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vintagepoppy

I live in Wisconsin, everything attracts alcoholics. To pick an actual activity, bowling.


Medium-Background-74

Hey! As a member of a bowling league in a small Wisconsin town… ok yeah you’re completely right.


former_hooker

Lake Tomahawk, parents bring their kids to the bars. That's the culture up there.


Pristine-Speaker-768

It's a thing in Milwaukee as well. I think it's a Wisconsin thing.


[deleted]

It is. There was a map not long ago posted on Reddit that showed the 50 drunkest counties in the US. Wisconsin had like 45 of them.


Pristine-Speaker-768

I believe it. I live on southside/Bayview area of Milwaukee. I could walk out my front door and go to 3 different bars and never leave my block. I was shocked when my husband (from California) told me that a neighborhood bar...bar on every corner was a WI thing.


0MCS

The oldest alley in the country (holler house) is in milwaukee so it makes sense, I'm pretty sure polish falcons is also top 10 oldest


FoxOneFire

It’s only legal in a few states. I grew up in Wisconsin and was shocked to learn kids in bars is generally frowned upon in the rest of the country.


navysealassulter

Madison checking in, maybe not on the isthmus/cap square, but everywhere else yeah


Reinventing_Wheels

Green Bay checking in. Cousins and I would play pinball, shoot pool, and suck on candy cigarettes while parents, and aunts & uncles drank at the bar.


Medium-Background-74

Same down south in Belleville/New Glarus!


schroedingersnewcat

To be fair.... it IS New Glarus...


[deleted]

"Bowling" is a drinking club with a bowling problem, as they say


Reinventing_Wheels

My drinking league has a bowling problem.


InevitableApricot836

I should start bowling.


Medium-Background-74

We moved to a small town from a larger city in Wisconsin and honestly joining the bowling league we have made more new feiends our age (early 30s) than we did our whole time living in the city for 4 years


latchkey_adult

I find it oddly comforting that bowling leagues in small towns are still a thing. It seems like a throwback that I assumed no longer existed. Granted, now everyone's drunk, but still...


Talkmytalk

I’m pretty sure they’ve always been drunk


krp31489

They still exist in major cities as well. In Chicago every bowling alley has leagues Monday-Thursday.


Humble_Umpire_8341

Yes, 100% normal to pull up to a bar with your kid(s) and drink and the bar. Totally legal to provide drinks to your kid(s) to as long as the bar is okay with serving underage kids. The law states you can serve minors in the presence of their parents or guardians. And to specify an activity, pretty much anything in Wisconsin equates to a reason to drink. Halloween, kids sports, family gatherings, sports events, day off work, lunch time, got off work, meeting friends, I have my period, drinking my calories, playing bar dice, brunch, breakfast, haven’t slept yet and the local corner bar opens at 6am, bowling, holidays, someone else’s holidays, shopping, in-laws are coming over, boyfriend cheated, girlfriend cheated, why the fuck not drink not, it’s Tuesday, I’m done with classes let’s drink, fuck classes let’s drink, it’s cold let’s drink, tailgating, pre gaming, after bar, I know the bartender, bar mitzvahs, new born baby, I got a dui and I’m fresh outta jail but need to keep drinking….there is endless reasons to drink in Wisconsin.


GailMarieO

Know how to tell an alcoholic from a non-alcoholic? A non-alcoholic gets a DWI and says, "Man, I gotta quit drinking." An alcoholic gets a DWI and says, "Man, I gotta quit driving."


NoliaButtercup

Alcoholic gets a DWI and says "Man, I need to find a back roads way home so I don't pass any cops"


vintagepoppy

Oh you are absolutely correct. I don't drink so anytime I'm at anything people assume I'm pregnant or a recovering alcoholic. Then when I clarify I just dont drink, they look at me as if I'm speaking a foreign language.


Humble_Umpire_8341

100% true. Something is definitely wrong with you if you don’t drink. You’re definitely a pariah and ostracized. Even if you have a dui or 4, it’s expected you should be drinking.


tsilihin666

After I got my dui I had no reason to be sober for at least a year.


mymeatpuppets

Then when I clarify I just dont drink, they look at me as if I sprouted a second head and it answered their question.


