I Yearn For Sports

I’m exhausted. At my age (75), watching so much sports can make one uber tired. For days on end. Largely because all the days are filled with sports. 

Whether it is through social media or on television, sports is omnipresent. And the significance of the games—Thanksgiving, rivalries and end of the season positioning—make watching and reading almost mandatory. 

The funny thing is that there is a whole other world out there. At my gym, one TV shows games or talking heads opining about the latest sports stories. Yet on the larger, newer screen, either FOX News or NBC News Now shines with the close-captioning needed so as not to drown out the latest hip hop or oldies music from satellite radio. We must have a split of personalities in this gym, I guess; or does anybody really care what is being shown?

It’s not that I eat, sleep, and dream of sports. I simply don’t have to. My cable stations and streaming services offered sports galore. Plus I have all sorts of apps for sports.  AOL and Apple give me more articles on sports when I look at my phone or head towards my emails. 

Or maybe I escape from the vicissitudes of daily life by my continuing engagement with sports—it sure beats learning what’s up in Washington, some foreign capital or war zone or speculating what’s going to happen in New York City with a new mayor. Perhaps. 

This week I felt like the tryptophan from the Thanksgiving turkey had little effect on my senses regarding sports. Unless I was having a sugar rush from the cranberry sauce and plethora of desserts which still linger in our refrigerator. 

Because my head is spinning with a massive amount of information right now. Which won’t go away and will intensify as the week goes on. All taking place without much happening  in baseball during this off season—but not to worry—that will ramp up in short order. 

We’re now in December. The final month of a very busy 2025. Not that the end of November waned in any way. I know that my attraction to sports is self-inflicted. But let’s face it, I can sanely tolerate only so much of seeing Doug chasing the emu in a Liberty Mutual commercial. 

When Jim Nantz and Tony Romo made me feel like I had accompanied them on their well-paid trips from Indianapolis to Kansas City to Pittsburgh on Sunday evening, I almost felt the pain that they must have endured being away from family over an eleven day period. Almost. 

That’s it—being a sports fan is a tough job. From week to week, day to day, season to season, team to team—that’s one rough schedule to adhere to. Family and friends either join in or become dismissive. Sports columnists and talking heads become best friends or naysayers. 

Is it bad that I have looked up the history of ESPN SEC host Paul Finebaum on Wikipedia or that I know that the head coaches of the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers were football teammates at the College of William & Mary? That I follow where ESPN College Game Day heads to each of the 15 weeks of college football? (This past weekend they traveled to Ann Arbor for Ohio State-Michigan; this week the crew settles in Atlanta for the SEC Championship rematch between Georgia and Alabama) Or that I follow FCS, FBS, Division III football intimately? Not to mention my clarion call regarding the NFL. (I do chortle when I see a diminutive Tracy Wolfson looking skyward at a coach she tries to interview at halftime)

I am sure that you don’t want to read about my psychoanalysis relating to my need for sports. Not thrilling at all. 

Sure, I began last week with Monday Night Football. What else does one do on a Monday night? Carolina and San Francisco squared off in Northern California. The final score was 20-9 and the game really wasn’t much of a thriller. 

Tuesday is normally a slow day in sports. I knew I was not going to wait up for the 11:00 pm EST start of the battle of LA between the Clippers and Lakers (LAL won) and a mere checking in on Rutgers playing Notre Dame (and losing 68-63 to the Irish) wouldn’t do it for me. 

Instead, I opted to join my wife for a rerun of When Harry Met Sally, the classic Nora Ephron-scripted romantic comedy starring one of my favorites, Billy Crystal (a devout New York Yankees fan) and Meg Ryan. I love the line delivered in Katz’s Delicatessen, our family’s haunt for generations—“I’ll have what she’s having.” Sheer genius. 

Anyway, I rested enough to watch a triple header of NBA games on ESPN on Wednesday evening. Three games for the offing—that caught my fancy. 

