I'm pleased to report that I've survived over two full months as a reformed non-sportsfan. And as I've mentioned ad nauseum in previous posts, it hasn't been nearly as painful as I expected. Missing the Super Bowl still sticks in my craw a little (okay, a lot) but otherwise it's been a relatively seamless transition.
Till now. It's March. And even though my beloved Cal Bears have nearly finished yet another dreadful season I'm still eagerly anticipating the upcoming NCAA Tournament. In a couple of weeks the field will be set and the pooling will begin.
What to do, what to do?
Though it may not be obvious, I possess the soul of a perfectionist. I don't know why - no one in my family has ever exhibited perfectionist tendencies. But I've been this way my whole life. As a small child it was particularly acute. It took me forever to get my school work finished because every number and letter had to be perfectly formed. I couldn't function without an eraser nearby. About the only explanation I've ever been able to come up with is that perfectionism is a fundamental trait of my astrological sign, Virgo. Maybe that stuff is really true.
The point is that the perfectionist in me wants to finish what I started. No cheating. No lapses. Just a full year without sports. Simple. Clean. Unambiguous.
But my inner sportsfan couldn't care less about perfection. He's just bouncing off the walls waiting for the Tournament to start.
The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is by far my favorite postseason event in all of sports, and I believe it always will be. It's special for several reasons. First and foremost, no other major sporting event reliably produces the quantity of upsets and surprises that the Tournament delivers. David slays Goliath every year. Multiple times. Two years ago tiny George Mason made the Final Four. There is no equivalent accomplishment in any other major college or professional sport; only the NCAA Tournament is sufficiently egalitarian to allow the little guys to compete with the heavyweights. It's actually become a cliche - sports pundits and journalists regularly ask who will wear this year's glass slipper.
Second, almost everyone I know, even if they haven't watched a single minute of college basketball all year, takes a few minutes out of their busy lives to fill out a bracket and join the same pool that we've all been in for over ten years now. It's great fun. Bragging rights are on the line, and everyone is out to prove they know what's really happening in college basketball. So far it's never been me; I suppose one of these years I'm bound to win the grand prize....
And on a related note, being in a pool makes everything a little more intense. Few experiences in sports are more nerve wracking than watching your Final Four pick struggle in the first round of the Tournament. (Unfortunately for me, losing a Final Four pick on Day #1 has become an annual event but it never gets any easier to stomach.) Conversely, nothing is more satisfying than correctly predicting a major upset - especially if it's under the experts' radar.
So I'm torn. I have to say that I'm leaning strongly at this point toward joining a pool and also letting myself watch a few games. But the perfectionist in me hasn't given up. It's a classic Freudian battle - my id wants to watch the games but my superego is trying to keep me disciplined.
We'll see what happens....
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Is Arlen Specter a Steelers Fan?
Today I heard that Roger Clemens denied using steroids while under oath (in front of the Congress no less) and is now potentially guilty of perjury on top of everything else. That's old news compared to what I read tonight on the Huffington Post. Apparently Arlen Specter (R-PA) wants the NFL to come down harder on Bill Bellicheck for the Spygate incident. Maybe he's right.
When the Mitchell Report first came out I thought the whole thing was a waste of time. I figured the United States Congress should have bigger fish to fry than steroid use in baseball, especially with a disastrous war going on. And on some level I still feel that way.
But after thinking a bit more about it, I'm not so sure additional government oversight in pro sports would be a bad thing. Sports is big business, and the professional leagues effectively have a monopoly on the product they sell. Tom Brady won't be playing in the Arena League anytime soon. LeBron ain't going to the CBA to earn his paycheck. And the Rocket - he'll be in the Majors till his 'roids run out. Just kidding.
In sports, stars sell. Create more stars, sell more product. Simple. In other words, what is the incentive for any of these leagues to police themselves rigorously? If steroids fueled Mark McGuire's 70 home run year, so be it. The fans ate it up. And even Barry's controversial & cantankerous chase to break Aaron's record was great drama that brought all eyes to MLB for a year.
So maybe it's good Mitchell stepped in. If he hadn't launched his investigation, Roger Clemens would still be completely under the radar. And given the hell that Barry had to put up with to get his record, it seems like the Rocket should have to squirm in his seat a little also.
But I digress. This isn't about Barry & Roger. It's about preserving the integrity of sports. Mind you, I don't personally object to the use of performance enhancing drugs among professional athletes. It's their body and their choice. But either way, it should be discussed and ruled on in a neutral setting and then the enforced rigorously. If it's illegal, crack down hard on those who break the rules. If it's legalized, drop the whole debate and move on.