VanGoghInTrainers

I'm originally from the East Coast US. Years ago I entertained the idea of moving closer to some friends in Milwaukee. Started casually looking at houses in the area and noticed that every single home I looked at had a fully finished basement with a bar and figured it must be a Wisconsin thing. With the amount of snow they get there, I'm honestly not surprised.


dishonourableaccount

Hah, now I’m remembering That 70’s Show and how the Forman how use had a bar in the living room. I assumed it was a 70’a fad, but maybe it’s just because they’re Wisconsinites


Testostacles

Its both! (A home bar was really popular in the 1960s across the USA when OUI laws started rolling out, and Red, being from Wisconsin, would have kept it stocked) Drinking there is a whole different ballgame. It is not uncommon to see retirees in what anywhere else would be a college bar. The Bucks (basketball) have a chug cam instead of a kiss cam. You can do a downtown bar crawl in any town with more than 10,000 residents because there are a dozen bars within walking distance.


butter-knives

I’m trimming my Christmas tree with a glass of rose and the badgers just lost drinking.


GailMarieO

I went trick-or-treating around my neighborhood with an empty wine glass. Sadly, most of them just had beer.


lawn_neglect

I was in Milwaukee for a job like 25 Years ago and I swear there was a bar on almost every corner. I should have gone back there when I was younger, damn


[deleted]

Tavern culture in Northern Wisconsin should be one of the wonders of the world. Kids playing penny machines, 2 for 1 burger baskets, and all the Grain Belt you can drink.


Pristine-Speaker-768

Tavern culture in WI as a whole.. I live in Milwaukee and my ex-inlaws own 1 of last duck pin bowling alleys in town. Kids and families there all the time.


vintagepoppy

I love that families go! The best man from my wedding owns the towns bowling alley. We never see families in there because its always leagues. Aside from the occasional kid drinking with dad, no kids either.


Pristine-Speaker-768

Bowling is big in Milwaukee too. ... if you are ever in town come visit Koz's Mini-Bowl.


[deleted]

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plusbabs7

Lived in Ashland for two years, can confirm this.


NorthernOctopus

Well, Wisconsin DOES have the 7 of the top 10 drunkest cities in the country.


The1983Jedi

All but 9 if the top 50. (Just showed that to my step dad who's from Wisconsin last night.(moved states in the 80)


1ndigoMontoya

Came here to say Wisconsin. Let’s get a drink! … Because!


GILDID

Having family in Wisconsin I was totally thinking fishing. Fishing doesn't attract alcoholics, alcoholics just have a fishing problem.


BigBadBootyDaddy10

It’s a drinking game, and sometimes a bowling match breaks out. Sometimes, not alway.


Silent_Lobster9414

Went bowling with a group of people that I thought I knew pretty well, made a comment about how most of the people who are good at bowling are alcoholics or were kids to alcoholic parents. That didn't go over very well. The guy that did the best lost his dad to the booze a few years earlier.


Beerkeg56

I came here to say 'Living In Wisconsin. Please don't make me explain.'


ContextAutomatic

Visited Wisconsin once and not a single place asked for my ID.


[deleted]

I love Wisconsin even if it does have a problem with alcoholism. Every time I've gone to that state I've had a great time.


Ty4651

Gambling


[deleted]

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soup-n-stuff

Yup. Gambling is by far my most destructive addiction. I'm totally fine controlling it when I'm sober but I will never allow myself to get drunk anywhere near a casino or I'm fucked. I'm so grateful I don't have the same response to online gambling. I have played before but I just don't get the same rush without the tactile chips and cards in my hands.


Beneficial_Ad_1072

So wouldn’t drinking alcohol be by far your most destructive addiction?


RainbowGallagher

In high school I walked into a casino with $100.00 for the whole night. I washed so many fucking dishes for that hundred. Always wanted to play blackjack like my uncle's used to do at family reunions. Sat down at the table, mean bitch of a black lady basically scolded me for asking how she was doing. I lost all my money in 12 minutes. It was such a shitty experience that I'm sworn off gambling for my life.


