Yes high level sports are addictive. I was a subscriber to Sports Illustrated since my high school days (and had to watch the mail carefully to make sure mom didn’t confiscate my Swimsuit Issue), knew all the baseball, football, hockey and basketball stats. I had the Notre Dame logo etched into my desk and a Dallas Cowboys football that was constantly in use. As an adult I never got into sports betting and lived in an area without access to major sports, but was always an avid tv viewer and follower in the newspapers.
It all started to fall apart for me with the conversion of the NBA into an ad for the hip hop music industry. A team like the Larry Bird led Celtics had balance between white and black players (Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge, Rick Robey - Larry Parrish, Dennis Johnson, Cornbread Maxwell, Tiny Archibald). Now if you go to an NBA game you’re bombarded with hip hop crap at every break in the action, and treated to players staring each other down as if they’re in a range war in a hood in Roxbury.
Next came college ball. When Notre Dame started forgetting that they are a Catholic university, I gave up on my lifelong team. I don’t even check their scores any more.
And now the NFL.
I’m hanging on, for now, to an interest in hockey, which is much harder to abandon given that it’s part of our Canadian DNA. But their recent attempt to crack down on “homophobic” banter in the heat of battle demonstrates that they too will soon do a total cave to the PC police.
Very similar to my “sports evolution” through life. Will remain a Wild fan, but not to the extent that I was a North Stars fan. Norm Green still sucks. (that bumper sticker still can be seen around Minnesota). I will stand for our anthem, as well as “O Canada” to honor service to both countries. Be well my FRiend.