And I'm thinking that Specter, not my favorite senator, is right to have concerns about Spygate. Again, at first I dismissed the whole thing as harmless shenanigans. But upon further consideration (18-1), I'm thinking it probably gave the Pats an unfair advantage. An advantage they used to capture the best single season performance in league history - except for that last game of course. The drama of an undefeated team entering the Super Bowl was unprecedented - it was the most widely viewed Super Bowl ever. Why would the NFL want to step up and punish Bellicheck and the Pats for their transgressions? It would be bad for business.
And I haven't even commented on the absurd revelation last year that an NBA referee - in the Finals! - was guilty of having ties to the mafia and appears to have altered the outcome of some playoff games.
I'm not a huge conspiracy theorist by nature but there is ample reason for concern at this point. In the last year all three pro sports leagues have endured major scandals that cut right to the integrity of the games. That's pretty bad.
Perhaps it's time for some bona fide regulation to get things under control.
Cheers,
Chris
When the Mitchell Report first came out I thought the whole thing was a waste of time. I figured the United States Congress should have bigger fish to fry than steroid use in baseball, especially with a disastrous war going on. And on some level I still feel that way.
But after thinking a bit more about it, I'm not so sure additional government oversight in pro sports would be a bad thing. Sports is big business, and the professional leagues effectively have a monopoly on the product they sell. Tom Brady won't be playing in the Arena League anytime soon. LeBron ain't going to the CBA to earn his paycheck. And the Rocket - he'll be in the Majors till his 'roids run out. Just kidding.
In sports, stars sell. Create more stars, sell more product. Simple. In other words, what is the incentive for any of these leagues to police themselves rigorously? If steroids fueled Mark McGuire's 70 home run year, so be it. The fans ate it up. And even Barry's controversial & cantankerous chase to break Aaron's record was great drama that brought all eyes to MLB for a year.
So maybe it's good Mitchell stepped in. If he hadn't launched his investigation, Roger Clemens would still be completely under the radar. And given the hell that Barry had to put up with to get his record, it seems like the Rocket should have to squirm in his seat a little also.
But I digress. This isn't about Barry & Roger. It's about preserving the integrity of sports. Mind you, I don't personally object to the use of performance enhancing drugs among professional athletes. It's their body and their choice. But either way, it should be discussed and ruled on in a neutral setting and then the enforced rigorously. If it's illegal, crack down hard on those who break the rules. If it's legalized, drop the whole debate and move on.
And I'm thinking that Specter, not my favorite senator, is right to have concerns about Spygate. Again, at first I dismissed the whole thing as harmless shenanigans. But upon further consideration (18-1), I'm thinking it probably gave the Pats an unfair advantage. An advantage they used to capture the best single season performance in league history - except for that last game of course. The drama of an undefeated team entering the Super Bowl was unprecedented - it was the most widely viewed Super Bowl ever. Why would the NFL want to step up and punish Bellicheck and the Pats for their transgressions? It would be bad for business.
And I haven't even commented on the absurd revelation last year that an NBA referee - in the Finals! - was guilty of having ties to the mafia and appears to have altered the outcome of some playoff games.
I'm not a huge conspiracy theorist by nature but there is ample reason for concern at this point. In the last year all three pro sports leagues have endured major scandals that cut right to the integrity of the games. That's pretty bad.
Perhaps it's time for some bona fide regulation to get things under control.
Cheers,
Chris
Monday, February 11, 2008
But Seriously, Folks...
Welcome to the new & improved version of Blueshirt. Notice the fancy header, the subtitle, and the new content on the side. I figured it was time to add a little pizazz to the site. Consider this the first step in an ongoing evolution....
Anyway, now that I've dispensed with the pleasantries, allow me to get to the point. It occurred to me this weekend that following sports really is a big waste of time. (I don't mean to oversimplify - I obviously had my suspicions already or I wouldn't have undertaken this project in the first place.) The problem is that suddenly it troubles me greatly.
The realization really hit home yesterday. If this were an ordinary year in my life, I would have spent the afternoon at Haas Pavilion watching the Bears play (and lose to) the Oregon Ducks. And normally it would have been fun - those two teams always put on a good show in Berkeley and the Bears usually win.
But because I wasn't attending the game, I was able to take advantage of our unseasonably warm winter day and play 9-holes of golf at Tilden Park in the morning. Time is so scarce on the weekend that doing both would have been impossible.
So it really was that simple. I traded two hours of sitting on my duff, indoors, for two hours of walking around beautiful Tilden Park while working on my flawed golf game. No doubt, it was an upgrade all around. (I should add that even if the Bears had won it still would have been an upgrade).
