This topic first came up about two years ago, while I was working at an outdoor shop in Tucson, Arizona. One of my colleagues was living with a sports addict. Her boyfriend was a classic case, watching ESPN all day. If no major sports were on, such as hockey, football, baseball, basketball, or soccer – he would simply watch whatever happened to be showing: cricket, billiards, ping-pong, and such.
My colleague complained that her boyfriend would also listen non-stop to sports radio. Many times these activities would interrupt their conversations and time spent together. She wasn’t able to watch anything on TV that wasn’t sports! I listened to her stories, and decided to share my own experience with sports addiction. I explained that her boyfriend wasn’t a lone case.
Everything Sports
It was fresh in my mind since I had just started my “recovery” from sports addiction a few months earlier. Luckily, ESPN’s cable TV programming wasn’t part of my routine, but everything else sports-related was fair game. I listened to ESPN radio religiously; I don’t say this jokingly – it was obsessive worship. Any time sports were on local TV, I was glued. I followed sports web sites to see scores, highlights, pictures, and read commentary.
Fantasy leagues were common in my life also – I did football, baseball, and basketball every year. Last but not least, I would open up any newspaper, skip the front couple sections, and go right for the sports page. Often that was the only part of the paper I consumed.
During spring and summer I listened to every Major League Baseball game that was broadcast from our local radio station. Exasperated, my wife asked me how I could possibly plan my day and week around a game on TV or radio, and I didn’t know how to explain it. It was then I realized she was living with a sports addict.
Stop the Bleeding
My decision to stop the bleeding came during one of the goal sessions that I share with my wife. We sit down at least once a year to discuss the year past and the year ahead. We share our thoughts, goals, and dreams. I mentioned that I wanted to make a change. About the same time, I purchased a new computer and considered starting a web design business. It worked out well since the web design learning and projects took lots of time – time I could no longer commit to sports.
Why did I do it? My relationship with my wife, job, and other hobbies were suffering. That’s it, plain and simple. Like some things in life, however, I couldn’t just quit sports by weaning myself slowly off. It had to be a clean break.
I deleted my fantasy sports league subscriptions and declined further invitations to join. I stopped watching and listening to sports and related programming. If I saw a newspaper, I would read the Business and Culture sections instead. It worked well! These days I do occasionally catch a game or two – but I certainly am not as involved emotionally, mentally, and financially as before.
Sports as Religion
There are many correlations between sports and religion, especially in terms of adoration of stars and spending a full Saturday or Sunday worshiping. Spending the day enthralled in worship and adoration could be said of both fervent parishioners and sports fans. The ardor involved in passionately following a team or sport fulfills one’s need for something bigger to root for – a larger cause. For many it has ties to religion, patriotism, family, and geographic identity. The feeling of involvement in something larger than life is a very strong motivation.
There is also the reflection of a “warlike” mentality. In this mentality there is always a clear winner and loser, which reminds me of good versus evil; you are either for us or against us. If you are on the winning side, you are justified in your fanaticism and belief. This reinforces the adoration and worship all over again.
For myself it was all these things and more. Sports involved a strong geographic identity: I had bonds to the Buffalo Bills, Arizona Diamondbacks, University of Arizona college athletics, and soccer teams from France and Mexico. It was a means of connecting with friends, family, and millions of other souls across the world. As in religion, the more I invested in it, the more I got out of it.
Interested But Not Addicted
Don’t get me wrong, I think that it is fine to be interested in sports, even to be a dedicated fan… but it was very consuming for me in particular. It ate up a lot of time, energy, and a good amount of money too. As with wine, good food, and outdoor adventure, a balanced diet of sports is the key to not letting it get the best of you.
