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If you define nerdiness by the subject matter, then sci fi is nerdy and sports are not. But if you define nerdiness by the approach that people take, then there are plenty of sports nerds (think Bill James, Nate Silver, Moneyball, or this Onion article). Sabermetrics is basically the rationalist approach to sports: figure out what actually helps teams win by collecting the right data, analyzing it appropriately, and following the numbers even if they disagree with established views. This approach is growing rapidly, and has spread to other sports besides baseball (including NBA basketball and NFL football).
Sports could be a gateway drug to a broader interest in rationality, just like scifi/fantasy have been for many people. Maybe we need the sports equivalent of HPMOR?
I once attended an annual convention of classic-appliances afficionados, to keep my husband company, and remember being somewhat disoriented by being surrounded by a community of nerds with whom I simply did not resonate in the slightest, while at the same time clearly recognizing what they were doing as what nerds do when we congregate. It has been a useful memory to keep in mind when watching people be alienated by my own community... affinity is more contingent/superficial than I would necessarily prefer.