Getting older with sports
VikingDude
Posts: 1,604 ✭✭✭✭
I still like sports; just not as much as years ago. Now in my mid-50s, I find myself not watching or caring as much. I still like watching the NFL but over the last few years I find myself less and less excited for the new season compared to how I used to be. Even Fantasy Football kind of bores me; the thought have having to keep track of players on a weekly basis seems tiring whereas a couple of years ago it was great (and I've always done pretty decent in a league with a group of friends).
I'm a huge Vikings fan (obviously). Is it because this team always disappoints? I used to watch other sports too but now hardly ever. I'm still a Vikings vintage card/memorabilia collector and that feels okay and it gives me a little pride knowing that someday my boys can have that stuff (they've already inherited the Purple Pride).
I'm not sure why - maybe because the game and players have changed? Or getting older equals more cynical and realizing it is just a business? I just don't know.
Anyone else experience this or feel the same?
Comments
I have some similar feelings. as a child, baseball was EVERYTHING to me. I loved everything about it. this would be in the mid-late 80s. I continued to be a huge baseball (red sox) fan until 5 or 6 years ago.
I use Youtube tv and they pulled NESN, the network that televises Sox games. i decided not to pay for the NESN service. I also have grown to dislike the way the game is currently played. pitchers being pulled after 4-5 innings, the 3 true outcome hitters.
I still follow through box scores, and i enjoy following Ohtani and Judge, but i honestly dont even know the majority of players anymore. I watched a few innings of the all star game, and didnt recognize many of the players.
Same idea with basketball. i will watch some come playoff time, but i have not watched a regular season game in years.
Football I am still all in on. love it. with split screen, i watch nearly every televised game that is aired. I still follow football very closely and cant wait for the regular season to start.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
this is a good post, viking. i've actually contemplated something similar many times in the past. but mine was going to be a simple poll question: your magnitude of sports enjoyment -- higher now or when you were a kid ?
i think we'll all answer the same way. life was much simpler when we were kids, and especially so sans the advent of many technologies. fewer responsibilities when we were younger, and fewer distractions provided by our respective decades.
i can't remember where i put my car keys last night, but i can remember the 1979-80 NFL Playoffs vividly. my 7-year-old self had become an ardent Chicago fan, and every snap of a Bears game had an immense impact on my life. on the final week of the reg season we had a chance to get to the dance. it required us to not only beat the St Louis Cardinals, but we had to do so decidedly. and on top of that, i needed the Cowboys -- a team i disliked significantly back then and still do to an extent to this very day -- to do me a solid by beating the Redskins. it was a convoluted tiebreaker scenario that ceases to exist today (at least i think it does), but it's one i remember oh so vividly..........almost 50 years later.
everything played out beautifully that Sunday and we advanced to the playoffs. we went to Philly in the wild card round and lost, and that was devastating. the swings of emotion were very wild when i was a kid. my entire world revolved around what happened to that team. now? once they're out, real life resumes shortly thereafter.
I cared more about the Red Sox and Patriots winning championships than I do now, there was a time before the Sox won it in 2004 that it would literally put me in a bad mood for days when they lost in the playoffs, like 2003 when Boone destroyed our chance at a world series I had a mixed feeling of bitter hatred towards the Yankees and extreme frustration over the Sox not getting it together
The Patriots were a constant stress for me come playoffs while Brady was the QB, anything less than a Super Bowl was a lost season for me, 2007 was just heartbreaking while 2011 was infuriating, I hated watching them lose to anyone in the playoffs and had sincere bitterness to the Ravens and Giants throughout the second half of Bradys career
Now I freely admit I just don't care as much, I'm satisfied with the Sox and Patriots as well as thankful for seeing them win epic championships
Now I will bet on and root for the Yankees even if it's against the Sox, same with rooting for any team if I bet against the Pats
Sports is all about gambling for me now
I used to be an avid watcher of all sports. Recently, I've lost interest in the NBA and NHL. Just doesn't hit the same way it used to. NFL has me as it gets closer to playoffs and if the Bears stay competitive, otherwise, meh. But.....Baseball is always gonna keep me. I will never abandon my one place, my refuge, my passion. I will always love and watch baseball. Any league, any time. And especially the kids. I've loved the experience of watching my own kids play. That was the best of all.
Getting older, as I reach retirement age, reminds me of how my predecessors would love to curl up in a recliner or on the couch to watch a game. It still feels ok. These days I typically fall in and out of sleep while watching and just hope to be awake if there's an exciting finish.
Professional Sports used to be an entertaining distraction from the rigors of daily life, it has morphed into almost being an annoyance.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
Lots of good points already made. Of course the internet plays a big part in it. Years ago, on say a lazy Sunday afternoon, I'd turn on a Phillies or Eagles game and enjoy it. But now, I'd rather watch an interesting Youtube video which has an infinite variety of fascinating topics.
The games? I still follow them to a degree, but often it's easier to just watch a highlights replay. Sometimes the highlights are available almost right after the game is played. Sure, there's not that thrill of seeing a big play live, but a replay is the next best thing, and for me that's good enough. An exception is a huge game such as the Super Bowl - that I gotta see live.
i think that comes with age. I was the exact same way with the sox and pats during the dynasty years. I hated aaron freaking boone and grady little. like HATED. my moods were significantly affected when Brady/patriots would loose in the playoffs. for weeks. I can honestly say i never enjoyed one playoff or super bowl Brady ever played in. i was all wound up and stressed out. it was really unhealthy looking back.
I follow the Patriots very closely, but i do not have the same urgency for them winning now that i did back then. i guess, like you, i am just content with what they accomplished.
i was upset that the Patriots lost in the SB, but within a day or 2 i was completely over it. it was just ok.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I 100% agree about their Super Bowls, they could never just dominate and make it easy it always had to be the most stressful thing ever, they always made Super Bowls difficult but that's what we got with them.
