I can’t concentrate. Sometimes I think I have Attention Deficit Disorder. I’ll be thinking one thing one minute and another thing the next.
Sure, like every diehard sports fan, I enjoy plopping myself down to watch the big game.
The thing is, my inattention doesn’t stop there. My finger continues pressing the buttons, going from channel to channel, sports to mystery to whatever. You should see my remote; the numbers are worn off from overuse.
I’ll try to read books and magazines at the same time – emphasize try.
Maybe it’s part of this schizophrenic society. Whatever the reason, it makes sitting through televised sporting events painful. The games are exciting, but the breaks aren’t.
The Holiday Bowl was exciting. Watching the players stand on the field for what felt like years was not.
Seeing a game within a packed McArthur Court is thrilling. Watching fans do shooting competitions at halftime, I repeat, is not. The least I can ask for as a fan is a contestant who knows how to shoot.
Sports generate large amounts of revenue. I understand that. I also know much of that revenue comes from television contracts.
However, I don’t have to like the stoppages. I like my basketball fast paced. I hate the breaks every four minutes for media timeouts.
Games are reduced to a crawl. So much for changes in momentum. Coaches no longer need a timeout to stop a lengthy run, they can just wait for a media timeout instead.
I detest media that praise Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson for letting his team play through rough stretches. In reality, the team must only survive a few minutes before the next timeout.
I almost enjoy the smaller scale of volleyball more, where the sport moves at its natural pace without artificial interruption. The ebb and flow of the match is just that, not dictated by an outside source. The crowds are smaller. The notoriety is far less, but there’s something enjoyable about sports that end when they are designed to.
This is why I think so many people enjoy watching games within the confines of home, where refrigerators are within steps and they don’t have to shell out $20 for food and drinks.
This doesn’t mean I’m ever going to stop going to live events. There’s still something to be said for watching elite athletes compete in person. No, it just means I need something to keep my short attention span satisfied.
Book, anyone? Magazine?
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