I've never watched sports except for tennis, gymnastics, and diving (more like art than sport). I couldn't quite see the point of watching something I'd rather be doing. But my son watches sports and so did my first husband.
It's not enough to say sports are stupid. What I've noticed is that watching sports is a virtual social experience. It allows you to share something (symbolically) with thousands...millions of other people, it matters who wins and it doesn't matter (cause it's a game), and it's an escape from an otherwise fairly unbearable reality. It makes social participation simple (though virtual) and it eliminates the problem of building social consensus because we all agree on the rules.
If you want to hang out with other people and share something "positive" -- sports is one alternative. Is there any other alternative in this our great, modern, advanced culture? I can't think of any. I mean everything else, compared, is more like a special interest than a shared activity. I go out and dance Argentine tango...there's a few hundred such dancers in the Bay area and there's a place to go and dance every night of the week, but this is a far cry from the great universal of sports.
Joanna B