The 162-game baseball season is a week old already. Only 156 more games left on the schedule. I, for one, won’t be watching as many contests on TV this season. And not just because the St. Louis Cardinals won’t be as good as last year, when they were expected to win their division but underwhelmed their followers.
Time is the key factor. Our lives only have so many hours to pursue leisure activities, especially if we work full time, are engaged in church activities and are in school, all of which I do. So it’s hard for me to justify sitting in front of a screen for three hours a night to watch men trying to pitch, hit and catch a ball.
The other reason is that I wrote a paper for seminary on sports addiction last month. I’ve researched how sports can not only consume a fan’s time but also impact his personality. A team’s loss truly can depress a person who has an undue reliance on baseball (or football, basketball, hockey, etc.) as a component of his life.
Another factor is whether I really want to express such devotion to athletes who — for all intents and purposes — are mercenaries. While “love of the game” isn’t going to pay a player’s bills, I’m really turned off by Albert Pujols rejecting a reported seven-year, $20 million contract offer as insufficient. I think I’ll be doing more reading and less baseball watching this summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment