One of the unfortunate stereotypes of athletes is that they are mindless jocks that don’t perform well in academic settings. While this is mostly untrue, it’s still interesting to find athletes that are just as engaged mentally as they are physically. Nerdy athletes are also intriguing because in a way they feel more human and approachable. Here are some athletes that have nerdy hobbies outside of their sports life.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is known around the NBA for being a scoring phenomenon that keeps an intense pace on the court. Amongst popular basketball betting platforms, Durant is a favorite pick because when he is healthy, few can match his ferocity. Off the court, Durant is just as well known for his love of video games. Durant has said that he will spend hours upon hours of his free time just gaming in the comfort of his home. While he is of course a big fan of NBA 2k (especially the edition with his face on the cover), he surprisingly also loves golf games. In addition to these, he will play all of the newest hit releases with his family.
Ronda Rousey
“Rowdy” Ronda Rousey skyrocketed to fame in the UFC after a series of sensational first-round finishes from 2013 to 2015. Her reputation was built around being a fearsome fighter with unshakable confidence. This carried over to her WWE professional wrestling career, where she was part of several huge main events, further boosting her strong reputation. What fans might not know is after she goes home and relaxes, she falls into her nerdy and childish hobbies.
First she is an absolute Pokemon fanatic. Just like most people that grew up in the 1990s, she was huge into the Pokemon fandom and collected tons of merchandise, a habit she carries to this day. She recently even did a Pokemon livestream for charity. In addition to this, she loves anime like Dragon Ball Z, plays video games like World of Warcraft, and even enjoys fractal art or as she calls it “mathematical pictures.” By any measure, Rousey is a certified nerd.
Tim Duncan
The former San Antonio Spurs power forward has recently become an assistant coach for the team, and will soon be inducted into the NBA hall of fame. His accomplishments in the sport are well known, and his reputation as one of the nerdiest players of all time is also common knowledge. During his college years, his nickname was “Mr. Spock” because of his love of the classic Star Trek series. Duncan is also a huge fan of Dungeons and Dragons and everything to do with medieval fantasy. Not only does this interest take him to renaissance fairs, but he also has a massive tattoo of the fantasy wizard Merlin on his chest to commemorate this love.
John Urschel
Many athletes that make it to the professional leagues often say that they disregarded their studies during their college years so they could give their full effort into their sport. Urschel is absolutely not one of those people. A Penn State graduate, Urschel has a masters degree in mathematics. He even took time away from his career as a Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman to write a research paper for the Journal of Computational Mathematics. Certainly once his career in the NFL is over he will be a welcome addition to the field of advanced mathematics.
Demetrious Johnson
There may be many athletes that play video games but Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson takes this nerdy habit to the next level with his devotion to the pastime. Not only does he play many different games at home, but he is also a video game streamer for thousands of people around the world. Johnson even jokingly said he would switch careers if his streaming channel ever really took off. Not only that, but he is a regular at video game events, most notably being the massive E3 annual show that showcases the newest video game trends and technology. He enjoys testing out new technology like the Oculus Rift and has even been a consultant for Microsoft on occasion. If that wasn’t nerdy enough, Johnson is also a massive Marvel fan, regularly going to see all of the new superhero films.
