Wow, so many responses. Where to begin...OK, I did make quite a few assumptions. I think it has a lot to do with being a guy. I also think that all of the responses that are disagreeing with me are disagreeing with me in theory more so than in reality. We all want to THINK that we don't neglect people that are dissimilar to ourselves, but it happens.

The key phrase here is "if you are open minded it does not matter..." I seem to see a lot of people around me that are not open minded. Is it me that is not open minded? Is it me that is causing the "uncomfortable feeling"? I don't think so. I played golf in a scramble last week with my church. Afterwards, I saw a group of about 12 people chatting. I knew 1 of them from 12 years of school together. I walked right up to him, and said, "How did you do?" The group got quiet. He "said, well we had fun!" I smiled and said "Ha ha, yeah, I won't be joining the tour anytime soon. But I only lost 3 balls, so that is a good day!" The group started slowly talking, quieter this time. The guy I knew laughed, but didn't say anything else. He started paying attention to the group, rejoining their conversation. Didn't introduce me to anyone. I stood there for like 20 seconds, feeling like an idiot, then I said to that guy, "See ya' later!". He said "OK, see ya' Mark!" We were both all smiles the whole time. But I got into my car and was thinking, dang, what the hell is wrong with me?

No, I'm not arrogant. Those are just my positive affirmations. I honestly don't see anything repulsive about myself. That's all I was trying to say. I sure don't walk around with THAT attitude on my sleeve.

You may be on to something there. I'm going to give that some real thought and observation. Thanks!
That's the thing, I really honestly feel that I do have that and that everyone seems receptive to it, and it seems to be a mutual respect and all that stuff!!! I really feel (sometimes) like when you whittle away all of the issues, my size is the only thing remaining! But like I said, your point of not doing any of the "inviting" myself, I have alienated myself on the "after-work stuff" is a point well taken.

But you DO have to admit, when you see a group of jocks, they are all jocks. When you see a group of overweight people, they are all overweight. Tall folks hang out with tall folks. Oh sure, there is always the exception. But I am talking about the extreme ends of the bell curve. We do it to ourselves. We sort ourselves. And why wouldn't we? Nobody enjoys being the oddball.

Yeah. but tall jokes are like rich jokes, or good looking jokes. They don't hurt. They are just making fun of something that is a good thing. Short jokes hurt because they are hurtful deep down to the person that is short. Now, if he replaces his tall joke with a joke about the tall guys crooked teeth, now we have a comparison that makes sense. These people think it is OK to make short jokes, but if someone returns fire with something that the tall guy is truly self-conscious about, everyone would be like, "dude, that was just mean." Well, I'm here to tell you, short jokes are mean.

Also, I want to point out that I do have friends. My best friends are those that I have had since highschool. I guess this thread was really started in the interest of making NEW friends.

AND NOW THE BIG ONE

First of all, I think I tried to put way too much into the OP, so I like that you started to break it down into pieces.

Yes. You just agreed with me. Your following comments that will disagree with me are utilizing the big, typical center of a standard bell curve, not the individuals that are at the outskirts of the bell curve. For those individuals, your statement "As a society, we do have cultural prejudices around appearance", kicks in to a much greater extent, that perhaps you have to experience firsthand to understand. For example, if you are 2 standard deviations away from the mean in the category of height, weight, or "attractiveness", then "cultural prejudices around appearance" has a greater effect on the formation of friendships. If you are within one standard deviation of the mean, then you probably don't notice its effect at all, if it even exists.

Yes, it is silly, I agree. But I do notice, that women find me attractive and get along great with me. I've had some say, "You would get along with my husband. He played soccer in college (or some other common interest)". Then we get together at a picnic, and the guy is like 10" taller and 230 lbs. As hard as we try to get along, we both know it is awkward. So, it isn't THAT silly of an observation. Big guys will date anyone, tall or short. Short guys will stick to a maximum of maybe 2" taller in their girlfriends. Short girls will date anyone, tall or short. Tall girls will stick to a minimum of maybe 3" shorter in their boyfriends. It's a real thing, you HAVE to admit. I am just saying, if it is a real thing for dating, then it isn't a stretch to consider there to be some variant of it in male same sex friendship circles.

All of that said, I think you all are right that I made too many assumptions. But I do believe there is some truth to my comments. Albeit, it is unfair for me to characterize it as a universal rule. But just go into the corporate world and survey as many men under 5'-7" as you can find to see if they feel they have to compensate for their height to get ahead, and they will tell you a resounding yes. (There may have even been a study on it.) Is it wrong, again, to make the stretch to consider there to be some variant of this in male, same-sex friendship circles?