Recently I’ve experienced a phenomenon that might be common
in many young adults (especially men) but no one wants to admit it: it’s
something that I never thought would happen to me as a child because I thought I
was invisible, I thought I would live forever and I would be happy. It’s
something I don’t like talking about with my friends because I fear being
laughed at or ostracized from the group, and I can only examine the dark secret
alone at night. It’s hard to admit to this, it really is, but I think I’m
burning out from too much sports. That’s right, I said, I’m losing interest in
sports.
A wise man once said, “Everything in moderation.” Another
wise man once said, “eat your veggies, don’t eat too much candy. Follow the
food pyramid.” While I think I’ve binged too much on sports in my short life,
and haven’t made enough for other pursuits, so from now on, Robert Yan is going
to cut down on sports. This is not a betrayal to all sports, it is not me
announcing my retirement from fantasy sports, but it IS going to be a drastic
cutback. It’s like the CEO of my brain announcing to the brain cell staff that
we’re planning layoffs in the sports and entertainment division (that’s right,
I’ve been kind of implementing a diet on movies and other media as well).
Honestly, though, I still like sports, but sometimes when
watching sports I feel like I’m watching an old movie over and over again, or
like a TV show on its 13th season, at which point all the storylines
have been reused recycled and reduced (speaking of which, I’ve actually tried
re-watching the Wire again and there’s a LOT of good stuff in it the 2nd
time around, a lot of puzzle pieces come into place and the show seems even
better) and I realize that the games themselves aren’t even that great. For all
the tradition and prestige associated with football, baseball, and basketball,
they are not perfect games by any means and in many cases expose their flaws
pretty clearly. I take more pleasure watching a social dodgeball game (still
got that new out-of-the-package feeling) sometimes than watching Manning- Brady
26, or whichever matchup they’re on. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a
diehard fan of some sports team, watching the same players over and over again
like a broken record.
It might just be me being burned out from a crazy October
(all 4 main sports were in play) or it might be being burned out from about 20
years of continuous sports coverage and awareness, or it might be my tastes
maturing, but I’m feeling a sense of burnout from sports. It’s like that theory
of diminishing returns, where the more you do something the less you get out of
it until you get a nice asymptote of near-nothingness. I’m not at the end of
that curve yet but it feels like it’s coming. I also don’t like being a slave
to anything (and am against slavery in general, actually) : I’ve chronicled society
being a slave to smartphones, society being a slave to alcohol, well….have I
been a slave to sports and the hype surrounding sports for going on 3 decades?
It’s definitely possible. Let my interests be free!
The cure? It might be a couple weeks off of watching sports,
or a couple months, maybe a whole year. I just know that in many cases for me,
like playing the violin or not visiting a place for awhile or not engaging in
an activity for awhile ( I recently went to a paint studio and did a drawing
for the first time in like 15 years) , that place seems more fun and more
stimulating after not doing it for awhile.
Speaking of which, next year is my high school reunion? I
want to go back to high school and see which former classmates ended up making
it and which ones ended up…..(wait for it…..) burnouts.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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