Here are some nerdy youngsters who also made a difference.

Anakin Skywalker

In theory, the story of a young Anakin Skywalker growing up, learning the ways of the Force, turning to the dark side and becoming Darth Vader is really interesting. In practice, though, things got off on the wrong foot with Jake Lloyd in Episode 1. To be fair to Jake, there were a lot of problems with The Phantom Menace, least of which was his performance. That being said, though, young Anakin Skywalker definitely made a difference. Not only did he win the podrace that allowed Qui-Gon to leave Tatooine, but he also destroyed the Trade Federation control ship and saved Naboo. Young Anakin had a promising future but eventually turned to the dark side, killed all the Jedi and led the galaxy into a decades-long civil war. But at least he wasn’t Jar Jar Binks.

Wesley Crusher

I didn’t like Wesley Crusher but my disdain was based on petty envy. I wanted to be Wesley Crusher. I wanted to be out amongst the stars with the crew of the Enterprise. Wesley was a boy genius but, in the first few seasons, he was a little annoying. As his character developed, though, he got far more interesting, especially when he left Starfleet to hang out with the Traveler and a bunch of Native Americans (that was a weird episode). Wesley made a difference on the Enterprise time and time again, often saving the entire ship with his intellect and insight. One of my favorite “Wesley Saves the Day” episodes was “The Game”, when he saved the Enterprise with a young Ashley Judd.

Donkey Kong, Jr.

Donkey Kong must have gotten himself quite the PR team after he kidnapped Mario’s girlfriend. Donkey Kong went from violent antagonist to sympathetic father figure from one game to the next. My cousins had the cabinet for Donkey Kong, Jr. and I would spend hours in their garage trying to rescue Donkey Kong from Mario’s cold cage. Donkey Kong, Jr. made a difference in his father’s life, rescuing him from the nefarious big-game hunter, Mario. Apparently Donkey Kong, Jr. didn’t make enough of a difference, though, because Senior’s nephew, Diddy Kong, replaced him in Donkey Kong Country.

These nerdy youngsters are great but I’ll take our students over any of them. Wesley may have saved the Enterprise but our students are helping to save children for Jesus. There are young people all around us making a difference. We should encourage them to keep making a difference and also be encouraged to join them in making a difference.

What other nerdy youngster made a difference?

Yesterday our church kicked off its annual Vacation Bible School. I love VBS and look forward to helping out every year. In year’s past I’ve done a lot of the upfront activities including the story time. This year I was happy to pass off the story time to a much more gifted teacher. Now I don’t have to worry about accidentally telling one of these inappropriate VBS stories.

Elisha and the Bear

I’ve written about this story before because it’s one of my favorites. In 2 Kings 2 some youth make fun of Elisha for being bald. He calls down a curse upon them and a bear mauls 42 of them. It’s possible that these weren’t just some harmless kids but a gang of young men looking to cause trouble. In light of the threat of a gang, God used Stephen Colbert’s arch nemeses to protect Elisha. Either way, I wouldn’t want to see the fear in a group of kids’ eyes as they worry about every time they laughed at someone with no hair or someone who fell down. Kids need to learn to be nice and not make fun of other people, but making them scared that a bear is going to attack them probably isn’t the best way to do that.

Hosea and Gomer

The Bible is filled with prostitutes, which shows that God’s grace is open to everyone and that we should treat all people with honor and respect. The stories of women like Rahab and Mary Magdalene, who leave their sinful lives, are very encouraging. Even stories like that, though, aren’t great for VBS. No parent wants to hear their young child scream, “I learned what a prostitute is,” when they get into the hybrid crossover. The story of Hosea and Gomer raises even more questions. God used Hosea like some sort of meta-art project. Israel had been prostituting themselves with other gods so God tells Hosea to marry the prostitute, Gomer. The Bible doesn’t tell us if Gomer left her business behind when she married Hosea. If she didn’t that would make for an awkward VBS story time; how do you explain why there are so many men flannel graph characters around the Gomer flannel graph?

