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.
