Mark Steel mounts a spirited defense of sports fandom for the Independent on the occasion of the World Cup (via Electrolite). For me, being a sports fan felt, more than anything, inevitable. My father is a huge sports fan, all of my uncles are huge sports fans, and I grew up playing sports. My general tactic these days is to ignore sports to the degree that I can, that keeps me from becoming overly obsessed with them, but I still hit the sports sites every day.