Looking back they literally wasted so many years after 2007 in my book
Ditto for me.
I am a fan of football and hoops.
My favorite NFL team in Denver. From the 1960's through the 1999 Superbowl I followed the team closely and agonized over losses while loving every win. Losing its first four Superbowls. was painful Seeing Denver win all in 1998 and 1999 was joyful.
Since then my interest in Denver and in football in general has waned. Denver's 1-1 record in the superbowl since 1999 does not have the same impact on me that it's first six games (2-4) did.
As for hoops I have no favorite team, instead I just enjoy the game. In the 70's, 80's and 90's I followed hoops at the college and pro level. Since then not so much.
Life as an adult is loaded with responsibilities; and as one matures one often realizes that life has multiple things to offer, many of which provide much more joy and happiness than sports.
Thanks for the input - glad to know I'm not the only one.
As a Minnesota sports fan, unless you're celebrating women's championships (Lynx, Frost, Vixen), it wears on you when you're 40 to 50 years from being in a championship/final game, let alone winning.
I also think a factor of sports being more boring is if you're on a phone/tablet scrolling through stuff with a game on, your patience and boredom more easily sets in. Probably exponential if you're real-time betting on the game.
Entering this Vikings season, I've completely reset my expectations very low. Not sold on the QB situation or depth, given the wake of poor decisions by the fired GM.
My new favorite sport on TV is watching a really good hockey game.
Erik
When you think about the concept of sports it’s all kind of stupid anyways. Collecting championships seems like it would be something kids care the most about but it’s the adults that lose themselves. Go sports team!
I can imagine it does wear on you eventually. I know it was close to 20 years for me watching the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics before they won anything. but I definitely cannot relate to 40-50 years of not winning.
I started watching sports in 86/87 as a youngster but didnt really get it. I knew the Sox and Patriots had both lost championships, but it didnt really "matter" to me yet.
they were pretty regular in the playoffs though. but, once they all started winning in the early 00s it was nuts. I have seen enough winning in the last 25 years to last my lifetime
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Getting old is equated with no more baseball double headers.
That is a very deep and honest post, and I can completely relate to that feeling, even coming "from across the courtyard."
Growing up in South America, soccer was my absolute first love. My favorite soccer team here in Ecuador is Barcelona, and I remember as a boy, I cared so much that I would even cry whenever they lost. I also remember carrying a soccer ball with me everywhere; it was like my best friend, and I wouldn’t even go to the store without it. I played passionately all through my youth, but over the years that love slowly faded. Today, at 40, I realize that both watching sports and practicing them is just not the same; the interest and motivation have simply died down. Well, I hope at some point to feel that same feeling again.
As it has been mentioned, the game has changed quite a bit. Nowadays, in any area—baseball, basketball, or soccer—betting has greatly damaged the purity of the game.
I still really, really enjoy fantasy football but yeah, it’s just a natural part of getting older and changing priorities. The outcome of young men playing a game with a ball is ultimately totally inconsequential. As you age, you tend to lose interest in things that are ultimately of no actual consequence and view them more as pastimes rather than actual ‘interests’.
Welcome to the forum! I completely share your thoughts. I'd like to welcome you here in case no one else has yet; I am also new to the community. I already gave you a like. I hope you keep contributing much more!
San Dimas High School Football Rules!
The only thing that’s changed for me is now I get mad at Witt for popping out to right field or second base instead of getting mad at Brett for grounding out to second.
Same old crap the characters just change.
I'm a life long Yankee fan and for DECADES was as rabid a Yankee fan as there was. Perkdog probably remembers here in Sports Talk once upon a time lolz. Now I just keep tabs on them. The SEVEN championships I've witnessed were all during my rabid DIE HARD fan phase. Late 1970's through the 2000's. It's different now. I can't explain it. My father said the same thing happened to him with his Detroit Tigers. Always a fan, but not rabid anymore.
But what has NOT changed and perhaps has grown stronger is my affinity for the NY Football Giants the NFL AND all things college football. I never paid much attention to college football much until I moved to Florida in 2009. Now I'm a monster with it. My only explanation can be that it's one game per week per team. So much easier to track when life get's nuttier. That's what I roll with.
COPPER is gutter !
That was a fun period back in the day with your Yankees and Giants and my Red Sox and Patriots, to this day I still remember being disgusted of your sigline of Eli and Coughlin stroking the Lombardi Trophy after the 2007 loss my Pats suffered to your G Men, it annoyed me every time I saw you post 😂😂😂
As I said earlier in this thread I just don't care all that much anymore, I'm sincerely satisfied with the Sox and Pats championships and feel lucky that I was so passionate about them through the highs and lows
I bet on the Yankees and Dodgers more than any other baseball team and I'm rooting for them even against the Sox if I can make money on it, same thing if I bet against the Pats
Sports is all gambling for me now
As long as I have a routine almost every evening I am OK. I follow the NHL & NFL. Of course it is not the same as when I was young but I learned to enjoy them just as much as an adult. When fall/winter hits I keep busy with my PS5, sports, cooking, books, following auctions and with my pet. That is what matters to me is to have something to look forward to almost every evening. I do not bet on sports I am not a gambling man. I live within my means and sports allows me to have something to do for almost 3/4 year at less than $2 per day.
Summer is nice but evenings suck more without a daily routine. Outside more on my balcony and more BBQ's.
If I was rich I would have other hobbies but that will never happen. So I learned to be satisfied with what I can afford.
If you are always looking for more you will never be happy!!!
Liberty Seated Half Dollars