Off Season - hobbies

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I saw Jaws in the theater when I was 10. Scared the shit out of me, and I had nightmares about sharks for weeks/months afterward. Never got over it. Hell, I don't even like to swim in any body of water where I don't know what else is in it. A fish, or snake, or something brushed against my leg when I was swimming in a small lake in Missouri once, and I shot out of the water so fast that I probably would have beaten Michael Phelps.

I was in the Navy, on a ship, and have been to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I can count on one hand the number of times I've swam in the ocean, and the last time was at Paradise Island in 1986.

So no, even if I wasn't old and fat (and a fairly crappy swimmer even when I was young and thin), I wouldn't even consider scuba diving.

****. That.

And DAMN YOU SPIELBERG!

I think you'd have a strong argument that Jaws may have had the greatest cultural influence of any movie of all time. I was too young to know how people viewed the ocean prior to Jaws but almost everyone I've ever met who reports to be afraid of the ocean cites Jaws or sharks in general (so basically, Jaws, whether they know it or not) as the reason why.