Good for me - I did the right thing. But what about all the fans who actually went to Haas yesterday? And what about the millions of fans all across the country who watched their favorite college basketball game yesterday? Or the hundreds of thousands who watched their favorite NBA games yesterday? And let's not forget the die-hard NHL fans who watched their hockey heroes check each other into the boards last night.
I know that sports are hugely important to our society, and I understand better than most people why that is. But for the first time in my whole life I'm questioning if perhaps it's too important. The amount of time and money that people pour into sports (myself included) suddenly seems somewhat misplaced.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to make this argument, but I don't think it gets much play in the popular press. And how could it? Every major newspaper and television station in the country has a sports department. Who is going to get on their soapbox and tell Americans to stop wasting so much time watching the very content they're selling?
Indeed, sports have become big, big business. And big businesses want to get bigger, not smaller. For years, David Stern was lauded as the best commissioner in professional sports because he successfully marketed the NBA overseas. Everyone knows the fastest way to grow a business is to assimilate new markets, and Stern is the master.
Anyway, I'm not sure what to do with my newfound concerns. Writing about it is a good first step, and quite possibly the last. But is there something more that can or should be done? Do people need to be challenged on this issue? Or do most people just follow sports casually enough that a few hours here & there each week wouldn't really make a difference anyway? And if they didn't follow sports, would they just use the time to do something equally as frivolous? Perhaps even destructive? I certainly don't know.
What I do know is that people like me who love sports don't really think anything else is quite as entertaining so they don't worry about all the implications. They just want to root for their teams and talk about the games. Ah, the good old days....
Cheers,
Chris
Anyway, now that I've dispensed with the pleasantries, allow me to get to the point. It occurred to me this weekend that following sports really is a big waste of time. (I don't mean to oversimplify - I obviously had my suspicions already or I wouldn't have undertaken this project in the first place.) The problem is that suddenly it troubles me greatly.
The realization really hit home yesterday. If this were an ordinary year in my life, I would have spent the afternoon at Haas Pavilion watching the Bears play (and lose to) the Oregon Ducks. And normally it would have been fun - those two teams always put on a good show in Berkeley and the Bears usually win.
But because I wasn't attending the game, I was able to take advantage of our unseasonably warm winter day and play 9-holes of golf at Tilden Park in the morning. Time is so scarce on the weekend that doing both would have been impossible.
So it really was that simple. I traded two hours of sitting on my duff, indoors, for two hours of walking around beautiful Tilden Park while working on my flawed golf game. No doubt, it was an upgrade all around. (I should add that even if the Bears had won it still would have been an upgrade).
Good for me - I did the right thing. But what about all the fans who actually went to Haas yesterday? And what about the millions of fans all across the country who watched their favorite college basketball game yesterday? Or the hundreds of thousands who watched their favorite NBA games yesterday? And let's not forget the die-hard NHL fans who watched their hockey heroes check each other into the boards last night.
I know that sports are hugely important to our society, and I understand better than most people why that is. But for the first time in my whole life I'm questioning if perhaps it's too important. The amount of time and money that people pour into sports (myself included) suddenly seems somewhat misplaced.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to make this argument, but I don't think it gets much play in the popular press. And how could it? Every major newspaper and television station in the country has a sports department. Who is going to get on their soapbox and tell Americans to stop wasting so much time watching the very content they're selling?
Indeed, sports have become big, big business. And big businesses want to get bigger, not smaller. For years, David Stern was lauded as the best commissioner in professional sports because he successfully marketed the NBA overseas. Everyone knows the fastest way to grow a business is to assimilate new markets, and Stern is the master.
Anyway, I'm not sure what to do with my newfound concerns. Writing about it is a good first step, and quite possibly the last. But is there something more that can or should be done? Do people need to be challenged on this issue? Or do most people just follow sports casually enough that a few hours here & there each week wouldn't really make a difference anyway? And if they didn't follow sports, would they just use the time to do something equally as frivolous? Perhaps even destructive? I certainly don't know.
What I do know is that people like me who love sports don't really think anything else is quite as entertaining so they don't worry about all the implications. They just want to root for their teams and talk about the games. Ah, the good old days....
Cheers,
Chris
Monday, February 4, 2008
18-1? Doh!
Maybe sports is more than a habit. If it was just a habit, I don't think I'd be depressed today.
