TV sports fans get bad rap

by Joe Rominiecki

As I sat down in front of my television Tuesday night to watch Game 3 of the World Series, my friend walked into the room, saw me gazing at the tube and rolled her eyes.

“Wow, Joe. Really, you need a life,” she said.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“Every time I come in here, you’re sitting in front of the TV watching some dumb football game,” she answered. “Don’t you have any homework or something?”

“Actually, I’m watching a baseball game right now,” I said.

Ah, October. Rejoice armchair sports fans — October is the best month of the year for sitting around and watching sports on TV. With college and pro football in full swing, Major League Baseball culminating with the playoffs and the NHL and NBA seasons in their early stages, spectators everywhere are wearing out the buttons on their remote controls just trying to keep up.

Unfortunately, some people just do not understand. They label armchair sports fans as lazy, immature and dumb. I beg to differ. We armchair sports fans spend hours watching games on TV not because we fail to grasp greater intellectual stimuli, but because we just don’t feel like doing anything more “important.”

I spend enough time doing “important” things. I go to class for three to five hours each day. I spend at least five to 10 hours each week doing homework. I work eight to 12 hours per week. Another five hours or so is taken up each week by working on material for The Post.

So, is it so wrong that I like to sit down, relax and lose myself in the magic of a Barry Bonds home run or a Donovan McNabb scramble? I feel that it is not. Watching sports is vital to my sanity.

Tonight I will watch the Flyers and the Canadians on ESPN2 and try to forget about the costly speeding ticket I received three weeks ago that’s still stinging my pocketbook.

Saturday afternoon I will watch Notre Dame vs. Florida State on ABC and try not to think about the fact that I’ve got two major projects due three short weeks from now.

I will watch Game 6 of the World Series (if there is one) Saturday evening on FOX and forget that I was not invited to any parties that night.

We’ve all got troubles. We read the news each day and read about nothing but death, terror and poverty. The world is a scary place, and sports can help us all catch our breath.

Let us not forget last year’s Fall Classic. The most dramatic Series in recent memory, it riveted the country and, for those few nights in late October and early November, we momentarily forgot about the events just weeks earlier that had sent Americans searching for answers.

Sports might be just games, but they have a certain intangible magic that can make our cares go away. So do not knock the guy who is lounging in his recliner and watching ESPN. He is just trying to relax.

Next time my friend finds me escaping to my TV, skillfully switching channels between three college football games and a baseball game, she’ll undoubtedly say something like, “Joe, you waste so much time watching sports. Don’t you realize they have no bearing on real life?”

Exactly, my dear. Exactly.

—Rominiecki, a sophomore journalism major, lost his remote control once and almost cried. Send him an e-mail at ar110800@ohiou.edu.