Does Bittorrent require you to be connected to the internet?

[Ninjaturtle1]

I downloaded Bittorrent and Utorrent, and I got The Sims 2 as a torrent. I click on the download thing on both programs, and both of them just dont start downloading. something about a hostname or something. im stuck do i have to be connected to the internet? because the computer i use for gaming i keep disconnected from the internet to avoid viruses.