David and Bathsheba

David and Bathsheba is both one of the most tragic stories in the Bible and one of the most redemptive. It’s tragic because the man after God’s own heart starts down a dark road that ends in adultery and murder. It’s redemptive because David shows why he is a man after God’s own heart with his complete and total repentance. Even though it’s a great Bible story, I don’t think it would make a great VBS story. Elementary kids don’t need to learn that early about adultery, lying and murder; that’s a lot of Desperate Housewives shenanigans for an audience that should be watching Bubble Guppies. More upsetting than all the sex and violence, though, is the poor little sheep who gets slaughtered by the rich guy. Kids love animals and don’t need to see them mercilessly killed.

Even though these stories may be inappropriate for VBS, they are very appropriate for us. All of the ugly, sad and broken stories in the Bible show us that God is willing to redeem, reuse and reshape all of us. That’s an important message for kids to hear but, until they get older, it’s probably better to use stories with less sex, violence and bear attacks.

What other Bible stories would be inappropriate for VBS?

Man of Steel finally made its way into theaters this past weekend and fans of boring super heroes everywhere rejoiced. On this blog I’ve done my fair share of piling on Superman. Plenty of you have let me know through the comments that I’m wrong about Superman and I just haven’t read the right comics or watched the right seasons of Smallville. To be fair I haven’t read that many Superman comics; I’ve always been a Marvel man. I’m no fan of Superman but, in spite of that, I thought Man of Steel was a great movie.

From the trailers I thought Man of Steel had a chance to be a good movie. Under the guidance of producer Christopher Nolan and director Zack Snyder, though, Man of Steel exceeded my expectations and made me more of a fan of Krypton’s last son. The movie didn’t waste too much time on Superman’s origins, the movie logically explained kryptonite and its effects on Superman and the movie had Superman punching dudes all over the place. Man of Steel had almost everything I wanted in a Superman movie and almost nothing I didn’t want.

Here are some thoughts I had while watching Man of Steel. I’ll do my best to keep things spoiler-free but, you’ll be happy to know, Man of Steel Superman knows how to fly, unlike Smallville Superman.

Messiah Figure

As David pointed out in last week’s post, #614 – Biblical Superman, Superman is very much a messiah figure. Kal-El is sent to earth in order to save us from ourselves and lead us into the light. Again, my limited knowledge of Superman probably blinded me to this aspect to his character, but it is front and center in Man of Steel. One of the best parts about Man of Steel was Russell Crowe’s portrayal of Jor-El, Superman’s Kryptonian father. I was moved by Jor-El’s speeches and his vision for what Kal-El could be for humanity. Superman is one of our culture’s strongest symbols, enduring for almost 80 years. Perhaps he fascinates our culture because we all know we need a messiah, and we prefer one with a cape across his back instead of a cross.

Father Figure

Most of us would love to have even one great father figure, but in Man of Steel Superman had two. Both Jor-El and Jonathan Kent were tremendous role models for their son Kal-El/Clark. Jor-El gave his son a vision for what he could be and Jonathan Kent gave his son the character necessary to live up to that vision. I heard from a number of friends and family members that pastors used Man of Steel illustrations in their Father’s Day sermons. I’m not a father yet but hope to be some day. If I can cast a vision for my children like Jor-El did for Kal-El and if I can train up my children like Jonathan Kent did for Clark, then I’ll feel pretty good about myself as a father. I want my children to know that God can use them to do something greater than anything Superman could ever do. I want to model the type of faith and surrender that makes that fruitfulness possible.

Super Punches

While I loved the messiah and father figure aspects of Man of Steel, my favorite part was the exciting action. Zack Snyder’s 300 was extremely violent and action-filled. While Man of Steel isn’t filled with over-the-top violence like 300, it had its fair share of super punches and super-powered action sequences. My biggest problem with Superman Returns and even the Christopher Reeve Superman movies is that they were pretty boring. Superman is the most powerful super hero and, in movies, he spent his time fighting bank robbers, Gene Hackman, Richard Pryor and Kevin Spacey. I know Superman 2 had General Zod, but the limitations in special effects kept those action sequences from reaching an epic level. Zack Snyder had no such limitations in Man of Steel and Superman’s fights with his fellow Kryptonians are everything I wanted them to be. They were massive, violent and full of super punches. Superman needs some super villains in order to have some super fights. Man of Steel did not pull the punches on any of those fronts.

Man of Steel was a great movie and has seemingly made me a fan of Superman himself. Superman isn’t going to supplant the X-Men as my favorite super heroes any time soon, but Man of Steel definitely pushed him up a couple levels. I’m looking forward to the eventual sequel and may bide my time by reading some Superman comics.

