The Unpopular Opinion Game

Among the memes jamming social media feeds lately is the unpopular opinion game. Herein, you think of 10 things you dislike that others enjoy. Don't explain why, just make a list. Well, I have a word quota to work with here so, I will explain the list below. I'm ready to play: The Unpopular Opinions Game. 

10. Country Music: The twang, the tropes, the cheeseball sentimental lyrics. Country Music has never worked for me. I respect the history. I respect some of the artists. But the sound of most Country Music is simply not for me. 

9 Jimmy Fallon: It's not personal, I just don't care for his easy takes on the late night gimmick. Jimmy appears to be a wonderful person. His humor, however, plays like he's afraid to hurt anyone's feelings. That's an admirable quality for the most part but not in comedy. 

8 Breaking Bad: I know, I know, it gets good in episode number blank. Season this number is a masterpiece. I get it and I don't care. I watched a season of Breaking Bad and was left indifferent. 

7 Mad Max Fury Road is a Good Movie: This is a weird one. I like Mad Max Fury Road. I don't think it is an untouchable masterpiece of cinema. This has proven to be a supremely unpopular opinion. Film twitter and our collective popular culture has deemed my opinion unpopular. I'm unpopular for only liking something. It is an unpopular opinion because it is not enough praise. 

6 Nascar: The power, the speed, the mechanics, awesome. I just don't care. I'm not a car guy. I don't know enough about cars for Nascar to be entertaining. I feel you should know about cars to truly appreciate what Nascar drivers are doing. 

5 Hockey: I hate being cold but I do like the sweaters. I've never been able to follow the sport. Even when Fox gave the puck a little tale, I still could not follow it. 

4 Gerard Butler: They just let anyone be in movies now? 

3 Adam Sandler: See Gerard Butler entry. 

2 Seafood: This is blasphemy in my family. I don't like Seafood. My father owned a restaurant where they pulled catfish right out of the river and on to the menu. Something about the slimy texture put me off. I don't like the mouthfeel of most seafood. A friend once got me to eat shrimp. This was shrimp outside the normal context of shrimp. I'm thinking more traditional. 

The shrimp cocktail for instance. I can't even look at a shrimp cocktail without queasiness. The fish I have tried have this spongy quality. Even a good flaky crust can't get me past that sponge taste. Ugh! 

1 I enjoy professional wrestling: I am not alone in this but few things earn more scorn for me. Telling people I enjoy professional wrestling is met as if I had said I enjoy stuff snakes in my pants. It induces a deep curiosity, disgust and horror. Go ahead, tell someone you like the WWE. Watch their face register confusion and revulsion. It's quite a picture.

I find professional wrestling fascinating. I love the athleticism and the stories. The outsized characters and bizarre pageantry. A good wrestling match can invigorate me as well as any great work of art. A lot of the appeal is childhood nostalgia. Hulk Hogan was my hero. The power of his persona is burned into my brain. 

Hogan is part of why being a fan is so problematic as an adult. He's done little to keep up the image in the past few years. But after the nostalgia waned, I embraced the art. Sasha Banks and Bayley made me smile, took my breath away and damn near left me in tears with a wrestling match. 

Wrestling, for me, is an art form.