Sport is a natural part of any bloke’s life. They eat, don’t pick up their washing an watch sports. It’s something you need to make peace with now. You have three choices – you can get your own hobby, you can genuinely find out about the sports he watches or you can fake it.
Boys of all ages love sport…
Now faking it (in any walk of life) isn’t always a good idea I know, but sometimes you do what you have to. Sometimes you have to take the path of least resistance and compromise. That is after all what relationships are all about!
Bluffing your way through sports is not actually that hard.
Staying awake is the first part to success
The starting point is to find out what sports he is really interested in. Then go into a sports shop and ask them to help you choose a gift for your boyfriend who likes that sport – they will show you the equipment so you at least know the shape, size and appearance of the ball, bats, clubs, shoes, replica shirts with the right player’s name on it, DVDs, drinks, etc… Am I scaring you yet?
Next step Google the sport. Not for an in depth read up on it; just for a brief understanding of the basic terminology. So you know a try is in rugby, goals in soccer, runs in cricket and laps in Formula One (or running or swimming for that matter). Learning the rules of each of these can be a little harder. I wouldn’t go that far unless you actually really want to. The off side rules are tricky to get and you may just end up making a total idiot out of yourself if you aren’t 100% sure of the rules. The more you watch the more you will understand.
Look - we’re all having fun here!
We all work with guys. Guys who talk about sport all the time. All you need to do is pay attention! Listen to what they say about the weekend games or up coming games. They will mention names and predictions and ideas on what they think the teams, drivers and coaches should do. All you need to do is listen and then impart your knowledge with your man.
Reading headlines and listening to the sports report are also good ways to bluff your way through. They give you names of the prominent players and the latest scores. And it requires no effort – just listening to the radio on your way to work or on your way home. Simples. Then you can use such gems as, “I think that the diffuser issue in Formula 1 is bunk, these two tier systems make overtaking more difficult – what’s the point of that?”
Read the paper, check out what’s going down…
Another easy way to impress is to find out the names of the better known players in his teams. And then ask him deep, probing questions about him. You don’t want to come across as a know it all so asking him questions about Ronaldo or Hamilton or Beckham will definitely earn you a few brownie points!
The simplest way though to bluff it, is to sit next to him while he watches or ask him how the game went when he gets home. Guys are generally easy to please. They just want to know you care enough to pay attention to something they like. So be a part of it. Apart for cricket and golf, most games are over in a few hours. Sacrifice 90 minutes of your Saturday afternoon – I guarantee it will be worth it in the long run!
Sacrifice 90mins of your Saturday afternoon…
