> That's when they realise that most people want to talk about what they ate for breakfast…
This is said pejoratively, but people want to talk about these things because it allows for a two-sided conversation, rather than a unasked-for lecture from someone who’s read ten Wikipedia pages on the topic.
> Not a lot of people want to get down into the belly of a complex subject
My experience is the opposite. People love to do this, when 1) they know something about the topic AND 2) you are genuinely interested in their thoughts.
The “sports event” probably has more complexity and depth than you expect. Why not (literally) meet people where they are?
So I'll answer this from my own perspective as someone with zero social anxiety: I won't meet someone "where they are" if where they are is "Did you see the game last night?". Because they can and will have that same boring conversation with 5 people today. The difference is, I can say "What game? Oh, no, I don't follow sports at all .." but then continue talking about other stuff, and nobody feels awkward. The problem with social anxiety is that it's extremely difficult to just shoot the shit, and when you're trying to be the other end of an intensely boring conversation, for the sake of conversation, you end up looking at yourself from the third person, judging how badly you're feigning interest and failing at being human being. Which is why you store up interesting things for the next conversation, and the process just repeats itself.
As someone who cares 0 for sports, and I was in a conversation with that person, assuming the context lends itself to more than just smalltalk, i would ask any of the:
- ice hockey? i don't know much about ice hockey, what are the rules / what makes team X so good
- do you play sports yourself? what do you like?
- what made you get into watching sports / how often / with whom?
Either you get a sports nerd that can talk at length about games and rules and training and teams and athletes, which is fascinating in a very nerdy way. Or you get someone who plays X with their kid, or has a small dad softball team, at which point you can ask what the other dads do, get a glimpse of a social network outside of your horizon. Or you can get into someone's love of sport and what situations it helped them overcome in their life.
I've had the "did you watch the game last night" conversation at airport bars and I learned so about other people from them. Knowing that people I would at first file under "loud schmuck with a basketball shirt" turns into someone who's been training every day trying to keep prison and addiction at bay is immensely intellectually enriching .
Why do you think that just because you don't have much experience with a topic, that you can't find ways to ask questions to learn more and enjoy that conversation?
This is said pejoratively, but people want to talk about these things because it allows for a two-sided conversation, rather than a unasked-for lecture from someone who’s read ten Wikipedia pages on the topic.
> Not a lot of people want to get down into the belly of a complex subject
My experience is the opposite. People love to do this, when 1) they know something about the topic AND 2) you are genuinely interested in their thoughts.
The “sports event” probably has more complexity and depth than you expect. Why not (literally) meet people where they are?