The red-hot Detroit Pistons invaded TD Garden to face the Boston Celtics, a team treading water without its leader, Jayson Tatum, but still dangerous at home with a core of players who can still play hard. This contest was part of the NBA Cup, an in-season tournament designed to bring interest to the league as it hurtles towards Christmas. 

It was a thrilling game—won by Boston with a defensive play after making numerous three point shots to stay close or to take the lead in a see saw affair. I came away with a greater appreciation for the Pistons as a very tough opponent for anybody and for the team’s star, Cade Cunningham, who finished with a game high 42 points but who fumbled a ball out of bounds in the waning moments while guarded by  the Celtics’ Derrick White. (White had 27 points and teammate Jaylen Brown added 33 in the win). 

My biggest takeaway was the beautiful op art floor commissioned for the NBA Cup. Resplendent in Kelly green and gold, it paid homage to the trademark parquet floor regularly in use. Beautiful. 

Next up was Minnesota at defending NBA Champion Oklahoma City. The T-Wolves tested the Thunder last year in the playoffs and won the regular season matchup. The announcing team hyped the game more than it should have. While Minnesota is a very talented team and will make the playoffs under the guidance of F&M alum Chris Finch, they were simply no real headache for the champs, who still as of this date have only lost once this season by two points. 

What I like about the adoring fans of Oklahoma City is that they stand until the home team scores. It took a little longer than they may have liked, but it is definitely cute and folksy, especially for pro basketball. 

The finale matched Houston at Golden State. A chance to see Steph Curry continue to light up the hoop with his magic for the home standing Warriors. For no more than a half. Thanksgiving Day was ahead and I needed my sleep to power through the day and the drive to and from the Astoria section of Queens. 

When I went to sleep, GSW was leading the short-handed Rockets. Once I checked the score on Thursday morning, I saw it was Houston 104 Golden State 100. Plus Curry hurt his calf and will be out for awhile. Could my need for sleep have jinxed the Warriors?

The NFL now has the prime spots for viewing on Thanksgiving Day. While there were interesting college basketball games set for Turkey Day, pro football was a three-headed behemoth. 

First up was a more traditional fare—a battle between long-time NFC foes, Green Bay and Detroit in the Motor City. The Packers took it to the lions, whose offensive line is in shambles. Green Bay QB Jordan Love made the faithful be glad that Aaron Rodgers is hurting his old body in Pittsburgh by tossing 4 TD passes. The Pack is rising while Detroit is suddenly swooning. 

The main event involved Kansas City traveling to Dallas. A huge audience was expected to watch, providing CBS and the NFL with a ratings bonanza. Cowboys’ QB Dak Prescott dazzled while the KC offense fizzled. Jerry Jones’ team is not far from a playoff berth and could use some help from Chicago on Friday when the Bears faced Philadelphia. 

The nightcap paired Cincinnati, now with starting QB Joe Burrow back, facing former M.V.P. winner Lamar Jackson in Baltimore. Both teams remain desperate to catch Pittsburgh or vault themselves into the AFC Wild Card discussion. The Bengals position was more dire, having dug themselves a deep hole to climb from to get back into the AFC North race. 

Burrow looked better than a hobbled Jackson. Cincy won this battle. 

Black Friday’s NFL game was the aforementioned Bears-Eagles tilt. Chicago is the surprise of the league; Philly is the defending Super Bowl champs. The Bears ran off the most yardage ever gained at Lincoln Financial Stadium while the boo birds serenaded the lackluster Philadelphia offense. It really wasn’t much of a contest—Chicago pulled within a half game of the Los Angeles Rams for the top seed in the NFC with its 24-15 win. 

I started to check in on college football on Friday. I began with Utah at Kansas—a superlative performance by the Utes on the road. In all, I watched 9 games, ending my blitz with Texas and phenom Arch Manning dropping Texas A&M from the undefeated ranks and a berth in the SEC Championship game and Georgia potentially securing a place in the CFP with a win in Atlanta over Georgia Tech in a far different way than last season’s 9 OT thriller.

Friday was the appetizer for Saturday’s college showdowns. #1 Ohio State went to Ann Arbor and exorcised demons with a convincing win over the Wolverines. I checked in on a nearly-empty stadium to see Miami rout Pitt in Pittsburgh. 