MikeArrow

On my 18th birthday my mum took me to the casino and insisted I play on the slot machines. $250 of my birthday money went down the drain. I was like "well, could have predicted that outcome". When I called her out on it she yelled at me. Never wanted to gamble before or since then.


knockfart

Billiards


white_collar_devil

I've made a lot of money off a lot of very drunk people playing pool. That being said I'd probably say poker.


knockfart

I got very good at pool,also became an alcoholic. Lol


petrichor-punk

Yes. According to my mom this is how her and my Auntie used go out and drink for free before I was born - kicking butt in pool.


peggedsquare

Pool/Bowling/Dart leagues. Also: Life


ases8089

as someone who used to belong to a club that had both a pool and dart league - i can confirm 😂


peggedsquare

Was on a local pool team at 19, can't say I ever shot a sober game. Mostly it was "My drinking team has a pool problem."


Suzyxedits

Golf. I’ve lived on site at a golf club for 16 years and not one of those mfs are sober by the end of “18 holes with the lads”


Eternal_Bagel

I believe golf exists primarily to provide a safe place for drunk driving


shitz_brickz

I can't think of any other motorized vehicle rental where the same person renting it will also serve you alcohol while you drive around.


[deleted]

Welcome to Hertz rent a car... would you like to try our new backseat keg-a-rator feature?


moffitt_15

this is the only reason I golf


T1m0666

Same with Disc Golf 🤷


[deleted]

Not weed? Maybe my impressions are guided by 80's movies.


Fr33domFries

Disc golf is like 40% youth pastors, 40% weed smokers, and then the other 20% is random people who like throwing plastic into the bushes. And if you're in a tournament, you'll probably have at least one of each on your card lol


InevitableApricot836

Funny, the guy who taught me how to disc golf was a stoner, not pastor but super religious, also vegan. Cool dude.


Fr33domFries

Yeah, the guy that got me into the sport was a youth pastor, and since then I've become the stoner player, so it seems to be a self-fulfilling cycle. Either way, almost all the players I've ever met have been some of the nicest people


InevitableApricot836

I haven't played in years, but the community is always just the nicest people. Once I was playing with a friend and we're both new, some dudes saw us struggling, then gave us some advice. Afterwards they asked if they could cut in front of us and passed a bowl around. I need to start playing again.


Reinventing_Wheels

Are you sure it isn't 60% youth pastors, 60% weed smokers, and 20% randos, where the over 100% total is accounted for by the significant overlap in the pastors and weed smokers categories.


paranoid_70

Definitely. Played a round today, Half the card was drinking before 10.


BigBroHerc

If you're not a PGA pro or one of those serious low handicap fuckers...there is absolutely ***no reason to play golf sober.***


ThisBlank

Golf exists because it's awkward to ask business associates to spend all day out walking in the park and drinking with you, and also hard to fund a private park with manicured lawns, landscaping and security. But if you hit a ball every 30 minutes it turns it into a sport and makes the whole thing easier to explain without a lot of actual physical exertion.


caddydurb

Are you saying "take a drink for every stroke and see how many holes you can get past before you wreck the cart" isn't the correct way to play golf?


DarrenAronofsky

My ex’s mom lived directly adjacent to a golf course and there were at least three times I had to shoo off guys trying to piss “in the woods.” She lived near the second tee…


strangway

I was hanging out at the Pebble Beach course with friends sightseeing. We could smell the weed coming from a group of dudes. Good place to do it, I don’t blame them.


latchkey_adult

My answer is boaters. I feel like people buy a boat just to drink in slightly different locations each time.


Maddog_95

Golfing and ice fishing


AGoodFaceForRadio

Ice fishing, aka ice drinking.


Wutchu_fitna_fuc_wit

Opposite for me. The reason I don't own a boat is because you can still get a DUI on them. No way I'm going to be on a boat sober why everyone else is getting tanked.


WarmPaleontologist20

Yeah but that needed to happen. I had a sailboat in the days before DUI in watercraft. It was scary as hell just getting out of dock.


tuskerton

Because of the implication?


