm sure I'm not affecting them with my lack of concern.

Oh, no one likes to hear people dismissing stuff they care about.

Yeah, but no one wants to hear me getting salty about a term they find perfectly useful, either.