What did you think about Man of Steel?

I love watching and reviewing new movies. However, there are a lot of old nerdy movies that I love and want to review. Flashback Reviews will take a look at some of my favorite nerdy movies from the past.

The Fifth Element is one of my favorite science fiction movies ever. I saw it in the theater at least five times and listened to the soundtrack nonstop on my Discman. I actually remember seeing Bruce Willis on Letterman promoting a different movie while filming The Fifth Element. He had his blond hair and said he was sworn to secrecy about the project he was working on. I could have done without the blond hair but his portrayal of Corbin Dallas was awesome.

Here are some reflections from The Fifth Element. I won’t keep things spoiler-free because the movie came out 16 years ago.

Great Evil

The villain in The Fifth Element couldn’t be any more evil; it is known as the Great Evil. It’s a giant black sphere that consumes everything in its path. The only weapon against the Great Evil is the Fifth Element, a weapon created by armadillo aliens. The Great Evil feeds off anger and aggression, only getting larger when attacked. The Great Evil is a good analogy for sin. Sin just grows and grows the more that it is fed. The Great Evil stretched throughout the galaxy and we can see sin’s effects all around us. The world is groaning under the weight of sin, eagerly waiting the full redemption we’ll all find when Christ returns. I’m very much looking forward to Christ’s return but I will be a little weirded out if he looks like Leeloo.

Leeloo

I’ve never seen any of the Resident Evil movies but I love Milla Jovovich as Leeloo. Leeloo is the Fifth Element, the ultimate weapon created to defeat the Great Evil. Leeloo is a multilayered character, strong and vulnerable, wise and naïve. She’s a good example of what Jesus means when he calls us to be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves. Leeloo was definitely shrewd and venomous when she went all Bruce Lee on the Mangalores. She was also innocent, though, when learning about humanity’s sins and brokenness. We should try to follow Leeloo’s example and be innocent of humanity’s sins but fiercely dedicated to the mission of God’s kingdom.

Love

Ultimately, the weapon that takes down both the Great Evil in The Fifth Element and the great evil of sin in our world is love. Leeloo needed to know what love was in order to defeat the Great Evil. We needed love to come down from heaven in order to defeat the sin in our lives. God is love and he shows that love for us by sending Jesus to die for our sins. Because of Jesus we have the opportunity for eternal life, which we can begin living in the here and now. I was excited at the end of The Fifth Element when Leeloo saved the planet. It’s far more exciting, though, that Jesus came to our planet, saved us from our sins and showed us how to live the best life possible. Now, if I could have all of that from Jesus and a flying car my life would be set.

There are so many great parts about The Fifth Element. Bruce Willis is great, there’s a giant blue opera singer, old Bilbo gets to be the comedic relief and Gary Oldman is one of the best sci-fi villains ever. If you haven’t watched The Fifth Element lately pull out your DVD or fire it up on Netflix streaming (just kidding, it’s not on Netflix streaming anymore).

What thoughts do you have from The Fifth Element?

Man of Steel finally opens this week. I haven’t been shy about sharing my disdain for Superman. I think he’s boring, he’s too powerful and his weakness is pieces of his home planet, which can apparently be found in abundance on Earth. That being said, I’m actually looking forward to Man of Steel. In spite of my best efforts the trailers have gotten me excited and I’m ready to see Zack Snyder’s take on Superman.

Since Superman is so completely overpowered, there isn’t one single Bible character that encompasses everything about him. So here are some different Bible characters that display one of Superman’s powers.

Seraphim

One of Superman’s coolest powers is his ability to fly. Who hasn’t dreamed about launching themselves into the sky and flying around the world? The seraphim are some of God’s angels and in Isaiah 6 we’re told that they use their wings to fly. These angels don’t use their wings to fly around the world or anything heroic like that, but they simply fly before the throne of God, constantly praising him. Like the seraphim, the ability to fly would help us constantly praise God. It’s easier to praise God when we can take in the beauty and power of his creation. Instead of having to wait for a vacation that might never come, we could just fly to the Grand Canyon or waterfalls in Tahiti and praise God for his power and creativity.

