Is Being a Sports Fan a Waste of Time?
Dec 29th, 2008 by Nut
by Yesterday the Chicago Bears lost to the Houston Texans and officially ended their season. There will be no playoffs for the Bears in 2008. For me, that means my football season is over—although I may watch the Super Bowl.
M thought I would be bummed, and part of me is, but mostly I felt a great sense of relief. I now have my Sundays back and I don’t have to plan them around a football game. Don’t get me wrong, I love following my home team, but I’m also looking forward to having the “free time.”
And that got me thinking about sports in general, and how much time sports fans like myself put into following our teams. Between actually watching the games, reading newspaper articles/blog posts, and talking about it, sports can take up a LOT of time. Time that could be spent reading a book, learning a new skill, or writing an incredibly interesting blog post like this one. Not only that, it also gets in the way of doing bigger things like going to a museum or driving to IKEA to find a proper TV stand.
Is devoting a significant amount of time to being a sports fan a complete and total waste of time?
I know it’s entertaining and gives you something to talk about/network with others. But it’s addicting, and that’s the part I’m thankful to be done with when it comes to football. It’s like a soap opera, and I’m sure a lot of people feel that it’s just as useless. Week after week you want to see how your “guys” are going to do against the other team and if you miss a week, it almost feels like you weren’t a part of that week’s drama.
Cons:
- Being a fan takes up a lot of time
- It uses up time that could be spent on more productive endeavors
- Sports never end—there is always a sport that’s “in season”
- It’s unhealthy
Pros:
- It’s fun?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a HUGE baseball fan and that’s one sport I’ll never “rid” myself of. I’ll always be a fan and will always read the sports pages every day, talk about it passionately, and waste a WHOLE BUNCH of time with it.
But where is the line? How much is too much?
This post was included in the Money Hacks Carnival.
I think you have to treat sports as entertainment. Viewed in that light, watching it on television is a good value.
If you are like me, your love of baseball has lead you to fantasy baseball leagues where I’ve done a lot of mathematics and critical thinking. I’ve also learned how to debate by having discussions with other fans.
All work and no play makes a Jack a dull boy.
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Being a fan of sports, particularly a favorite team of a sport, allows us as a culture to bond and be a part of a powerful tribe, without all the bloodshed. we as a society need favorite sport teams because they define our roots and give us a way to connect with other people from amongst that clique
@ Frank Vincent Ippolito
Maybe the “tribe” you are suggesting does more to divide people into little groups than it does to unite one another. Also, if you’re looking to connect and feel a bond, try thinking. I find thinking to be a relatively cheap and easy way to entertain myself as well as a great way to consider another person’s perspective. You could try to define yourself beyond your particular choice of athletic jersey. I find people who define themselves by a sports team to be dime-a-dozen clones of boring people. On the other hand, someone who you ACTUALLY talk to and ACTUALLY connect with, commonly offer more interesting conversations and insights than people who seem fixated on particular teams/atheletes. Also, the fact that you talked about cliques and powerful tribes just serves as evidence that you are someone who, sadly, never developed a personality. Everyone actually thinks you’re a dick, except when you can see their faces.
It’s something we do in our spare time. If you really think reading a book (especially fiction) is a more useful way to spend time, no one’s stopping you. I’m curious about how to explain why we’re sports fans. what motivates us to be sports fans? Not everyone is.
That’s a good question Mike, I don’t know why we want to be fans so badly. It gives us a link to those days when we were young and dedicated so much of our time to competition and winning and camaraderie and love of the game?
No idea…
I was a moderate sports fan up until the start of this summer. all through May I had been working out, building a sweat lodge and helping my buddy start a business. Basically I was really active and having a lot of fun. Then sometime in June I caught a baseball game and as I was watching, my interest in what was going on completely dissolved right then and there. It just vanished. I remember thinking “why do I care about Roy Halladay throwing a perfect game”? I would rather accomplish something myself. The more I thought about it the more ridiculous it all started to sound. I mean, sitting down and watching the game while drinking beer is someone ELSE’s idea of fun! Thats why beer commercials market that image. Its telling you, “THIS is what guys do, THIS is what guys like, THIS is what its ALL about”. The commercials put out by the leagues are no better: Slow motion touchdown catch with a dramatic choir singing in the back round. Why do you think they are spending money on commercials? Why are there only like 3 or 4 major sports that people watch? Why aren’t you paying hundreds of dollars to go watch gymnasts perform? They are strong and very talented. The reason is because no one told you thats a sport you like. And weve been taught that gymnastics and ice-skating are for girls while, football is for guys. If its entertainment then fine. But do you need to discuss, debate, read, argue, obsess over something so trivial and so meaningless? I would rather be checking something off my to-do list and instead of watching Brett Farve break the touchdown record (because who cares) why don’t I go achieve a goal of my own.