Losing interest

Add me to the Sports crowd. Only sport I watch anymore is footy, and a little golf. Haven't watched a minute of the NFL this season. No hockey, no basketball, hardly any baseball. I used to be a baseball obsessive. Couldn't give less of a shit.

 

Baseball cards. Quit caring at 14.
Grades. Quit caring at 19.
Stereo equipment. 24.
White Russians. 25.
Anchoring the sports. 30.
Writing fiction. 35.
Being married. 42.
Matching my socks with my outfit. 44.

 

I can still enjoy sports a lot, especially football and basketball, and I like seeing a good soccer, tennis or volleyball match or horse race as much as ever.

But, like a lot of others, I don't watch or engage in any of it as much anymore. I'm convinced the loss of interest, at least in the case of sports for most here, though, is because there simply is less need for interest. A lot of us aren't working in sports, or sports writing, anymore, so the need, and the natural inclination, to follow them has been lost. That might not necessarily be true of any general interest, if you were, in fact, to watch a sports game or event. But once you've lost track of something over a long haul, you've...lost track of it, and it's difficult to get back any real former passion.

It's almost like when you used to watch, oh, say, "Designated Survivor" religiously, and thought it was a good show that you wanted to keep on going, but then, if you stopped, and so, had no idea what was going on anymore, it just didn't matter anymore. Or, remember when you used to listen to contemporary music all the time, knew all the songs and had genuine interest in all the groups from your growing-up and early-adult periods, but now, you couldn't name, recognize or sing a current pop song if your life depended on it? It's because you just don't listen to that stuff anymore. The need, pervasiveness and timeliness just isn't there.

To everything there is a season...

 

Booze. Not that I was ever super-huge into it, or that I can't enjoy it now on the right occasion. But no longer get the amount of time-money spent around it. The whole fascination seems juvenile.

Not an A-A thing. Just a thing.

 

In high school (drinking age 18) and college, I bet I averaged 6 beers a night.
That kept on until my mid-twenties and my first journalism jobs.

Then I got a job where I could move into a nice apartment, just across the street from a hole in the wall bar.

Lived there three years, I don't think I went across the street to the bar five times.

Since then I've just drifted out of drinking. Last year, I drank about 15 beers. All year. For about 10 years, that was just a decent Saturday night.

 

Oh, that's a good one. Used to drink all the time in college. I've been drunk exactly two times since my wedding. Quit smoking almost eight years ago, as well.

 

I wish I had the old zeal for drinking. It just ain't there.
I also (somewhat to my amazement) discovered it sucks being around drinkers when you've no interest in participating.

 

These days, I have ballpark attitude towards socks. Do they always match? No, but they're in the ballpark.

 

Baseball. Watching a game live is brutal now, whether in stadium or on the screen (TV or streaming). There are too many other options nowadays to devote 3 hours of watching each pitch and going through the possibilities (which is the essence of baseball right? anticipation) I loved baseball until I had kids, then rekindled because, you know '10-14. Unfortunately, once the Giants fell off, the boys did not keep their interest so I don't have the watching buddies I thought I would have. I still follow, but now its not the same (I used to know the MLB leaders in every category, every year.)

Network TV, sorry you lost to the internet.

 

Halls of Fame. Partly because of swamping them to mediocrity with very good players (vs. great). More so because the acclaim and honor last about a day for the inductees you liked, while the hysteria and arguments about voting are 24/7/365.

 

This is years ago now, but fantasy sports. I do not miss it. In fact, I miss the time I wasted on it.

Music passed me by; my hunch is most of it today isn't very good.

I don't read much new fiction. That makes me a little sad.

I had dogs (at least one) uninterrupted for, gosh, probably 30 years? And I haven't in the last 6-7 years after two died close together. I'm not sure I miss it? I did initially, then I didn't at all, and now maybe it's time for one.

 

All-Star snubs is a big one. About as bad (probably worse) than the game itself. Nobody cares about the game. Nobody cares about people who didn't make it IN the game.
College recruiting - unless it's a five-star.
The NBA until the conference finals (maybe the conference semis after game 3)