Samson

Not only does Superman fly but he also has super strength. There isn’t anyone in the Bible stronger than Samson. Superman uses his strength to lift cars and punch evil Kryptonians and Samson uses his strength to tear lions apart and deliver Israel from the Philistines. Both Superman and Samson have great physical strength, but Superman has a much stronger character. I may think he’s boring, but Superman is a really good guy. He always does the right thing and treats people well, which is owed a lot to his human parents Jonathan and Martha Kent. Samson’s parents were God-fearing people but even they couldn’t control their impulsive son. Samson’s character left something to be desired as he often did whatever he wanted, whether it honored God or not.

Elijah

As if flight and super strength weren’t enough, Superman also has laser eyes. Seriously, it’s like Superman is every X-Man rolled into one. As far as I know there aren’t any Bible character with laser eyes, but Elijah was pretty good at calling fire from heaven. It’s impressive that Superman can shoot lasers from his eyes and blow stuff up, but Elijah did that while being a sarcastic jerk. I love that God shows up on Mt. Carmel and shows the prophets of Baal who the real God is, but my favorite part of that story is Elijah’s mocking of his opponents. Superman is too nice of a guy to mock his opponents; he wants to beat them up but not hurt their feelings.

Superman will never be my favorite super hero but that won’t keep me from enjoying Man of Steel. Even though I may not like that Superman is overpowered, I’ll still enjoy seeing him use all those powers to defeat General Zod and defend truth, justice and the American way.

What other Bible characters reflect some of Superman’s powers and characteristics?

Earlier this year Minor League Baseball’s Toledo Mud Hens paid homage to the Force by hosting a Star Wars night. Instead of just having Darth Vader throw out the first pitch or playing John Williams’s score throughout the night, the Mud Hens went all out by having their players wear Chewbacca jerseys. I love that Star Wars is popular enough to warrant baseball teams dedicating entire nights to it. I love the Chewbacca jerseys but here are some other nerdy jerseys I would like to see.

• Star Trek jerseys would be totally sweet. There are a lot different Starfleet uniforms but I think a baseball uniform based on a Klingon uniform would be the best option.

• The Doctor always has his own sense of style. I really liked David Tennant’s hair and Matt Smith’s bowtie has grown on me. Still, though, I’d like to see a Dalek baseball uniform. Not only would a Dalek uniform strike fear into the other team, but it would also drag the infield.

• There are a lot of super hero uniforms that would make for a great baseball uniform. However, I think Namor’s would let the baseball players to get a tan as well as keep the ladies interested.

• Nintendo recently announced that Mega Man would join the Super Smash Bros. lineup. A baseball uniform with an arm canon would be perfect for a pitcher.

• It took a long time for me to watch Alien and Aliens but I eventually got around to it. I loved the movies and would love to see a baseball uniform based on Ripley’s exosuit cargo-loader. I don’t think it would be that great for playing the hot corner but a catcher could definitely block the plate.

I love baseball and I love nerdclinations; there’s nothing more perfect than when those two worlds collide. We may never get to see any of these nerdy jerseys, but at least there’s a Chewie jersey out there someone.

What nerdy jersey would you like to see?

Thanks to Kevin from The Undiscovered Country Project for the tip.

Yesterday Apple introduced iOS 7, its new operating system for iPhones and iPads. From what I’ve gleaned on Twitter, it seems like Apple has taken some notes from Android for iOS 7. I have an iPhone but don’t hate Android or Android users. New operating systems don’t really excite me that much but I’m sure I’ll download iOS 7 as soon as I can this fall.

Even though they don’t really get me going, new operating systems can be a lot of fun. I’ve been looking at the same basic operating system for the past four years. It’ll be like I have a brand new phone once iOS 7 gets up and running. Whether we’re representing iOS or Android, it’s nice to get a new operating system. Things may not change that much from update to update, but every so often there’s a major overhaul and we wind up with something almost entirely new.

I think Jesus works in our lives in the same way.

When we look back at our spiritual growth and development it probably looks a lot like the iOS updates. When we first come to Christ we’re like a newly launched operating system. The old has gone, the new has come and we have all the exciting features of a brand new life. The excitement of finding Jesus for the first time can propel us for a long time. Like an old operating system, though, eventually that initial momentum wears off and we need an update.

That’s one of the best things about Jesus: he’s always working in our lives. Apple never stops updating its operating system and Jesus never stops updating our lives. As long as we surrender ourselves to him every day, Jesus will keep working in our lives and keep making us better versions of ourselves.

