Cut it out

As I quickly move towards a full year of writing a column, I have noticed that coming up with topics becomes increasingly difficult around this time of year (something I will surely plan for next year).

I can usually stroll into my office on a Monday or Tuesday morning, sit down, and just start writing about whatever topic is relevant. This is especially true during football season (I still have the No. 1 Google result for ‘2 high safety’ because of how well I timed that one). Travis Hunter’s Heisman prediction from October is still one of my favorites I’ve ever written. And it’s not just football season, either. College basketball gave me plenty to talk about. I’ve had plenty to get me through until now. I doubt I will ever run out, but the time it takes to find a topic for this column increases seemingly every week. Yet, this is my favorite part of my job, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I envy the weeks when I could just sit down and start rambling about whatever topic and come up with a huge column. Those were easy. But, as I was scratching my brain about the topic for this week, I had a true light bulb moment.

The reason I am running out of content to talk about is that there are simultaneously too many sports and not enough sports going on all at once. I can’t focus on just one to talk about without forgetting the other. The second I talk about one, the other has a massive storyline. I also can’t consume every single thing. I’m stuck in a purgatory where I watch highlights of what I missed, which, while they serve their purpose, don’t tell the full story of the game (although I do long for the days of Stuart Scott giving me highlights on early-morning SportsCenter).

To put it bluntly, I’m suffering sports fatigue.

Rarely do you ever hear a sports fan (and surely not a sports editor) say they want fewer games, less action, and shorter total seasons. Yet here I am, about to do that.

I could talk all day about why the 162-game baseball or 82-game basketball and hockey seasons are too long. The NFL season, I think, is at about the perfect length as it sits, but it is dangerously creeping up on being too long. I could even go back to a 14- or 16-game season and be perfectly content.

“Why would you want less sports?” That’s a good question, and a loaded one, too. But it comes down to safety, oversaturation, value, and just being burned out from a crowded calendar.

Let’s look at April’s sports calendar. Besides our beloved high school athletes, we also had to fit in the NCAA basketball championships, the Masters, the beginning of the NBA and NHL playoffs, the beginning of baseball season, NCAA baseball and softball, NASCAR being in full swing, plus anything else I missed. This month is just as chaotic. Right now, there are about a dozen or so games nearly every day. Starting with the 1:05 day games in the MLB, you could fill every single hour until probably midnight at least four or five times a week.

This is stressful and painful as a fan. What happens if you’re watching the NHL playoffs and miss a blown 20-point lead by the Celtics? All your friends will be talking about that while you’ll be considered with a 1-0 finish. Oh, you decided to watch the Pacers blow out the Cavs? Mikko Rantanen just dropped back-to-back hat tricks on your favorite team. Do you see the dilemma?

It goes beyond just a fandom (or a sports editor trying to write a column for his subscribers weekly) perspective, too.

Let’s take baseball, for example. The earliest reporting for pitchers and catchers in the MLB this year was February 11th. If that team makes the World Series, and goes all seven games, that could go as late as Halloween. That is 262 days of baseball between the preseason, regular season, and the postseason, leaving just 103 days for a player to not be in one of those three. No wonder athletes’ injuries are skyrocketing, having done a similar (although not as intense, hopefully) schedule from youth sports through pro.

I know a common retort here — they get paid millions of dollars. I understand that. I’ve written about the absurdity of it. I’m not debating that. I also know they have access to world-class training, preparation, rehabilitation, and such than the rest of us. If I played baseball just 26 days a year, I would probably need a full-body cast. That doesn’t take away from the physical and mental toll it takes on the players.

Recently, fans at a Boston Red Sox game heckled Jarren Duran, and took it too far. He had opened up about a suicide attempt previously, and the fans at the stadium weaponized that. We know the stories of the Junior Seaus, Aaron Hernandezes, and the countless other unheard of names — someone’s brother, son, dad, sister, cousin, aunt, niece, granddaughter, grandson, friend, teammate — that have dealt with the mental health effects of sports. I’m not saying sports are the most important thing in life, but for athletes, they sometimes are.

I think we should take a look at what we’re doing to these athletes for our entertainment. I often see this as the modern-day version of the gladiator’s arena, but with better pay. I don’t like the abuse that athletes go through, both physically in their sport, but also mentally from it, the fans, and everything else involved. I would be perfectly fine with 50 baseball games a year, 25 for basketball and hockey, and some downtime between them. There doesn’t always need to be something to entertain us. Breaks are healthy.