Sporthead

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who is intensely devoted to sports and follows athletic competition closely
2. An enthusiast of athletics who is passionately absorbed in games and sporting events
3. Someone whose main interest is sports, especially one who keenly follows and talks about them

Etymology: "Sporthead" is a compound of "sport" and "head," with "head" working as a suffix that names a person defined by an obsession. The pattern is old in English: "hophead" and "dopehead" were used for drug users, and "pothead" for marijuana users, all built the same way. "Egghead," for an intellectual, follows that pattern too, though its exact origin is disputed. "Sporthead" applies the formula to the sports fan who knows every statistic and follows every game, and it is mainly American slang.