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March Madness has long been over, as has the college football playoff, the Superbowl, and collegiate hockey. The NBA Finals are coming up in about a month and the NHL is winding down as well. Once those two final series happen, America will find itself in a little bit of a sports purgatory.
Sure, we’ll have premiere tennis and golf matches to watch throughout the summer, but those are sports that are vastly different in the eyes of Americans than, say, the Stanley Cup Final or the NBA Finals. We’ll also have baseball, but games during June, July, and even most of August are not all that exciting. For the diehard baseball fan that is not true, but I’m simply not one of those people.
Professional sports, and more specifically speaking the NFL and the NBA, have never piqued my interest quite like college sports have. I find myself far more engaged when watching a college basketball or college football game than I would be if I was watching say, the Detroit Lions or the Detroit Pistons. That isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy watching the NFL (or the NBA once the playoffs start) because I do — but I’ll never be a guy who makes pro sports watching a priority on a weekly basis throughout the year.
I love to watch sports, but I find during the dog days of summer when the only thing on is an opening round match at Wimbledon or a 1:00 p.m. Tigers game, that I am far less stressed out than when my favorite college football team is playing on Saturday afternoon.
I’m a better person when I am not emotionally invested in a sports match, and I didn’t realize it until I was driving my car this evening. I like summer, not for the weather, the sundresses, or the ability to wear Birkenstocks (although those are all added bonuses) — I like it because I am stress-free in the sports department. It’s a beautiful thing to wake up on a Saturday morning and know that I’m not going to miss anything important if I go play 18 holes with my phone turned off.
Most of you reading this can recall a time probably in late fall or early winter when you found yourself with your head in your hands at a bar watching your favorite football team lose a game they shouldn’t have.
With a head and belly filled to the brim with domestic light beer, you probably embarrassed yourself screaming at a television in a packed bar, losing any chance you had with some girl who thought you were cute because you had to curse out your team’s quarterback at the top of your lungs.
This will sound wildly contradictory but it is the truth — watching sports is a dumb way to spend my free time. But having said that, it is also incredibly fun to do. I’m not sitting here telling you that I’m NOT going to yearn for football season this entire summer, but I’m also not saying that I’m in any rush for it to be here.
I’ve found that I’m much more enjoyable to be around when one of my teams isn’t playing in an important game, and going out for drinks is much less laborious when I’m not in a corner of the bar nervously chugging a pitcher of Bud Light with all of my fingernails chewed off.
Certainly part of this take is rooted in the fact that Detroit sports teams are a complete and total mess at the moment. Not one of them is even close to competing for a championship and that fact has left me feeling a bit empty.
All I’m saying is that my life seems to be a lot more cheerful when I’m not huddled around a television with a bunch of other people screaming until I go hoarse. And if you still have a team playing for a championship right now, I think you’re going to mysteriously find that your mood is much sunnier once the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals are over..
Image via Youtube
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jduda@grandex.co
In order for the comment section to forgive Will for not posting TGDAG today, we will need to see a new, one minute video of Will repeatedly attempting to throw a Nerf football with his dainty, pedicured hands.
Honest Question – Do people really like TGDAG all that much? It’s the same thing every single week. I quit reading completely after the hiatus (would skip it fairly often for the better part of 2017) and am now at the point where I don’t even read the repetitive comments week after week. I can’t be the only one. Down vote away.
I just read it to make a relatable comment in hopes of getting tons of likes so I can feel better about myself for the day.
I quit reading it around that time as well. I can only hate a fictional character so much before I get tired of it.
I’m in the same boat. I stopped reading and didn’t miss it at all. I did the same with Facebook. I found that disconnecting from people(or in this case, fictional characters) who have no impact on my life is quite liberating.
I love it, and have a group chat with my friends where we talk about it, so I know I’m not the only one. Plus I think Will does a really good job of picking his spots when to move the story along. (and no this is not Will’s burner account, before you ask)
I think it’s really just a habit for me now, last year’s derby escapades were the pinnacle for me and it has yet to reach those heights again
I like it, I cant say why here in a public forum but I like it.
Eh, it’s not a masterpiece of literature and it’s not supposed to be. I still read it because it makes for a fun coffee break when I’m supposed to be doing actual work.
I love that stock photo picture. I’ll never forget that game. Me and my roommate were looking for the remote to try and change the channel while Michigan lined up to punt because the game was over. We couldn’t find the remote because he was sitting on it, so we *accidentally* watched what is now one of my favorite sports moments of all time.
Whenever I’m having a particularly bad day I watch a replay of it on Youtube. Never ceases to put a smile on my face
9/01/07 App St-34 UM-32
Was at that game, never have the tears of Wolverines tasted so good.
Well, the three of you have officially ruined my morning
I’m a season ticket holder for my team, but on away weekends, I’ll sit in front of the tube from the time that GameDay starts until the last Pac12 or Mountain West game ends. Can’t say the same for the NFL. There’s nothing like College Football.