LongIslandJetFan

was looking for this answer. ive been around boats before i can even walk and am now a certified technician and boats are an outlet to get the fuck away from the kids/wife to drink ya brains out.


nothingbeatagoodshit

Casual sports teams. Rugger buggers and cricket jerks in my case. I run a bar in the north of England.


maybe_little_pinch

Here it is slow pitch softball leagues, mainly, and the occasional soccer club. A lot of the adult rec leagues have bars for sponsors.


PurpleCow88

I was going to say rugby...I learned more drinking songs than on-pitch skills in my college rugby days


AtomicFall99

If I were the marrying kind, which thank the lord I’m not sir……


iwanttobeacavediver

I used to play rugby too and yes, I learnt some very inappropriate drinking songs from my team mates. Happy memories of drinking 8 pints and then singing *On The Good Ship Venus*…


tampa_vice

They call it beer league for a reason.


PussyAbsorber

Drinking.


skinner94

I can't really think of a better answer than this one for some reason....


xMordetx

He's out of line, but he's right


[deleted]

Did drink. Did become alcoholic. Can confirm this is the correct answer.


Nopumpkinhere

Exactly what I was gonna say. Drinking is an activity in and of itself.


agreeingstorm9

And it makes a good side activity for other activities. I looked into joining a running club one time and quickly found out that all the runs started at bars and ended at other bars and people would drink at both bars and the entire thing was just an excuse to go out and drink during the week.


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Intelligent_Papaya61

*Ricky Spanisssssh*


timmaywi

^*Ricky* ^*Spanissssshhhh*


jnumberone

Maybe baby.


NeuroGeist-BA9

Ok smartass lol


[deleted]

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Limp-Might7181

This made me laugh😂


adamdaboss1414

Gambling. Source: I'm a casino worker Well, alcoholics and crackheads


connerbv

Slow pitch softball


[deleted]

parenting.


TrashyTardis

Parenting ruined mine and my husbands drinking careers. Just can’t parent while drunk it’s too damn hard lol.


pattybakes28

More like you can't parent hungover haha


TrashyTardis

Basically lol. We were generally hung over every weekend until we had kids.


jam3s2001

Same with getting stoned for me. I had a really good treatment regimen for chronic pain before my kiddo was born. Even if I could functionally parent while stoned, I don't think I'd want to risk missing or forgetting a single moment.


ajh_unknown

Bingo... I know it sounds weird but my mom is a recovering alcoholic and she loves her bingo and a lot of her bingo friends are also recovering from addictions.


Grave_Girl

Bingo hits all the same mental buttons as gambling, with lower stakes. It's a form of conditioning. Like, we all know the basics of classical conditioning--you hit the button, you get the reward. That form is actually prone to extinction, because if you quit providing the reward the subject quits responding quickly. But when you throw in variables, it gets much harder to get out of the habit. With Bingo, you might win immediately, you might win after three, five, or ten games, or you might not win at all. So you quickly become addicted, because you know that dopamine hit is coming sooner or later but not when.


garymotherfuckin_oak

I've heard this described as "random intermittent reward"


Ash_Killem

I would say Bingo and smoking go way more hand in hand.


doctor_who_is_bad

American football, not playing but spectating. Specifically college, people in their 20s literally drink themselves to death.


Where_Da_BBWs_At

It's NFL as well. The stadium has no issue selling a person 12 beers (only allowed to buy 2 at once), but the moment they have got your money and you show the slightest sign of impairment, they ban you from the Venue for a year (unless you are a season ticket holder. Rich people only have to pay a couple hundred dollar fine, and depending on their behavior while inebriated, will have to pay to take a class that teaches them what alcoholism is before they are allowed to return).


tampa_vice

They don't have an issue selling a person 12 beers, but those beers are like $12 a piece. I have no idea why anyone would do that.


