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?
- 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 .