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Jock? Nerd? Clarify.

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I use the term Nerd and Geek pretty interchangeably (calm down Internet) and I am pretty sure that we all are familiar with what a Jock is… But for the sake of coherent blogging I will define them in the context of my ongoing ramblings.

What is a Nerd/Geek?

To me, being a geek/nerd is more about the depth of love you have for a subject/topic/genre, and how intellectually you understand it, than the subject itself.  Essentially it is about being engrossed and loving something so much that you want to be around other people who share that passion so that you can enjoy it together.  Now of course it is generally assumed that the subject being “geeked” on is something along the line of video games, comics, etc… (and generally speaking that is the assumption I make as well) but it could be anything really, from cars to art to music.  A very strong argument could be made that one of the areas Jocks have been mainstream crossing over into Geek territories is in the realm of Fantasy sports.  Let’s face it, Fantasy Football is basically Dungeons & Dragons (just don’t tell them *wink*).

What is a Jock?

Surprisingly I find this harder to define.  Alot of people would define a Jock as someone of above average fitness who regularly engages in one, if not more, sports.  I agree with that with one minor exception; when I speak of Jocks, here in this Blog, I am speaking of someone who engages in regular physical activities not limited to playing an organized sport.  Jocks tend to be more about doing, than understanding a subject.  Now I realize that this is a stereotypical view and could be viewed as being slightly perjorative but I simply am trying to point out in the broadest strokes possible what the diference is between the two.

So are Jocks and Nerds Oil and Water?

I like to think we are more like peanut butter and chocolate, but I understand the natural inclination to feel as if they are the anti-thesis of each other.  It’s interesting, a friend of mine (who I would consider a bit of a Jerd in his own right) started reading this blog and he immediately said he had a negative emotional response to the “J” part of the name “Jerd” due to years of being bullied as a kid for being a geek. It’s a stereotype war that has been drilled into our collective cultural psyche; and it isnt going to magically disappear anytime soon. I plan on delving into this clash of stereotype at a future date but for now let me say that  while I know I am in no way unique I am living proof that the two sides of Dr. Banner can peacefully coexist (and you don’t even need to wear purple pants, unless of course yo are feeling fancy.)

Don’t pigeon hole yourself; don’t waste your time with classifications or even worse labeling yourself.  Unless of course you are labeling yourself a member of the Jerd Herd.  That is pretty much wholly encouraged!

Jerd? Define…

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So what is a “Jerd“?

I’m glad you asked! A “Jerd” simply put, is the combination of a jock and a nerd. To explain this better I have to tell you a little bit about myself first.

At different points in my life I have been:

  • a RPG geek (Random Jerd trivia – My first brush with publicly merging interests came when I was thanked in Steve Long’s “Ultimate Martial Artist” for Hero Games)
  • an avid comic book reader (Marvel, DC and independents)
  • a clerk in a comic book store
  • a fan of trading card games (Who had a first edition Black Lotus?  This guy.)
  • a PC gamer/user reaching back to the dark ages of the Atari 800
  • a console gamer on many platforms (I will prepare to offend Nintendo fans in another post)
  • a huge cinephile
  • a fitness club owner
  • a martial arts instructor
  • an IT consultant

I have never felt like I fit in firmly in any one circle of friends.

I had my nerd friends – RPGs, trading card games, console and PC gamers; my martial arts friends – traditional, sport and MMA fighters; and my sports friends – skateboarders, triathletes, wrestlers, etc… and I stood with one leg firmly in each circle. (That’s right ladies, I said three… Think about it).

For the longest time I never let those streams cross (#EgonSpenglerProtip) and went as far as making sure to never speak about my martial arts at work or my massive geekiness with my training partners. Why I was adamant about keeping my life so compartmentalized is a topic I will tackle another day, but I lived my life religiously by the first rule of Fight Club.

After years and years of this it started to become tiring; not to mention I was noticing friends and acquaintances here and there that also lived in multiple circles of influence. Rare as they were, they existed nonetheless. How was I to compartmentalize them?

It was a dilemma I was growing weary of!

So a couple of years ago I was in Tampa on a consulting engagement. All I did while living down there for six months was work and train.  I was away from my family, living in a hotel, and to be frank, it sucked. So I spent my time training. Hard. I would always come into the office battered and bruised, often with a blackened eye.

After one particularly bruising evening I rolled into the office looking like a prison-rape victim, and one of my co-workers started grilling me about how I spent my free time; so I let the fact that he lived in a different compartment than my martial arts go and I just told him.

Surprisingly to me, he wasn’t dismissive or condescending at all!

There were no cheesy karate chop jokes or Bruce Lee impersonations, he was genuinely curious about my training, exercise regimen and whatnot and expressed a desire to be motivated enough to pursue something like that in his own life. At the end of the conversation he looked at me and said “You’re a jerd.”  He could tell I had no clue what in the hell he was talking about, so he clarified for me.

“You are a jock.  And a nerd.  You’re a ‘jerd’.”

What neither he, nor I, realized at that moment was how impactful that word would be. It has rolled around in the back of my cranium for a couple of years now coalescing into this idea that is starting to manifest on the keyboard in front of me.

Despite what popular media implies you can be a nerd, a geek and a jock at the same time. It just takes a little bit of motivation for the geekier and a little less self-consciousness for the jockier, that’s all.

Thoughts?

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