even though I know for a fact my friend J doesn't give two shits about pro sports, probably couldn't name more than three pro athletes, thinks sports fans and sports culture in general sucks, is probably disturbed by the brainlessness and ultimately pointless sea of cash that it represents, and generally loathes the entire sports industrial complex at all levels -- I know *deep down* she thinks all those things.

but she doesn't try to tell me how I should feel about sports even if she thinks that.

she will just say, "that's cool" when the topic comes up and will let me know it's boring to her, we should probably talk about something else. when we're at the bar and I say, "oh I gotta get the bartender to turn a game on for me!" she doesn't roll her eyes and start lecturing me about how inappropriate my sports obsession is. she doesn't troll blogs and write angry screeds about why Sports represents some kind of blah blah blah. she doesn't "hate-watch" the Super Bowl or something. she just says, "oh yeah -- he likes sports. that's his thing." and then when she sees an old school vintage Pittsburgh Steelers shirt at the thrift shop, she recognizes it as "sports," thinks it's cute, and then buys it for me as a gift, even though I am not a Steelers and she doesn't even realize it's NFL which is a sport I don't own any apparel of because I don't follow it like that. she just does that because she knows I like sports and she wants to get me a gift.

see the difference?

and I get where you're coming from with the Golden Globe angle (I know I've pissed some people off here in PDX getting angry cuz The Wire never won an Emmy while Mad Men rakes them in) but that's a separate discussion than the value of the show. that's a discussion of the RESPONSE to the show. I trust you're smart enough to recognize the distinction.