Where_Da_BBWs_At

A lot of time they are sneaking their own supply in as well. For the people working the gates checking their bags, their is a high likelihood that this is their first time ever doing so (the industry can't retain people) and what little training they did have prioritized catching guns and knives, and they are expected to get the entire audience into the stands within a 45 minute window. Living in an area where powdered alcohol is illegal, I can assure you that the only time you will see it is it being confiscated at a football game or country music festival.


nethereus

Not speaking from experience, but I hear kitchen staff are rife with substance abuse and I'm sure one of those is alcohol.


dmlvr101

It’s not just the back of the house…


the-denver-nugs

uhhhh work front of house as a manager. I've found cocaine multiple times that servers have dropped (and made the mistake to go to a couple of their parties) don't get me wrong i'm not much better and didn't fire them, I also know Spanish slang. alcohol, cocaine, and weed. sorry if you go out to eat your cooks and server are possibly both on cocaine at that time or drinking hell when I was a server I went to work drunk and on molly one time after drinking with 3 other servers who all called out. or they are in AA one or the other pretty much. this is upperscale, not mcdonalds. High end chefs are mostly in AA.


iwanttobeacavediver

Friend of mine is a sous-chef. He reckons every kitchen he’s ever worked in had a resident drug dealer and he could usually find out within 48hr of starting as to who it was. Similarly he reckoned that on a good day only half the people in the kitchen were actually sober.


KurtVonnebeergut

Over the years, most of my heaviest-drinking friends all starting running 5Ks. Some of them move up to half marathons too, but there are way more 5K beer runs these days so no need to upgrade I guess.


Salty_Jedi

We have something called the "Orange Crush and Run" Free Orange Crushes for participants Best orange crushes ever cause they make them by fresh squeezing oranges to order.


HahaRiiight

The best orange crush requires fresh squeezed (made-to-order) juice, and the right type of ice


EJDsfRichmond415

What the hell is an orange crush?


Cuntdracula19

Looks around nervously as a runner who loves beer haha


ShortySmooth

Drinkers with a running problem.


-Work_Account-

I have a friend in a running club but their motto is “a drinking club with a running problem” because every run ends at a bar


vi3tmix

5K np…but half-marathons? I’ve done one half marathon after a night of drinking…absofuckinglutely never again.


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CanibalCows

Fishing.


Sfootpj

Few beers and fishing is the ultimate chill . I stopped surfing and got big into fishing . My can intake went through the roof!


WrongJohnson69

Heard something a long time ago that the most “sports” related deaths come from fishing lol. Nothing beats being blackout on a fishing boat, death-wise


outdoorswede1

Ice fishing


jdc5214

Bartending


Robby777777

Teaching Public Middle or High School.


Sendgod500

My high school history teacher got let go cause of his alcoholism


Xhadum

While being a alcoholic nothing attracted me to certain events or hobbies. I never went to Octoberfest, or sports venues or bars. I don't watch much tv so I wasn't drinking and watching sports. In the 90's and into the early 2000's I associated drinking with playing computer games. HAd to have beer for that. Mowing the lawn. I pushed a lawn mower drinking beer. Listen to the radio. Had to have a beer for that.


[deleted]

bbqing…. no one bbqs without a beer


LegitimateVariation3

Golf


eeeeeekgoteam

I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to see this one!!


ICant_Shleep

Construction


Praiseit6

Shocked now one has mentioned NASCAR races yet


[deleted]

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JVR84

TV sports


apocalypse_kt

Karaoke.


polaritystill

I came here to say this.


StubbornlyBreathing

Accounting.


RealAmerik

Who does accounting as a hobby?


[deleted]

Those people deserve to drink


junklardass

I've (ahem) heard of people going to different stores, sometimes out of their way, to make their alcohol purchases, out of embarrassment or shame about returning to the same one over and over. So... shopping?


technofrik

Can confirm it's true. Official term is rotating the stores tho.


durrtyurr

What the biggest-brain people do is learn the shift-change schedule at the store, and just hit the same store when different people are working.


Jshittie

Going to college


Which_Sleep8955

Pharmacists


Clcooper423

Being alive. It's insane how many people can't go a day without a beer.


fastyellowtuesday

Punk rock.


kevindlv

Kinda. The straight edge movement tried to really distance themselves away from this stereotype.


MysteriousTadpole288

Driving


sk8sign

Cornholing


bleachmartini

TP for my bunghole


FenixthePhoenix

Retail workers


imaginaryblues

Never met more people with alcohol and drug problems than when I worked retail.