I monitored scores in the FCS playoffs and Division III second round. Of interest to me was my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall, hosting Eastern. Playing from behind, the Diplomats could not muster enough of a comeback to advance to the next round. Centennial Conference members Muhlenberg and John Hopkins split their games—powerhouse Mount Union thrashed the Mules while Hopkins won its game. 

On the FCS level, the two Ivies—Harvard and Yale—recorded a first for the Ivy League by playing a college football playoff game. The Crimson were overmatched at Villanova; Nova drew a tough Lehigh team next. On the other hand, Yale authored a comeback for the ages, stunning #15 seeded Youngstown State by scoring 36 second half points in a 43-42 win. The Elis travel to #2 seed Montana State for their next game. Good luck in frigid Bozeman.

I did not stop with that. I watched nearly the entirety of the Penn State-Rutgers battle for bowl eligibility. Chunk plays defined this game—yardage flew by in big numbers. Still, Rutgers might have had the chance to end PSU domination but for an all-time miscue by  Rutgers QB Athan Kaliakmanis who inexplicably fumbled the ball in mid-air Sith the ball landing in a PSU defender’s hands en route to the end zone. A crushing defeat for the Scarlet Knights and a feeling of dominance had returned to Penn State with such a win. 

Yes, I watched other games on Saturday and scrolled down the scores for remaining games—from UTEP at Delaware in matchup I never could have imagined to Alabama and Auburn meeting in the Iron Bowl, a heated rivalry which divides that great state and with the win, put ‘Bama into the SEC title game. 

My wife and daughter stopped me from further damage by sitting me down to watch the second movie of the Kingsman movies. They might have been sensing the start of brain overload?

Besides, Sunday would lead to more NFL time. With our children lasting only a half at Met Life Stadium, my wife and I, joined by our daughter when she arrived wet and cold, watched the New York Jets pick up a third victory in a moribund season with a 56 yard field goal as the game ended to clinch a win over a downcast Atlanta Falcons team. 

Next up was Buffalo at Pittsburgh. The Bills, who had been awful on the road, needed the win to stay in sight of New England in the AFC East race. The Steelers could hold off the Ravens and Bengals with a win. Except that Rodgers and company weren’t much of a fight for the Bills and Josh Allen, who triumphed 26-7. 

I saw a minute of Denver and Washington on Sunday night. Fatigue had overcome me and I missed an overtime special won by the Broncos. 

Monday I took stock of what I did. I watched, read or observed a whole heck of a lot of sports. At different levels with varying degrees of interest. The NFL playoff picture has changed dramatically with the outcomes of the games played. Who really thought that the Los Angeles Rams and M.V.P. candidate Matthew Stanford would be outplayed by the hungrier Carolina Panthers, now breathing heavily on the neck of Tampa Bay? Or that the Bears would attain the top seed with the LAR loss? 

Pittsburgh, once the AFC North darling, finds itself behind the Ravens and outside of the playoffs looking in. Like Kansas City. Indianapolis, in losing to the Texans, fell out of first place in the AFC South, replaced on top by Jacksonville; third place Houston is only a game behind. Only five teams have been eliminated from playoff contention—Arizona; New York Giants; New Orleans; Las Vegas; and Tennessee. The Jets still are mathematically alive, to my amazement. 

College conference championships, a continuation of the FBS and Division III playoffs and Army-Navy are still to be played. Add to the mix the CFP games and bowls for the others with six or more wins. Four more weeks of crucial NFL games are on tap. 

There is the opening of some conference play in college basketball. Rutgers goes to get squashed by #1 Purdue. I plan on seeing F&M play Stevens Institute of Technology in men’s hoops on Wednesday and Lycoming at Drew on Saturday. 

And then there is the constant and unsavory movement of college coaches from one job to the next. Loyalty be damned in a win or else climate. I have a lot to say on that topic. Just not right now.

As for me, despite my protestations, feel no pity for me. I yearn for sports.