There's no way being forced to do something against your will would have changed this. I find it extremly strange that you're saying you wished your parents forced you into a socially normal box you probably were never actually suited for. My parents tried to sports me a bit, not too hard. But it never worked. So they stopped.
Assuming you’re an American, how about pick a sport that doesn’t have a following there. Then you can be both an oddball and a sports guy, and it’ll elevate you above chud level. Can offer a suggestion
The thing to know about watching sports is that it is usually boring as fuck unless you:
develop something like a parasocial relationship with some of the players
watch it with other people who are into that sport, so it becomes an opportunity to bond socially
If you don't know anything about the actual people playing then all the non-highlight moments (95% of the runtime) is just boring. It gets interesting if you learn the stories about a few of the players, so you can place that particular contest within the context of their career and know what it means for them. This gives rise to interesting questions that you would like to see answered. How does this person's style match up against the defense levied against them? How will they deal or interact with a notable person on the opposing side? In this way, sports becomes basically a "who would win, batman or superman?" type debate except you actually get to see it play out & answered in real life.
If you want to intellectualize sports within the context of leftist politics, all existing socialist nations greatly prize(d) achievement in sports; sports are also very popular among the working classes of all countries. So, if you despise sports you are definitely out of touch with proletarian culture. The Chomskyite "sports are the opium of the masses" line is nerd shit that needs to be ruthlessly mocked and should have no place in mass politics. It is basically very fucking reddit. Sorry.
However despite all that I find most sports boring and am only into one in particular (MMA) that is related to a sport I do (BJJ). So that is a good entrypoint. Your physical health is important so exercise is important. However, most exercise for the sake of exercise is boring. So do a sport. As I said, BJJ and rock climbing are both very popular with hitherto-unathletic people.
Never believe you are too old to gain physical literacy and enjoy a sport. Rock climbing and BJJ were made for your demographic.
I don’t know. The problem now is that I despise sports, both watching and playing, and feel out of place around everyone else involved in it
There's no way being forced to do something against your will would have changed this. I find it extremly strange that you're saying you wished your parents forced you into a socially normal box you probably were never actually suited for. My parents tried to sports me a bit, not too hard. But it never worked. So they stopped.
I played a fair amount of sports and don't have that sports watching fever.
I don't think you can make yourself like something just by being introduced to it earlier or your parents forcing you to do a particular thing.
Assuming you’re an American, how about pick a sport that doesn’t have a following there. Then you can be both an oddball and a sports guy, and it’ll elevate you above chud level. Can offer a suggestion
The thing to know about watching sports is that it is usually boring as fuck unless you:
If you don't know anything about the actual people playing then all the non-highlight moments (95% of the runtime) is just boring. It gets interesting if you learn the stories about a few of the players, so you can place that particular contest within the context of their career and know what it means for them. This gives rise to interesting questions that you would like to see answered. How does this person's style match up against the defense levied against them? How will they deal or interact with a notable person on the opposing side? In this way, sports becomes basically a "who would win, batman or superman?" type debate except you actually get to see it play out & answered in real life.
If you want to intellectualize sports within the context of leftist politics, all existing socialist nations greatly prize(d) achievement in sports; sports are also very popular among the working classes of all countries. So, if you despise sports you are definitely out of touch with proletarian culture. The Chomskyite "sports are the opium of the masses" line is nerd shit that needs to be ruthlessly mocked and should have no place in mass politics. It is basically very fucking reddit. Sorry.
However despite all that I find most sports boring and am only into one in particular (MMA) that is related to a sport I do (BJJ). So that is a good entrypoint. Your physical health is important so exercise is important. However, most exercise for the sake of exercise is boring. So do a sport. As I said, BJJ and rock climbing are both very popular with hitherto-unathletic people.