How Watching Live Competitive Sports on Television is Killing Me

I have heard of folks dying from too much excitement. For example, I heard of someone winning the lottery, and subsequently, just keeling over from the news. Often, we eat foods that are detrimental to our health, because it may taste good. I know that watching competitive sports on television elevates my blood pressure, which is bad for my health. Therefore, I decided to do something about it.

I cannot think of a bigger sports fan than me. Once upon a time, I would spend my entire day channel surfing to find a live sporting event. Any event, it did not matter. I savored every moment of the competitive team or individual spirit.

Sometimes, during the course of most events, I would find myself scoring the winning basket, or running the entire distance of the field to score the winning touchdown. When I was in my zone, nothing else mattered, and I didn’t want to be interrupted by anyone. The doorbell or phone would ring, and be ignored.

Even my grown kids knew the drill and allowed me to have my space during their visits. The wife, however, is a much different story. Nag, nag, nag, I would turn the volume up to negate her noise. Eventually, she got the picture, and I was able to watch my events unfettered.

One day, while the family was sitting around the dinner table, my son announced he had a recording he wanted everyone to hear. It did not make any difference to me, because he was always coming up with something or the other.

When the recording began, I heard, what I thought was some wild man ranting and raging about something. Honestly, for the first few seconds, I was unable to discern that the voice belonged to me.

As most any doctor will tell a senior citizen, watch your diet, exercise, and do not become too excited. Simply put, slow your old self down, because you are not as young as you use to be.

The doctor really got me thinking. I would recall how impatient I would become during any break in the action. I even found myself eating more during these events, so much for watching the diet.

I would jump up and down like some idiot if my team scored, so much for slowing down. If my chosen team lost, I would be angry and uncooperative for days. It was almost as if I had some stake, or shares in their multi-million dollar contracts.

It was that anticipation of the winning goal, or that basket being scored right there in my basement, man that was exciting. The mind is a very powerful thing. If I watched a tennis match, each stroke would cause my heart to run wild in anticipation of who would win the set.

If a commercial interrupted a scoring drive, I would find myself sweating, walking the floor, and talking to myself while waiting for the break to end. I guess this is how my son came up with his brainstorm to record my over the top behavior while watching sporting events. Nonetheless, I knew I could not continue to live my life in this manner.

With my love of sports being so profound, I had no desired give it up. I had to find ways to enjoy my all-important games without the possibility of endangering my health.

A little light flashed on; why not record the desired sporting events, which will allow me to watch it whenever I want. I would be able to fast forward through all the commercials, thereby, eliminating that waiting period. If a team is on the verge of scoring, I will not have to wait, I could just fast forward to the actual results.

I eliminated most of my stress by adapting this method. Via my recorder, I can watch an entire football game in less than twenty-five minutes. The family is still a little suspect of my actions, because I must make sure no one tells me the score while the game is being recorded or at the conclusion.


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *