It's not a secret anymore that we are in a society and world that sure loves its sports. Whether it involves touchdowns, home runs, goals, wrecks or poker chips; there is a sport out there for everyone. Also there is a great possibility that your sport will be on TV in some shape or form and your favorite website will have its own section dedicated towards it. You may also be able to take control of your favorite players, athletes, drivers, etc and put them all on the same team!
But will there ever be a day when we all say "Enough is Enough!"? With the influx of blogs, fantasy leagues, negative publicity and more sports entertainment TV packages; it's quite easy to get daily updates on your favorite athlete. High-sophisticated methods of cheating, undercover drug embassies and even animal cruelty violations have been thrown at our eyes on even Local TV. As every draft year (if your sport indeed, has a draft) you learn about more and more character issues or prima donna type attitude traits. Athletes hold out to gain an extra million or more!
Yet, while we may discuss this negatively towards our friends, family, co-workers or strangers; we always are the first ones to get the Text Message Alert on our cellphone to tell others the most recent update. Onto the gyst of the article, can sports theoretically burn us out?
Can the fans ever enjoy an offseason from our favorite sport? I take pride in being at least more than "just a fan" when it comes to the NFL, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, College Football, IRL and even the X-Games and will always watch March Madness or even a good tennis match. I'll even watch Fox Sports Soccer Net to catch an MLS or Premiership League if I'm bored. But will there ever be a time and place where we'd ever turn off the TV?
I think not, but there could be a time where we just "X" out of any website as we won't care if Plaxico Burress doesn't practice or if Tony Romo tries out for the US Open..in May.
Today's Must Reads
I personally believe there are four factors that could easily eat away at our sports cravings.
1)-Cheating
Throughout the past calendar year, more and more cheating allegations and stories have been taking place. Whether it be the Formula One spy scandal that rocked the European racing world, Spygate (Thankfully it probably is nearing its end) and the Mitchell Report (plus the battle between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee), there have certainly been enough stories that have sickened us.
Cheating has tarnished some of the sports world's biggest figures (Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Fernando Alonso) and in some eyes have even downgraded an NFL Dynasty (Patriots) with the "*" label. While cycling, sans Lance Armstrong, had little known athletes; it's legacy for the next few years at the least has been destroyed by doping allegations. After about 5 years of steroid investigations, baseball's steroid cloud is finally starting to ebb away. But will there be another SpyGate and what will that do to the NFL's image? What about a NASCAR scandal similar to the Formula 1 spying scandal? Will America finally start to tune away for different options?
2)-Over Exposure
This is more directed to the game of football. The Sports Society has long-adapted to baseball, hockey, basketball, etc. being played multiple times per week. But football has usually been known as a two-day pony (Sundays and Monday Night) or in the instance of the collegiate part one-day a week (Saturdays). But now we have Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and the occasional mid-week NCAA game. We aren't too far away from having a football game on every day of the week in the middle of the regular season! If injuries continue to pile up, will the nation start to become "Football'd Out"?
3)-Fantasy Leagues
While I've calmed down a bit regarding the subject, I am still a part of plenty of fantasy leagues in different sports. However, there are now shows dedicated to the fantasy world as well as bottom line tickers that give you fruitless updates (Peyton Manning, 1/3 for 8 yards). You can even buy up-to-the minute sports updates that give you live scores for your FANTASY LEAGUE! Soon TV ratings will slowly start to slow down as America is checking their fantasy stat trackers. Fantasy Updates track the player's status at each practice and those dreaded game-day decisions have people rising early in the morning to make sure they sit down Dallas Clark now even though he practiced all week. There will be a time where we learn that a certain player's child cried all through the night making their Saturday walkthrough practice "sluggish" and thus calling into question their performance the next day.
4)-Off the Field Actions
The past two weeks alone have notably seen the following occur. A future NFL Hall of Famer in the middle of a gun investigation. A relatively well-known running back allegedly boating under the influence OR being beat up for no reason. A former NFL player throwing a dry cleaning bag over their two year old son's face. While all of those problems have been limited to the NFL, most sports have had the "thug" disease for quite sometime; eventually it will be hard to root for a former convict again. Also it's quite possible to see some great players (or potential ones) being shuffled out of their respective leagues.
In conclusion, I doubt sports will ever get tiring for any fan. But one day, it is possible for us to slowly start tuning out. But no matter what the sporting world does, we will always be back.
Comments Appreciated.
*Ripped this from my FoxSports Blog
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3 months ago
I agree. I don't think we'll ever totally burn out our interest in sports. Tuning out is an extremely realistic and probable end to the progression of the sports industry. Eventually, people will just stop listening.
3 months ago
While I agree there is a huge over-exposure factor that is involved, I truly believe that fans are trying to become a part of the game in anyway they can. Before the years of instant updates and highlights, fans could more easily connect with the players they followed and coincidentally they were shielded from their character flaws.
Fans could literally reach out and touch the players they had admired. Many factors can be blamed now (the economy, inflation, hyper-security) for why fans are confined to the TV, computer, or bleachers. Athletes earn so much money now that fans almost start to become disconnected with their idols and when they see that athlete struggle, they immediately become disillusioned.
Fantasy sports, in particular, were a way that fans could hone in on the popularity of the game. However, it has ruined some of the fun in watching a game. Sometimes I'll catch myself wanting an individual player of a rival team to do well because I had paid $85 to join a fantasy league and I want to win it all. It is almost impossible to play fantasy sports AND be a true fan. However, I've joined more free leagues in response to this and find myself just loving to put the best team I can out there and still enjoy cheering for my team.
from 3 months ago
Having worked in online sports and having built a lot of fantasy sports games, I do find there is a mental trick to it, but it is possible to separate you real-world rooting interests from what is in the interest of your fantasy team. In the end I've found that fantasy sports have increased my engagement with sports as a whole, without undermining my passion for how *my* teams do.
In some ways it's similar to working in the sports business... which can make you look at sports in an entirely different way, but hopefully only adds another layer of appreciation. Certainly as my partners and I built and launched our most recent project we had to think about a lot of "business" things - how to target a more casual fantasy sports audience, how to take advantage of new platforms like Facebook, what kind of game play experience we wanted to put out there (easy, intuitive and with more heads up competition) - as well as a bunch of technical questions. But in the end it has only added to my love of sports, not detracted from it.
Greg DeForest
Kontend.com
3 months ago
good read. Thought provoking. If you haven't already, go to You Tube, search Chris Burman, and look for his meltdown. It was around the "Press Day" during the Super Bowl.
He thought the "spot" was over, and cameas were off....then proceeded to drop the f bomb on his crew in an all-time classic meltdown. He literally lost it, and ranted for a full 5 minutes! Funny stuff.
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