[burnt1ce]

"You're meeting people of the same gender, not a mixed group usually" - I dont know the exact stats and I don't care. If you tried hard enough, you can find a mixed group

"No time or patience for politics" - then you have no patience for human relationships as well. Politics is inevitable in every organization/company/team/community. Some say it's better to learn and fuck up in a sports team than in your company.

"(Some) sports usually attract overly competitive people who don't know (or don't care about) basic civility" - that's a pretty bold statement. You can find rec teams in almost every sport that don't attract the hard asses and the overly committed.

"Level/skills differences" - the difference is not the issue. People being assholes and stuckup is the issue. Don't play for those teams

"(I agree with the carpooling commentary though)" - I agree