From year-to-year the updating that Jesus does in our lives may not seem that significant. There may be some subtle changes and small differences. Over the course of time, though, if we continue to let Jesus work in our lives, subtle changes will lead to big differences. And by the time we reach the end of our lives, by God’s grace, our Nokia brick phone lives could end up being fully functioning smart phone lives.

Whether we’re operating at iOS 7 or still playing Snake on a green screen, Jesus is working in our lives. The changes may seem small right now but, over the years, we’ll be amazed at how much more like Jesus we’ve become.

What helps you experience updating from Jesus?

I was talking with a student yesterday and he was amazed that I play video games. He seemed to think that as an adult I shouldn’t play video games. I told him that I’m not much of an adult but, even as a 31-year-old man, I do love playing me some video games.

I was always a little scared of growing up and, even now, there are some days I wish I could go back to my younger years.

Every time I write a check for rent I wish I were younger.

Every time I have to have a difficult conversation with a parent or friend I wish I were younger.

Every time I have to go to work instead of sit at home and play video games I wish I were younger.

The student seemed to agree with me that getting older is a little scary. In his mind getting older means not getting play video games. For us who are actually adults, it means not getting to play as many video games and probably a lot more.

We can sit and dream about the days when we were younger and didn’t have as many responsibilities. We can fantasize about days spent sleeping in on summer vacation and hours wasted on video games. We can idealize when we had nothing more to worry about than what friends we were going to hang out with and getting home before the street lights came on.

We can think and dream about being younger, but it doesn’t change the reality that got wants us to grow up and he wants us to change.

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. – 1 Corinthians 3:1-2

Paul wanted the Corinthians to grow and change. He was bemoaning the fact that even though they had gotten older they still hadn’t grown up. They were still drinking milk like babies even though they should have moved onto solid spiritual food.

God has the same desire for our lives that Paul had for the Corinthians. God wants us not to just get older but he wants us to grow up. He wants us to mature from spiritual babies into spiritual adults, better equipped to do his work in this world. Doing that work sometimes means putting down the Xbox controller and getting to work. As spiritually mature adults, though, we can also recognize the need to relax, decompress and slay some dragons or smoke some noobs.

Being a grown up doesn’t mean never playing video games, it just means intentionally choosing when to start and forcing ourselves to stop.

What nerdy holdovers from your childhood do you still cling to?

The Prime Directive

A rule that describes itself as the primary rule is not to be trifled with. The Prime Directive is Starfleet’s most foundational principle. It states that Starfleet personnel will not interfere with the internal matters of other cultures or the development of pre-warp species. The Prime Directive is pretty big time, which makes me wonder why Starfleet personnel are always breaking it. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Archer and I’m sure Janeway (I’m not as knowledgeable about Voyager as the self professed Christian Nerd should be) violated the Prime Directive all the time. Even J.J. Abrams had his Enterprise crew breaking the Prime Directive. I know when Picard chose to break the Prime Directive it was because he listened to his conscience instead of some obligatory rule. I usually agreed with Picard except when he didn’t let those underwear-clad nymphomaniacs execute Wesley in the episode “Justice”.

The Wizarding World

It seemed like Harry Potter was always getting into trouble. I know he was an adolescent boy and they excel at getting into trouble, but I never got into trouble like Harry. The wizarding world had a lot of rules and regulations about the use of magic. A lot of those rules had to do with the use of magic around muggles as well as the use of magic by underage wizards. Unfortunately for Harry, he was an underage wizard who often used magic in front of muggles. Very often those enforcing the rules were blinded by the rules. The reason and context for Harry breaking the rules were often deemed inconsequential, even when he was saving his life and that of his muggle cousin. Even when he wasn’t defending his life, Harry still liked breaking the rules. Maybe some of Harry’s youthful rebelliousness came back to haunt him in the rebelliousness of his own children.

Gremlins

The movie Gremlins scared me so much when I was younger. I wanted to watch the movie because Gizmo is one of the cutest things ever. But having to sit through a town full of green, slimy, havoc-causing gremlins was a little too much. There were only two rules for the Mogwai: don’t get it wet and don’t feed it after midnight. The first rule is pretty self-explanatory but the second is a little ambiguous. Technically it’s always after midnight; did a new clock start once the sun came up? And seeing how dangerous the gremlins were, you’d think the Mogwai would have come with some more thorough rules and regulations. Honestly I don’t think the benefits of owning a Mogwai outweigh the consequences of murderous, anarchist lizards.

