Why are men, more than women, inclined to enjoy following sports?

Question

A perfect example is fantasy football or baseball; I have never met a woman who has been interested in following rather stupid "fantasy" sport competitions and it always seems to be the men who host ESPN or stay up Monday nights to watch football or go to horse races or are die-hard baseball fans. I would like an evolutionary-based answer rather than a sociological one, because it is obvious that Western men are raised in more sport-oriented environments and are pushed to play sports more than women are.

Answer 1

I don't believe there is an evolutionary answer.  I think it is societal and primarily a western thing.  Other countries may enjoy sports and competition as much as American's, but we've pioneered the fantasy realm!

Answer 2

testosterone

Answer 3

It's a manifestaion of strategy/mapping, which is a LEFT-brain activity...

Sports, release sexual tensions in a testosterone-specific manner, and represent a type of surrogate-hunting mentality...

Women tend to have RIGHT-brain strengths, and as a male. it baffles me when I see a small % of women who seem genuinely interested in sports details...

Answer 4

Men are more aggressive and competitive (the 'hunter' mentality i suppose). Also it could be that women are attracted to men who are more physically capable.

Answer 5

Its a man thing becuz of testosterone ... they cant actually play it anymore so they pretend! haha ... but im a chick that likes sports!!

Answer 6

omg why does every one think men are stronger

Answer 7

Men are much more competative.  this is the basic easy answer.

Answer 8

Men are more aggressive than women are, so they like to see aggressive things more than women do.

Answer 9

I think we like to conquer problems. In the past we had to solve hunting,safety,building shelter etc. Now we just have to go to work so we like to get ourselves into complex problems like figuring out who you are going to play on your fantasy league and stuff like that.even when you watch a game your probably thinking of startegise for your team to win.

Also I think we have a competive nature, when I was a kid no one had to push me into sports, the second I discovered sports I was hooked, I loved the challenge of having to catch a flyball or making a basket.