Mrs. Groovy and I used to go to one or two concerts a year. Massive sports fanatic as a kid. The owners and players have ruined something that used to be a wonderful way for families and friends to bond. Notice how the songwriters said if your team doesn’t win it’s a shame. Let’s just play and get on with our fantasy world. I’m a freedomist. No differences exist across racial lines. That’s what happened to me on the road to de-sportification. Only 18% see “today's political and social issues as two different things.” The remainder believe it’s the same thing (26%) or something in-between (56%). I think the final straw for me was the spectacle of studio analysts in thousand-dollar suits creaming themselves over a guy throwing a touchdown pass. Hey, Mrs. WoW. Had they came up in today’s game, they’d all be wearing Yankees or Red Sox uniforms. I begged my father to enter and he refused. Share of youth watching selected sports in the U.S. 2017. Your entire column is spot on. Most of us would have been happy to stay in the parking lot and tailgate than go into the stadium. I used to be a huge, die-hard New York Islander fan. Now I can’t name five players on the team. I had a friend one time who got the shit kicked out of him in a bar defending the honor of his beloved Boston Bruins. To tie so much of your persona into something you have no control over never made sense. But the BLM movement and them walking out? It’s not really even the salaries that bother me ultimately. That’s very rare these days. Confess your redemption all you want, I’ll be over here doing a brake job on my decade-old car so I can get to work. There are no TRUE athletes anymore! President Donald Trump said that he will stop watching U.S. Soccer and NFL games after both entities showed support for players protesting the national anthem. Things are swell over here… Hope you are too. Leagues, teams, players, networks and broadcasters that continue to weave in politics risk losing fans who may never come back. Your comment gave me a glimmering of hope for humanity. Thank you, Joe. So that’s how I came up with the numbers in my post. But now, like you, I’ve come to realize that a life not revolving around men in costumes is indeed “fantastic.” Thanks for stopping by, Kate. You get paid millions of dollars to be a sports athlete and you think that’s useless? And hoping this article gains more traction and people see what an enormous drain of resources (time, money, energy) professional sports has become! The whole superbowl ad worship, it’s very sick. And secondly, the politicization of sports is the nail in the coffin for me. Hockey and football costumes are highly functional but still bizarre. But when tickets started approaching $50, $75, and $100, we said goodbye. Sports is an escape. Colleges should get out of the sports business. Die, Spartans, die! The current blend of sports, politics and social issues surrounding the NBA is unlikely to help ratings in the near and long term. I will add that the overall quality of play in the different professional leagues has declined. For all the building wealth doubters out there, put that in your pipe and smoke it! It’s also good to see he may have conquered his post-career demons. The Baltimore Colts left Baltimore in the middle of the night for Indianapolis. I don’t even think I would wear a gifted hat. Best of luck, Cubert. I too lost interest and maybe just watch the Super Bowl, mainly cause that is what everyone does and I don’t want to feel left out. One horrific example of this occurred on the ice in Buffalo when an errant skate sliced across a goalie’s neck and cut his internal carotid artery. I think you nailed it here!!! Come next season your favorite player might of even jumped to a new team for more money. I’m sure you’ll have a blast. Fans at-risk watched occasionally, often or frequently in the past but watch less frequently now. It’s stupid how u think that all sports players are bad people. But perhaps you’re skeptical. I watched less games. You are so right that sports can be a huge time suck. Invest that same amount of money every year for 40 years at 8% and you would have $352,680. Were I still living on Long Island, here’s what it would cost to watch every game of my favorite New York teams and go to at least one of their home games. In my experience, avid sports fans are usually nurtured from early childhood. Remind me that if I ever write an application that stores personal data that I should randomize said data in such a way that it’s wrong, but close-enough. I’ve got more productive things to do that interest me. this has me dying! For the longest time, I knew who played in every Super Bowl and what the final score was. The No. If I do donate, it’s for restricted merit-based uses. Nothing but roided up cheaters. People travel on business trips a lot for big businesses just like sports players do. Yikes. It means the owners and coaches were very skillful and lucky at putting together a team of players. Love it, Claudia. Oh boy, this is a topic that can get pretty deep…..college sports? It doesn’t mean our city is better than yours because our team won. The stadiums are multi-million dollar projects, and often mostly paid for by tax dollars. While it may be big business, they’re not making much (if any) off of me. And, yes, I can’t wait for our Sunday RTT. They didn’t say if your team doesn’t win it’s time to sack the city.”. Being a patriot-phobe is just as ugly as being a homophobe or an Islamophobe. As you pointed out the cost is out of this world. Peace. We haven’t bought a CD/album in years. My mom is from Boston and I knew her side of the family were Sox fans. Let me know what you think when you get a chance. j/k He never had anything to chat about with the barber and now that I shave his head, he doesn’t have any reason to go and sit there quietly. Silly to sit in front of TV and applaud or scream but hey, let’s enjoy a little! Lol. Musical-chair franchises are a feature of every major professional sport. My Dad and I watched every Packers game on the tiny (12”?) Seems they want to take the easy route for a championship ring, just like in the NBA where players will call out their teammates, throw them under the bus and demand a trade to a contender. This will be the show's eighth appearance in Norman, the last being in 2012 when the Sooners played No. Cops, after all, aren’t X-Men. It is ridiculous how the costs to attend a game have gotten out of control.”. It’s expensive. Had to get technical bout it. Oh and I totally agree that a lot of “pro” sports is actually just like “pro” wrestling, it’s fixed by hook or crook. myriad of reasons for the decline in NBA viewership. Your sport is a disgrace to our country. What employee just walks off the job and does not get fired? Take the political statements outside of the game. I remember being so invested in my NY Knicks. For the first time in my life, im ditchng sports and am gonna take your advice and play some frisbee golf. Sports talk can be a great networking tool. I completely agree with EVERYTHING you wrote, and I have followed in those footsteps also. At Baylor University, I teach, consult, research, write and occasionally talk in my sleep about revenue generation in the business of sports. They can’t read minds. “If they would only focus 10% of that attention to their questionable finances, something that actually matters, unlike sports.”. Greenbacks Magnet recently posted…How Buying Super Bowl Tickets Could Cost You $2 Million Dollars, “How Super Bowl Tickets Could Cost You $2 Million Dollars! Talk about bigotry. I literally had to be dragged from the street by my mom if I was in the middle of a baseball game and dinner was ready. In a poll from David Hookstead, 86.7% of peopled voted they'll stop watching. Unfortunately, you and I are freaks when it comes to this topic. some of them only have two vacation homes…. From April to November, you can literally spend three hours every night watching a professional baseball game. Thanks for stopping by, Emily. I love it, Bill. “Yes, the food and drinks were crazy expensive but it was a rare treat and worth the experience for the memories we created.”. He just placed the football on the ground. Going out to a few games every year is an acceptable splurge in my books. 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