Yesterday the NFL staged one of the best Super Bowls ever and I missed it completely. I didn't listen on the radio, watch the highlights, or read about it afterward. All I did was talk about it at the office all day. Or more accurately, I listened to my many sports-knowledgeable colleagues give me a detailed recap of the game while I answered with my lame excuse for why I missed it.
It's true that during the game I was driving home from Tahoe in a snowstorm, averaging about 13 miles/hour between Tahoe City and Auburn. But it's not true that I forgot to TiVo the game or that I couldn't find it on the radio.
I haven't told anyone at work that I've given up sports for the year. I've told a couple of guys I'm trying to watch less sports in 2008, but that's it. It's easier than explaining the whole project.
(As an aside, with March Madness rapidly approaching I may have to come clean. There will be no other way to explain my decision to skip the office pool and miss all the games, especially since my passion is already well-known amongst my colleagues.)
Anyway, back to the Super Bowl. It was not only the biggest upset since I stopped watching/reading about sports (big deal, a whole month), but it's one of the biggest ever. Upsets are what makes being a fan so fun. If the favorite always won sports would be a totally boring experience. And teams like the Bears would have absolutely no fans at all.
So today was the first day that this whole project seemed like a genuinely questionable idea. I suppose I can take some solace in the fact that it took a full month to feel that way. And certainly it's not surprising. When I was deciding whether to give up sports for the year I made a list of the things I would miss most. #1 was Cal vs. U$C (football, of course). #2 was March Madness. And #3 was the Super Bowl.
So here I am. One down, two to go. But the gap between the Tournament and the Super Bowl is light years - if this hurt I can only imagine how I'll feel in March. And for good measure, the Bears swept their road series this weekend and are actually back in the Tournament hunt again. If they rally with a late season Tourney run, I'm going to implode.
With that, let me introduce the first recurring features of the Blueshirt blog:
- The Temptation Index. It measures how tempted to tune into sports I am for the coming week (on a scale from 1-10).
- The Regret Index. It measures how depressed I am that I missed the previous week's events (also on a scale from 1-10).
This week's Temptation Index is 2. I'm not convinced the Bears' road sweep will turn into a bona fide win streak (it never, ever does), plus I don't even know who they are playing this week.
This week's Regret Index is 7. I suppose it's kind of low considering it was the best Super Bowl ever, but even the best SB is still a lot worse than the first weekend of March Madness. I'm leaving room in the scale for the expected pain to come. Maybe I'll get lucky and it won't be that bad.
Signing off for now.....
Cheers,
Chris
Yesterday the NFL staged one of the best Super Bowls ever and I missed it completely. I didn't listen on the radio, watch the highlights, or read about it afterward. All I did was talk about it at the office all day. Or more accurately, I listened to my many sports-knowledgeable colleagues give me a detailed recap of the game while I answered with my lame excuse for why I missed it.
It's true that during the game I was driving home from Tahoe in a snowstorm, averaging about 13 miles/hour between Tahoe City and Auburn. But it's not true that I forgot to TiVo the game or that I couldn't find it on the radio.
I haven't told anyone at work that I've given up sports for the year. I've told a couple of guys I'm trying to watch less sports in 2008, but that's it. It's easier than explaining the whole project.
(As an aside, with March Madness rapidly approaching I may have to come clean. There will be no other way to explain my decision to skip the office pool and miss all the games, especially since my passion is already well-known amongst my colleagues.)
Anyway, back to the Super Bowl. It was not only the biggest upset since I stopped watching/reading about sports (big deal, a whole month), but it's one of the biggest ever. Upsets are what makes being a fan so fun. If the favorite always won sports would be a totally boring experience. And teams like the Bears would have absolutely no fans at all.
So today was the first day that this whole project seemed like a genuinely questionable idea. I suppose I can take some solace in the fact that it took a full month to feel that way. And certainly it's not surprising. When I was deciding whether to give up sports for the year I made a list of the things I would miss most. #1 was Cal vs. U$C (football, of course). #2 was March Madness. And #3 was the Super Bowl.
So here I am. One down, two to go. But the gap between the Tournament and the Super Bowl is light years - if this hurt I can only imagine how I'll feel in March. And for good measure, the Bears swept their road series this weekend and are actually back in the Tournament hunt again. If they rally with a late season Tourney run, I'm going to implode.
With that, let me introduce the first recurring features of the Blueshirt blog:
- The Temptation Index. It measures how tempted to tune into sports I am for the coming week (on a scale from 1-10).
- The Regret Index. It measures how depressed I am that I missed the previous week's events (also on a scale from 1-10).
This week's Temptation Index is 2. I'm not convinced the Bears' road sweep will turn into a bona fide win streak (it never, ever does), plus I don't even know who they are playing this week.
