Consider a particularly avid sports fan. This person might own replica jerseys, bobble-heads, autographed footballs, autographed photos, DVDs of key games from the past, etc. They watch every game they can of their favorite team, going to the stadium to see them whenever possible, listening to games on the radio, etc.

Now look at a typical sci-fi geek. He owns replica costumes and props (equivalent to the sports fan's jerseys and equipment). He has autographed photos and other items, which are as treasured as the autographed balls in the sports fan's home. Instead of bobble-heads, he's got "action figures" of sci-fi characters. He watches every episode of his favorite show that he can, just as the sports fan catches every game he can. Since sci-fi isn't performed in a big stadium, he doesn't buy tickets to shows, but he might go to a sci-fi convention. (Much as everyone at a football stadium is a fan of one or the other teams playing, everyone at a sci-fi convention is a fan of whatever shows are represented there.) Just like the sports fan remembers the details of key plays in a game, or the stats of his favorite players, or the ranking of teams in a league, a sci-fi fan remembers favorite lines from an episode, details about the lives of important characters, details of sci-fi spaceships, etc.

The main difference between a sports "fan boy" and a science-fiction "fan boy", it seems, is the way society views each. The sports fan is seen as a "manly man" and a "regular guy" while the sci-fi fan is seen as a "geek" or "wimp" or something equally derogatory. I think that says something about our society when you consider the substance of the activity of which each is a fan.

Sports, for the most part, are competitive activities focused on the acquisition of territory (e.g., football), domination (on the scoreboard, in the league rankings), violence (think boxing, American football, rugby), and physical fitness. At the end of a given game, sports season, or tournament, the sports fan either comes away happy that his team won or disappointed that they lost. If the fan has learned anything, it's about how to play the game better. The players come out of the game with (in many cases) a ton of money and perhaps a league record or something. Society as a whole has gained entertainment, and (for the players) a few physically fit people.

Science fiction, on the other hand, is largely not a physical activity. It's focused more on the mind than the body. While individual works of science fiction may contain themes of territory acquisition, competition, domination, violence, and the like, this isn't the core value of science fiction. Good science fiction challenges a person's mind, and makes the person re-examine their belief systems, prejudices, thoughts, behaviors, actions, etc. Whether or not the fan consciously realizes it, their knowledgebase grows when they walk away from a science fiction event. As with sports, society gets entertainment from science fiction - but it also gets a little bit more. When a science fiction fan walks away from a thought-provoking show, for example, the world has (not always, I realize, but occasionally) gained one person who has (even for a moment) seen beyond hatred, jealousy, prejudice, narrow-mindedness, etc.

Think about it for a moment. If we as a society valued science fiction as highly as we valued sports, many more minds would be opened up (even if only "just a little" for "just a few moments"). That has to provide more positive, long-term benefit to the world than the latest Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or World Series... which become ancient history a year later when two other teams compete for the same titles.

Consider, too, the "heroes" that emerge from the pursuit of sports versus the pursuit of science fiction. In sports, we have Pete Rose betting on baseball, Tonya Harding going after Nancy Kerrigan (and that's FIGURE SKATING, for crying out loud), Kobe Bryant (both for cheating on his wife AND being accused of rape while doing it), Barry Bonds, Jeremy Shockey (and his comments about homosexuals), Sammy Sosa (with his corked bat), and whoever is in the headlines today. While science fiction stars are certainly not angels, they generally don't send club-wielding nutcases after their rivals, make lots of politically incorrect public statements, or make headlines for being involved in drug abuse, spouse abuse, or other things. At the same time, we do see them collecting money for charity by signing autographs at conventions, speaking out about society's ills, and standing up for political causes they believe in. We don't generally see them going on strike for more money, either, and most of them don't get paid anything close to professional sports' salaries.

I've often wondered why we, as a society, place so much value on sports and success in sports, when professional sports appears to do so very little for society (aside from the aforementioned entertainment).