In my daily reading routine I came across an article from the BBC news magazine about discussing sports - specifically football (soccer) and the EURO 2012 tournament - with people are have little or no interest in the game whatsoever. (Article can be found here)

In my experience, a sport or a team tends to be a common denominator among people - a topic that invites discussion and creates an emotional response whether good, bad or indifferent.

Good: “The (insert team here) rule!”; “Go (insert team here)!”; “This is our year!”

Bad: “The (insert team here) suck!”; “Boo (insert team here)!”; “Wait ‘til next year!”

Indifferent: “We’re alright.”; “It’s fun to go to the game.”; “We’re a .500 team.”

The article addresses the fact that a significant segment of the English population don’t give two shits about the English national football (soccer) team, about 35%. An additional 20% show a minimal interest.

In other words, if you went out to lunch with four of your co-workers, chances are three of the five will not be interested in a conversation about the football (soccer) or the national team.

I don’t necessarily see the care/don’t care ratio as a negative thing. We all have interests and there is no rule saying that they have to include a sport - although many people do. The fact is that few people in this world are only interested in one thing, people tend to have a variety of interests that suit their fancy. It is in that segment that the most ground can be gained, where people can learn about new things and expand the knowledge and understanding of the topics they are already interested in.

Interesting people tend to have diverse interests and the ability to find the relationships in those interests permits them to share their interests with others in a way that they can understand. In other words, people who want to share their interests will find a level playing field, common ground. 

Example:

LeBron James (professional basketball player) and Anakin Skywalker (the Jedi knight from Star Wars who is also known as Darth Vader)

LeBron James was considered “The Chosen One” at a young age. Blessed with considerable natural talent and ability, he was one of the last individuals fast-tracked to the highest levels of his trade. He won many supporters who marveled at his uncanny abilities and distinct style, embodying a positive and optimistic outlook for the future for a local, loyal following, recognized as the best among his peers. He also suddenly and inexplicably became a villain when he betrayed his local, loyal following for pursuit of perceived selfish goals and aspirations and the opportunity to maximize his considerable talent. He currently finds himself on the verge of redemption and restoring balance to the environment he unexpectedly disrupted. 

I do not expect everybody to suddenly become interested in what I enjoy, but I do feel that I can plant the seed of interest in other people. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of making sense of something that didn’t make sense before. I think we are all curious, and we seek to become more aware of things that help us understand and feel better about the world around us.

I often times find myself near people conversing about topics that don’t interest me. Instead of thinking “this is of no interest to me” I should think “could this be interesting to me?” or “what can I learn about this?”

Like I’ve mentioned before on Sage Advice Wednesday, what we don’t know will always outnumber what we do know. There is always an opportunity to learn and expand new interests.