Rules are important for golf, nerdclinations and our lives with Jesus. Jesus calls us to be obedient and follow the commands of his father. However, we should never elevate God’s laws and commandments above God himself. If we focus on following God and drawing near to him first, then following the rules will happen naturally.

What other nerdy rules would you like to see broken?

I have been to three baseball games this week. That much sports action made me think about a previous post about nerdy sports. Below you’ll find an updated version.

I consider myself to be a pretty big nerd. I’m well versed in a number of nerdclinations and keep adopting new ones, most recently Dr. Who. Even though I rep all sorts of nerd cred I have a deep, dark, non-nerdy secret.

I love sports. I love watching sports. I love reading about sports. I love talking about sports. I love listening to sports talk radio. Just last night I went to an Angels game with the youth group from our church.

Sports don’t have to be inherently non-nerdy. Below are some of the nerdiest sports around.

Pyramid

Pyramid was the sport of choice for those aboard Galactica. Even one of the show’s most influential characters, Sam Anders, was a former professional pyramid player. The sport’s rules aren’t really clearly defined on the show but, from what I can tell, it’s like basketball mixed with ultimate frisbee. Pyramid definitely qualifies as a nerdy sport because it’s based off a nerdy show and is played by people named “Starbuck” and “Apollo”. Even though pyramid is a nerdy sport, I don’t think nerds would be very good at it. It’s a full-contact sport and the only things nerds want to be in full contact with are their gaming chairs or Japanese body pillows.

Quidditch

I’ve written a lot about Quidditch, mostly because Harry Potter nerds so desperately want it to exist. In the Harry Potter books Quidditch is a great game and the matches always make for exciting chapters. As much fun as it seems, though, I’m never going to grab a broom, throw on a robe and participate in an actual Quidditch league. As someone who memorized the titles and plots of every episode of The Next Generation, I think playing real-life Quidditch is going a little far. Real-life Quidditch is nothing like real Quidditch. Running around on a broom is not the same as flying around on one. Chasing a dude in a golden morphsuit is not the same as seeking out the snitch. But if someone is so passionate about experiencing Harry Potter any way they can, who are any of us to stop them. That doesn’t mean we can’t point and giggle when we see people running around a local park on brooms with lightning bolts on their foreheads.

Baseball

Baseball may be the nerdiest real-life sport…other than real-life Quidditch. Being a nerd really just means focusing and obsessing over any given book, band, movie or even sport. Baseball, with its hundred years of history and statistics, gives people an opportunity to nerd out in a big way. Baseball isn’t only nerdy for that reason, though. It’s also nerdy because Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine loved baseball. Deep Space Nine is an incredible show and worth watching. Sisko was a great character because he was so different from Picard. One of his nuances was his love for baseball, that archaic sport that had gone the way of God and the dinosaurs. He loved the sport so much that he kept a baseball on his desk, taught his son how to play and even set up a holosuite game with the crew of a visiting starship. I myself am a big baseball nerd even though my team, the Cubs, may not win another World Series until the 24th century.

Larping

We nerds love us some fantasy worlds. I’ve often wished that I could be transported to a galaxy far, far away or Middle-Earth. Some nerds don’t fantasize about going to another world, though. Instead they are much more proactive and bring their fantasy world to ours. LARP is a term that stands for “live action role play”. Nerds gather together and, with set rules and guidelines, proceed to fight and cast spells to their hearts content. Larping (short for “live action role playing”) basically involves play fighting with a large group of people. Instead of playing a Mage or dwarf in a table top or video role playing game, larping lets the gamer live out that fantasy in real life. Larping may not sound like a sport but it requires much more physical activity than most nerds are used to. It takes way more muscles to swing a fake sword than to push a button to swing a virtual sword. I’ve never been larping myself but know it goes down in a local park. Joining in and writing about my experience could make for my nerdiest and most compelling post ever.

Sports don’t have to be inherently non-nerdy. We just think they are because the people who played sports more often than not teased us for being nerds. It’s 2012, though, and jocks can play Skyrim and nerds can love football. No matter the year, though, real-life Quidditch will always be nerdy.

What other nerdy sports are you a fan of?