This week's Regret Index is 7. I suppose it's kind of low considering it was the best Super Bowl ever, but even the best SB is still a lot worse than the first weekend of March Madness. I'm leaving room in the scale for the expected pain to come. Maybe I'll get lucky and it won't be that bad.
Signing off for now.....
Cheers,
Chris
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Habitual User
Maybe being a sports fan is just a habit. Not a need, an addiction, or even a desire – just a habit.
For the last ten years I have attended, watched, or listened to most every Cal football and basketball game that has been played. That's a lot of games - about 12 football games and 30 basketball games every year.
During that time I essentially planned my whole life around the Cal schedule. Social events couldn’t conflict. Out-of-town guests could only visit during road weekends (unless they wanted to attend the games with me). Vacations & business trips had to be planned around the games. Hotels were selected based on their cable package (would they show the game?). Even the birth of our children couldn’t get in the way – our oldest daughter was only about 7 weeks old for her first football game. (She brought us good luck, by the way – that game was Cal’s historic win over USC during Tedford’s 2nd year.)
And however excessive that may sound, at the time it seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
But now that I’ve pulled the plug, I look back with a great deal of bewilderment. It just doesn’t make sense. Even accounting for the thrills of the great wins (the aforementioned USC game, this year’s Tennessee game, etc.) it’s hard for me to understand what I was thinking.
So I’m wondering if it was just a habit. I’m no expert on habitual behavior, but I believe they happen unconsciously. A habitual nail biter doesn’t realize they’re doing it. They just do it. Maybe I got so used to following the Bears that it never occurred to me that I was doing anything unusual or unreasonable.
It’s hard to imagine I could be so mindless about something so pervasive in my life, but it might actually be true.
I’m about a month into my no-sports experiment it’s been remarkably easy since day 1. I’ve been tempted a few times and I’ve had a couple of minor lapses, but that’s nothing in the grand scheme.
If the Bears were a true addiction, which I thought was a possibility, I don’t think the separation would be so easy. I know they’re having a disappointing season, but in years past that would be all the more reason to root for them. Hope springs eternal for a true fan, and this particular team does have a lot of talent.
Anyway, I don’t think I can answer the question right here or now, but it does seem worth asking. If anyone has any thoughts on the topic feel free to weigh in.
Cheers,
Chris
For the last ten years I have attended, watched, or listened to most every Cal football and basketball game that has been played. That's a lot of games - about 12 football games and 30 basketball games every year.
During that time I essentially planned my whole life around the Cal schedule. Social events couldn’t conflict. Out-of-town guests could only visit during road weekends (unless they wanted to attend the games with me). Vacations & business trips had to be planned around the games. Hotels were selected based on their cable package (would they show the game?). Even the birth of our children couldn’t get in the way – our oldest daughter was only about 7 weeks old for her first football game. (She brought us good luck, by the way – that game was Cal’s historic win over USC during Tedford’s 2nd year.)
And however excessive that may sound, at the time it seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
But now that I’ve pulled the plug, I look back with a great deal of bewilderment. It just doesn’t make sense. Even accounting for the thrills of the great wins (the aforementioned USC game, this year’s Tennessee game, etc.) it’s hard for me to understand what I was thinking.
So I’m wondering if it was just a habit. I’m no expert on habitual behavior, but I believe they happen unconsciously. A habitual nail biter doesn’t realize they’re doing it. They just do it. Maybe I got so used to following the Bears that it never occurred to me that I was doing anything unusual or unreasonable.
It’s hard to imagine I could be so mindless about something so pervasive in my life, but it might actually be true.
I’m about a month into my no-sports experiment it’s been remarkably easy since day 1. I’ve been tempted a few times and I’ve had a couple of minor lapses, but that’s nothing in the grand scheme.
If the Bears were a true addiction, which I thought was a possibility, I don’t think the separation would be so easy. I know they’re having a disappointing season, but in years past that would be all the more reason to root for them. Hope springs eternal for a true fan, and this particular team does have a lot of talent.
Anyway, I don’t think I can answer the question right here or now, but it does seem worth asking. If anyone has any thoughts on the topic feel free to weigh in.
Cheers,
Chris
Monday, January 21, 2008
Second Hand Sports
First off, thanks to everyone who gave me their thoughts about taking Syd to a women's basketball game. Although many of you said it would be okay I've decided to go with the hardliners - I'm not going to take her. Instead, I'll find another activity featuring M&Ms and popcorn that we can do together.
In other news, it's been exactly three weeks since I started this experiment and a few clear patterns have started to emerge.
