I love the poetic digressions! but going back to the topic that started the debate:

I wouldn't lump sports with the other two

Well, I would, or even worse, tsuwm, and for this simple reason. Whenever 3 or more men get together in a bar anywhere around the world, they talk about sports. It follows that these converstions are available to me and others almost anywhere we care to look.

I come here for something different. The specific topics (complete with digressions down the byways of personal experience) are not so important to me. All I am fundamentally interested in is an intelligent conversation with others of differing backgrounds and experiences, and which is why I love this unique space.

So that is why I think it is worth at least taking note of our occasional slides to what I believe is the lowest common denominator of discourse - recipes for the girls, sports for the boys. We can do better.