People in other markets don’t realize how great they have it because their complaints are always “we aren’t competing for any championships right now.” Yeah but you grew up with the Red Wings of the 90s and 2000s, one of the greatest hockey teams ever. Try being a Minnesota sports fan and the only two championships our teams have ever won came before I was born/cognizant of life. I’d gladly take the few years of no championships that New Yorkers/Bostonians/Chicagoans (and now Detroit) love to complain about
This is the most accurate thing you’ve ever written
Yeah but the boredom… ready for my fantasy football team to disappoint me.
At least this year we have the World Cup. Downvote me all you want, but nothing in sports matches the intensity and excitement of a world-class soccer game. I’m not talking about stuff like MLS, that’s trash, or even the European domestic leagues. Soccer at the highest level (World Cup, Euro, Champions League) is as exciting as sports gets.
If I wanted to watch someone struggle to score for three hours I’d take my friends to a bar
I struggle to understand why lots of scoring is necessary. Look at basketball: lots of scoring so there’s not even really a point to watch until the fourth quarter. It’s honestly quite boring. With soccer, a 1-0 game can be exciting because you never know when that goal will come, whether on the 3rd minute or 83rd.
The problem is that because the field is so big there are very few genuine opportunities to score. How many shots does a team typically get on goal in a game? Like 10? In a 90 minute game. Whereas in a 60-minute hockey game teams typically get 30+ shots.
There’s also the issue that soccer scoring chances take far too long to develop, and the action in between scoring chances is largely uninteresting and impactful. It’s not often in soccer that there are quick fast breaks, or stellar defensive stops. It’s a lot of slow, deliberate ball movement or chasing a loose ball.
Finally, soccer has (deserved or not) a reputation for flopping. It’s easy to turn people off when you realize five minutes of the game just got wasted by a guy playing dead hoping that his team would get a free kick at midfield.
One of the greatest aspects about a soccer is that the match is generally 90 minutes long, give or take some stoppage time. It’s refreshing to watch a game with only one intermission, no timeouts, and no commercials interrupting the flow of the game. You can legitimately schedule your day around a specific game. Golf is pushing 4 hour rounds, football has way too many commercials, baseball games are a marathon, basketball is not worth watching until the 4th quarter, and hockey is closest but still has a little too many commercials. No other sport can be watched in 2 hours.
Your points are very fair and it’s hard to disagree with them because they’re honestly a matter of preference. What I find most exciting is that I never know when there’ll be a goal and whether the play that’s developing RIGHT NOW will be the play that creates the goal. That factor, along with the beauty and precision of the scoring play once it does develop, are what keeps me coming back.
I’ve tried to get into hockey and my dad is a hardcore Sharks fan (I know…), but it’s a bit too erratic for me. And I totally agree with you about diving and the bullshit calls in general. I’m still bitter about that Real Madrid penalty vs. Juventus in the Champions League quarterfinal.
Uninteresting and impactful to someone who knows nothing about the game. Soccer is a game of chess and everything has significance, whether it “looks exciting” or not. Americans just want the scores and fast action. Everyone else around the world enjoys the beauty of the game.
I just imagined Coach Yoast huddling his buddies by a barstool and giving his ‘blitz all night’ speech and chuckled, thank you
I like you Bill, I really do, but claiming international soccer as the most intense sporting event is pretty ridiculous
From the perspective of the rest of the world, I agree with Bill here. You have a lot of very impoverished countries where once every four years, soccer plays equalizer and becomes their one opportunity to really stand on the international stage. Given that, the fans and atmosphere of the games is arguably the most intense sporting event.
From an American perspective, soccer can eat a dick, we’ve got hot dogs to eat and fireworks to shoot off.
Well the Champions League is an annual event (hence my comparison to the NFL) and outside of even years where you have the World Cup/Euro, it’s generally the best showcase of soccer you can get.
I never understood the whole “I’m American!! Fuck soccer!!” mantra. You can be patriotic and still have love and appreciation for the game. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
That’s true, but I think we just a very insecure country in the sense that we take a lot of pride in “our sports,” (baseball, basketball, football, hockey kind of, not really) and we’re just not as interested in a sport where we aren’t very competitive.
I didn’t say all international soccer, just a few tournaments that bring out the best of the best. The 90% of international soccer that’s outside those tournaments is trash. As a side note, the annual Champions League final draws 3-4x the worldwide viewership of the Super Bowl. And UEFA does it right by having it on a fucking Saturday night (local time).
There’s nothing entertaining about watching a field of blokes kick a ball back and forth and fake injuries for sympathy. The only thing it’s good for is acting as a stand-in for real sports when you’re out of the country
I agree completely, except for the fact that with the US failing to qualify this year, I may boycott the entire thing. So much of the excitement that goes into the WC, for me at least, is the anticipation of US games and having a real vested interest in a team.
Agreed on the US take. I would 100 percent watch their games and look forward to them
Cannot wait to see Team USA crush some group play…
I lost interest in the World Cup when I had to get a real job so I can’t get drunk at 9 am and cheer for some country I’ve never heard of til my voice is gone.
Australian Football League is calling
Freaking love Aussie Rules Football. Trying to stream it in the US is a chore though.