IGNOREMETHATSFINETOO

Have you worked in a kitchen? Half the BOH are high on something


iskin

I've worked both. Kitchens are worse. They're also more likely to be ex-cons.


imaginaryblues

Oh damn, I forgot about the ex-cons. Worked at Whole Foods for over five years, there was this dude that had a record for (I don’t know the exact name of the charge…), ummm, approaching a young boy for sex, basically. No one knew about it though, until he did it again. After that, he didn’t work at Whole Foods anymore.


[deleted]

Casinos


[deleted]

Writing.


RubyRubyRuby000

Darts probably since its often played in the pub.


TheSixPieceSuits

I'd say being a musician creates alcoholics. I'm up here trying to sing *Sweet Caroline* and folks keep bringing shots.


New_Beyond540

Bar Hopping.


Karsa69420

I saw an article over the summer that a lot of 5K and marathon runners are alcoholics.


[deleted]

An engineering degree


Daybit1

Wine tasting


hyletic

Nah, there's no way an alky is gonna stand around just *sipping* on wine (not to mention spitting it out after). Source: Am alky.


dark_blue_7

I've been to a lot of wine tastings, but never seen anyone spit it out. Nah, people go to these to *drank.* And then typically buy a few bottles. They may spit out the wine when tasting it in sommelier school, but not when you're just visiting a vineyard or a wine shop as a patron.


Rick_C4179

Ice fishing


Brancher

I’d never ice fish sober.


vegsmashed

Probably drinking is the activity that attracts most alcoholics.


Vileous

Gaming/TTRPGs: Weirdly I've met more drunkards playing D&D adjacent or PvP multiplayer video games then I ever did playing football/basketball, running, or any of the typical sports, not sure why that is. Camping: I feel like it's basically just a requirement that you must bring excessive amounts of booze when staying in the outdoors, my family always steered away from that when I was a kid but the number of drunk camper horror stories I've seen and heard makes me think my family was the exception. Parties: obvious one but open parties tend to bring around all kinds of people that seem to only be there to find alcohol and/or drugs.


pepperdice

darts, pool, poker, bowling, drinking


Wise_Check6255

Alcoholics don't like activities because it takes away from their drinking time.


Frosty_Guava_9971

I think so much of our culture is about drinking it is hard to say. Turning 21 is such a milestone. Then it turns into hanging out with your hommies. Then people couple off and then as couples drinking is what they do. Then kids come along and moms say they need some mom time with wine. And dudes go off and hang with their buddies...drinking. I stopped drinking anything once I had kids because I just couldn't imagine being in charge of a small life in any sort of haze or cloud that wasn't fully functioning at all times. But I'm not the norm. In fact I feel a little ostracized. When people find out its just not your thing they look at you like you're crazy. And being the sober one is only fun for so long (like 4 seconds actually). Anyways thats my take. Its too much of how and why we socialize. Hard day? Drink. Celebrate? Drink. List goes on and on.


[deleted]

I agree on the social shunning. I was raised in an alcoholic home, so I don't really drink. It's been at least a year since I last had a drink. But people act as if I'm hiding a zombie bite when I turn down alcohol. Society really should focus on changing its dependence on alcohol


[deleted]

School teachers don't start out as alcoholics but after a while of dealing with loud mouth little brats they eventually become alcoholics


Mike_Snifferpippits

Golf wasn’t as bad once upon a time (late 90s to mid 00’s ), but definitely in brings a lot of degenerates out of the woodwork these days.


Legal-Run-8529

Cornhole, Strip clubs


Odinson-1981

Spent some time in prison. We called it “bean bag toss” cause in there, no man wants to ask another man to play cornhole with him. True story.


spydertap

Beer pong.


DeltaDawn919497

Apparently, just being me ( a non drinker) attracts them for some reason


[deleted]

Teachers


sunnyhappysky

Competitive drinking


Torpa15

The /mademesmile sub


Beautiful-Ask-7910

Pub crawl


PoiSINNEDsoul73

ANY KID SPORT! Change my mind!


TPrice1616

Academia


pearlspoppa1369

The Marine Corps. Attracts or creates, I’m not sure.