This past Saturday I spent an hour watching my 7-year-old granddaughter play soccer. I try not to be one of the soccer grandpas, rooting too loudly for a game that's supposed to be fun--providing the little kids with excellent exercise plus the opportunity to learn sportsmanship and ball-handling skills.
It was a good game, and I noticed that my granddaughter played with greater focus and pleasure than she had last year. She looked like a real player, and had a couple of excellent passes, one of which went for a goal.
Only later did I wonder: Could such an event impact my addiction? Was I, at times, getting a high from the play, and not merely enjoying watching my granddaughter having a fine time with teammates on a sunny late summer morning?
Sports watching addiction is subtle. If you quit watching TV, it's there lurking on your desktop or in the newspaper or on radio.
I worried for a while--would the experience make me now want something "better," a quick look at the TV? That bad effect hasn't happened. I did overhear that the NFL season is about to begin. I hadn't thought about it all during the preseason. I was hardly aware that the preseason was even happening. Nor have I clue about the baseball races.
I am, in other words, quite free of the addiction, and that makes me think that I can safely watch my granddaughter's next game.
Monday, September 10, 2007
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