The most obvious one, and the topic for this post, is that I am definitely not living in a sports blackout. On the contrary, sports is still all around me. Many of my friends & family are big sports fans so it comes up regularly when we hang out or talk on the phone. And at the office it is also a regular topic of conversation. In fact, at work it is somewhat of a necessity since I try to avoid discussing anything edgy (e.g., politics) with most of my colleagues.
And all my regular news sites (SFGate.com, WSJ.com, NYTimes.com) have sports headlines on their homepage, so without ever clicking a link I can get caught up on the basics. My commute is another wellspring of information. In the mornings I take the Casual Carpool to work so I hear different radio stations on different days. Today John Madden was telling me his views about whether Brett Favre would retire (he might). On the way home I take BART, and I occasionally see people reading the local sports page so I'm able to catch the headlines. That's how I learned that the Bears had recently dropped a double-overtime home game to perennial PacTen bottom dwellers Arizona State.
And that's not the worst of it. Sunday we hosted a small going-away party for some old friends, and one of them is a big Packers fan so we had the game on in our living all afternoon! Then Monday I was at the Tilden Park club house after a round of golf, and of course SportsCenter was on every TV in the dining room.
So what am I to make of all this second hand sports exposure? Is the whole experiment a failure after just three weeks?
I say no. On the contrary, I think it's going much better than expected.
I have faithfully adhered to the rules stipulated in my first post and that is the point. Excluding my lapses during the first week, when I read two articles about the Bears, I have not read more than a headline about any sporting event that has occurred in January. And until the Packers game on Sunday, I had not spent one minute of any day this year watching sports. (As an aside, I never sat down to watch it in earnest. I caught a few plays here and there, especially the critical field goals at the end, but I was too busy hosting to focus on the game.)
In other words, I'm doing exactly what I set out to do and I still know most of what's happening in sports. The only difference is that I don't find out till after things already happen. It's the best of both worlds. I don't have to spend any of my valuable free time following sports, but I don't have to live in a vacuum, either.
And what I've noticed thus far is that I haven't missed much of anything. There hasn't been a major upset in any sporting event so far in 2008. And my beloved Bears are heading for yet another disappointing season, despite having more talent on the roster than any of us can remember. If they were having a good year this would all be a lot harder.
Cheers,
Chris
In other news, it's been exactly three weeks since I started this experiment and a few clear patterns have started to emerge.
The most obvious one, and the topic for this post, is that I am definitely not living in a sports blackout. On the contrary, sports is still all around me. Many of my friends & family are big sports fans so it comes up regularly when we hang out or talk on the phone. And at the office it is also a regular topic of conversation. In fact, at work it is somewhat of a necessity since I try to avoid discussing anything edgy (e.g., politics) with most of my colleagues.
And all my regular news sites (SFGate.com, WSJ.com, NYTimes.com) have sports headlines on their homepage, so without ever clicking a link I can get caught up on the basics. My commute is another wellspring of information. In the mornings I take the Casual Carpool to work so I hear different radio stations on different days. Today John Madden was telling me his views about whether Brett Favre would retire (he might). On the way home I take BART, and I occasionally see people reading the local sports page so I'm able to catch the headlines. That's how I learned that the Bears had recently dropped a double-overtime home game to perennial PacTen bottom dwellers Arizona State.
And that's not the worst of it. Sunday we hosted a small going-away party for some old friends, and one of them is a big Packers fan so we had the game on in our living all afternoon! Then Monday I was at the Tilden Park club house after a round of golf, and of course SportsCenter was on every TV in the dining room.
So what am I to make of all this second hand sports exposure? Is the whole experiment a failure after just three weeks?
I say no. On the contrary, I think it's going much better than expected.
I have faithfully adhered to the rules stipulated in my first post and that is the point. Excluding my lapses during the first week, when I read two articles about the Bears, I have not read more than a headline about any sporting event that has occurred in January. And until the Packers game on Sunday, I had not spent one minute of any day this year watching sports. (As an aside, I never sat down to watch it in earnest. I caught a few plays here and there, especially the critical field goals at the end, but I was too busy hosting to focus on the game.)
In other words, I'm doing exactly what I set out to do and I still know most of what's happening in sports. The only difference is that I don't find out till after things already happen. It's the best of both worlds. I don't have to spend any of my valuable free time following sports, but I don't have to live in a vacuum, either.
And what I've noticed thus far is that I haven't missed much of anything. There hasn't been a major upset in any sporting event so far in 2008. And my beloved Bears are heading for yet another disappointing season, despite having more talent on the roster than any of us can remember. If they were having a good year this would all be a lot harder.
Cheers,
Chris
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Pull Up the Roots
Greetings, everyone. And thanks for all your support and encouragement this week. I definitely appreciate it.
A few people also wrote to me expressing concerns about the motives for the project, which I suppose is reasonable. One friend put it this way: "I can only conclude you concluded you had a problem. Best of luck making change in 2008." Others feared that perhaps Cheryl had given me some sort of ultimatum, or at the very least that it was motivated by marital stress. (Somebody also joked that Cheryl must have threatened to withhold sex unless I gave up sports.)
I'm pleased to say that none of these are correct. If they were, I don't think I'd be keeping a public log of my progress.
The truth is that the initial motivation for the experiment was to write about it. Like many (most?) people I have always dreamed of becoming a writer, and over the past few years I've started numerous fiction projects. But invariably I've abandoned them, and always for the same reason - they lacked passion.
And then one night in December it hit me. Living without sports for a year and writing about the experience would definitely solve that problem. It would be like a literary version of "Cold Turkey" with some social commentary thrown in for good measure. The pain of my sports withdrawals would make for compelling drama, and my observations about a life without sports would add depth and substance.
So that was the original thinking. I ran the idea past Cheryl and she liked it right away. Then I bounced it off a few more people and the results were mixed but mostly positive. A couple of people suggested I blog it, and I obviously took that advice.
But now that I'm actually not watching sports and writing about the experience, I've had to think about my motives a lot more carefully. Otherwise there wouldn't be much to write about. And upon further reflection there are three primary reasons this seems like a very good idea to me (regardless of whether the writing project comes to fruition.)
Starting with the negative, I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge a grain of truth to my friend's conclusion that I concluded that I had a problem. Just before Christmas I went to my in-laws' house for the holidays. I arrived two days after Cheryl and the kids so naturally we were all excited to see each other. But after about a half-hour of catching up, I excused myself to go watch a delayed Cal BB game. I proceeded to waste the next 90 minutes of my life watching uninspired, losing basketball when I should have been spending time with the family. After the game, I realized what a waste it was. And I thought about all the times I had done something similar - too many to count - and I decided it was time for a change.
But I didn't have to go cold turkey to solve that problem. Simply cutting back my sports viewing would have been enough to get things under control. In fact, I think that's what most sports fans do.
But there are some positive motivations, too, and they are the ones that are driving me to go cold turkey. Mostly, I'm excited about this upcoming year because it will be the first time in my life I've made a conscious effort to pursue other interests with the intensity I pursue sports. I've never much cared for non-sports TV, and likewise my leisure time Web surfing has typically been limited to ESPN.com, SFGate.com/Sports, and The Bear Insider. During work hours, of course I check news sites like WSJ.com and NYTimes.com, but when I'm unwinding at home those are nowhere on my radar. And now all of that has to change. In fact on Friday night I was a bit panicked because I realized I had absolutely no leisure time sites to surf. But on Saturday I regained my composure and remembered The Onion.com and Slate.com, both of which were quite amusing.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I wanted to challenge myself, to shake things up just for the sport of it (heh heh). My life has been a case-study in stability. I've never had a mailing address outside of California and I've lived in the Bay Area since 1987. I own a house that is about 1 mile from where I lived in college and around the block from my first apartment after college. I've had pretty much the same friends since graduating Berkeley, with a few key additions over the years. I've only worked for four companies in my entire professional career, and if things go well I'll stay with my current employer till I retire. And I'm married with kids. Things move slow in my world.
So what could I really do to shake things up? Quit my job? Sell my house? Find new friends? Leave my wife and kids? Not a chance - those are all the best things in my life. But I could give up the Bears and sports in general just to see what happened. I could remove a fundamental pillar of my identity and then live through the repercussions. Anything could happen, but it would be worth the risk. My biggest fear going in was that I would fall into a deep depression. And it still may happen. March Madness may take on a whole new, literal meaning for me. But I think it's the right thing to do regardless. As a working stiff/family man, it's easy to fall into a rut and just do what you've always done forever. Changing things here and there has to be a good idea.
Fortunately, so far so good. Until next time....
Cheers,
Chris
P.S. If anyone is still reading, I'd like some advice. Sydney has been asking me to take her to a basketball game, and I thought that maybe a women's game would be a good compromise. I haven't seen a women's game since college, so it's not something I'd normally do. And since it's a bonding activity for me & Syd, and it gives her a chance to see women playing sports at a high level, it seems like it wouldn't be breaking the spirit of my resolution. I'm curious to know what others think. (I changed the settings on the site so you can post comments anonymously.) Thanks again, Chris.
