Is Being a Sports Fan a Waste of Time?
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.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
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.
December 31st, 2008 at 6:04 am
[...] Coin presents Is Being a Sports Fan a Waste of Time? posted at The Writer’s Coin, saying, “Time Management: Are all those hours spending [...]
December 24th, 2009 at 1:44 am
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
April 14th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
@ 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.
August 13th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
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.
August 13th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
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…
August 24th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
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.
April 22nd, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Have you ever been to a live sports game(like maybe baseball or football or basketball or hockey)? I t’s fun being around all the people and fans! But, you’re right! We need a goal of our own!
August 30th, 2011 at 12:21 am
You make some good points, but for sports fans, its the hobby we choose to enjoy. You can’t take life too seriously. Sure, working and doing constructive things is a part of life, but having fun and enjoying yourself is also a part of life. There just needs to be a proper balance. If you choose to enjoy sports as a hobby, great. Enjoy it. If not, then enjoy other hobbies. If you have no others, then you probably are taking life too seriously. Sports may be time consuming, but so are other hobbies. It’s all about what you choose to like. If you think sports are a waste of time, then maybe you need another hobby.
November 19th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
I enjoy watching sports occasionally, but the problem with sports at least for the vast majority of sports fanatics is that they get a sense of self worth from cheering for a particular team. Pick a team and cheer for them. But so many people identify themselves with a particular team to the point where they get depressed or angry if their team loses. It’s a game. You’re not playing the game. You’re not even coaching. You’re watching the game. You have no bearing on the outcome. If your team succeeds, then the TEAM succeeds. Not You! I could be a well educated and successful business owner who always cheers for the losing team and some homeless dude off the streets who always cheers for the winning team. At the end of the day, who’s really the loser? Sports are fine in the context that you view them as entertainment. Anything beyond that is just ridiculous. You can’t escape your miserable existence just because the team you root for comes out on top.
December 19th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
If people spent more time worrying about the things that affect their lives, and not sports, they’d probably be much better off. Sports probably have set human progress at important things back several hundred years. If people took the energy they currently spend on building their fantasy football team or learning baseball statistics, and put that toward science and engineering (or political struggles like fighting the current war against banks and wall street or becoming their own bosses), we would all be in the long run be happier and more in control of the things that affect us.
December 20th, 2011 at 5:41 am
Here’s the one problem: it’s not fun to do any of that altruistic/useful stuff. Not nearly as fun as hypothesizing whether or not your team is in the Yu Darvish sweepstakes or if the GM will trade away your top player for prospects. And that’s why sports are so popular: they’re fun (or at least can be) and they give us a rush where these other things don’t.
April 22nd, 2012 at 4:03 pm
But we just don’t do that! We don’t care about the country’s interests! We only care about sports(and sometimes entertainment)
April 22nd, 2012 at 3:59 pm
I’d say that sports are fun! Sure, there are other things in life, but, you need a sports break every once in a while! As we speak, I’m watching the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds on TV from Chicago’s Wrigley Field on WGN Television(Channel 9)
April 23rd, 2012 at 5:43 am
Go Cubs!