A few people also wrote to me expressing concerns about the motives for the project, which I suppose is reasonable. One friend put it this way: "I can only conclude you concluded you had a problem. Best of luck making change in 2008." Others feared that perhaps Cheryl had given me some sort of ultimatum, or at the very least that it was motivated by marital stress. (Somebody also joked that Cheryl must have threatened to withhold sex unless I gave up sports.)
I'm pleased to say that none of these are correct. If they were, I don't think I'd be keeping a public log of my progress.
The truth is that the initial motivation for the experiment was to write about it. Like many (most?) people I have always dreamed of becoming a writer, and over the past few years I've started numerous fiction projects. But invariably I've abandoned them, and always for the same reason - they lacked passion.
And then one night in December it hit me. Living without sports for a year and writing about the experience would definitely solve that problem. It would be like a literary version of "Cold Turkey" with some social commentary thrown in for good measure. The pain of my sports withdrawals would make for compelling drama, and my observations about a life without sports would add depth and substance.
So that was the original thinking. I ran the idea past Cheryl and she liked it right away. Then I bounced it off a few more people and the results were mixed but mostly positive. A couple of people suggested I blog it, and I obviously took that advice.
But now that I'm actually not watching sports and writing about the experience, I've had to think about my motives a lot more carefully. Otherwise there wouldn't be much to write about. And upon further reflection there are three primary reasons this seems like a very good idea to me (regardless of whether the writing project comes to fruition.)
Starting with the negative, I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge a grain of truth to my friend's conclusion that I concluded that I had a problem. Just before Christmas I went to my in-laws' house for the holidays. I arrived two days after Cheryl and the kids so naturally we were all excited to see each other. But after about a half-hour of catching up, I excused myself to go watch a delayed Cal BB game. I proceeded to waste the next 90 minutes of my life watching uninspired, losing basketball when I should have been spending time with the family. After the game, I realized what a waste it was. And I thought about all the times I had done something similar - too many to count - and I decided it was time for a change.
But I didn't have to go cold turkey to solve that problem. Simply cutting back my sports viewing would have been enough to get things under control. In fact, I think that's what most sports fans do.
But there are some positive motivations, too, and they are the ones that are driving me to go cold turkey. Mostly, I'm excited about this upcoming year because it will be the first time in my life I've made a conscious effort to pursue other interests with the intensity I pursue sports. I've never much cared for non-sports TV, and likewise my leisure time Web surfing has typically been limited to ESPN.com, SFGate.com/Sports, and The Bear Insider. During work hours, of course I check news sites like WSJ.com and NYTimes.com, but when I'm unwinding at home those are nowhere on my radar. And now all of that has to change. In fact on Friday night I was a bit panicked because I realized I had absolutely no leisure time sites to surf. But on Saturday I regained my composure and remembered The Onion.com and Slate.com, both of which were quite amusing.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I wanted to challenge myself, to shake things up just for the sport of it (heh heh). My life has been a case-study in stability. I've never had a mailing address outside of California and I've lived in the Bay Area since 1987. I own a house that is about 1 mile from where I lived in college and around the block from my first apartment after college. I've had pretty much the same friends since graduating Berkeley, with a few key additions over the years. I've only worked for four companies in my entire professional career, and if things go well I'll stay with my current employer till I retire. And I'm married with kids. Things move slow in my world.
So what could I really do to shake things up? Quit my job? Sell my house? Find new friends? Leave my wife and kids? Not a chance - those are all the best things in my life. But I could give up the Bears and sports in general just to see what happened. I could remove a fundamental pillar of my identity and then live through the repercussions. Anything could happen, but it would be worth the risk. My biggest fear going in was that I would fall into a deep depression. And it still may happen. March Madness may take on a whole new, literal meaning for me. But I think it's the right thing to do regardless. As a working stiff/family man, it's easy to fall into a rut and just do what you've always done forever. Changing things here and there has to be a good idea.
Fortunately, so far so good. Until next time....
Cheers,
Chris
P.S. If anyone is still reading, I'd like some advice. Sydney has been asking me to take her to a basketball game, and I thought that maybe a women's game would be a good compromise. I haven't seen a women's game since college, so it's not something I'd normally do. And since it's a bonding activity for me & Syd, and it gives her a chance to see women playing sports at a high level, it seems like it wouldn't be breaking the spirit of my resolution. I'm curious to know what others think. (I changed the settings on the site so you can post comments anonymously.) Thanks again, Chris.
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