Go ahead, admit it. For most avid football fans out there, this week after the Super Bowl came with two kinds of hangovers. There is of course the pounding headache and slight nausea that greeted most of us with Monday morning’s alarm clock. Then there’s the other kind that has nothing to do with the 12-pack of Coors Light or fifth of Jack you downed during the biggest game of the year. That my friends, is the football offseason hangover, and it comes every year whether you want it to or not.

This year I am offering you my assistance by providing a hangover “cure” to offset offseason football blues.

Photo Credit

1. Be Productive

I don’t know about the rest of the free world, but for me personally, I have been putting off several projects for the last five months. This is your opportunity to do everything you were planning on doing, but didn’t because you were glued to the TV on Saturdays and Sundays. Your closet that looks like it’s recently been condemned and quarantined, clean it. That oil in your car that’s needed a change since Thanksgiving, change it. That material you’ll “read over the weekend” for your test, study it. You now have time do to all the things football kept you from doing. Take advantage of this time, because soon enough football season will be back and those “projects” will stack up again.

2. Enjoy Basketball Season

Now hold on football purists, there are actually other sports out there. While I understand NBA and NCAA Hoops don’t hold a candle to college football and the NFL, there are actually some interesting storylines going on in basketball this year. We don’t have a clear cut favorite in college hoops or the NBA. Of course the usual suspects are the front runners, with the Lakers and Cavs leading their respective conferences in the NBA. The Lakers’ fate rests on the health of Kobe, but without him the West is wide open. Last year the Orlando Magic proved to Cavaliers fans that it doesn’t matter how many wins you rack up in the regular season, it’s all about the playoffs. Not to mention ex-Longhorn Kevin Durant dropping 25+ points a game like it’s his job (it is, and he’s done it in 25 straight games to be exact). And the Spurs, Mavericks and Rockets are in position for a postseason run. In the NCAA, Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and Villanova are looking to be the cream of the crop. But not one school is unbeatable and No. 1 ranked teams have been dropping like flies (see the Texas Longhorns). Yes, the Horns have fallen off the deep end since their brief stint at the top, but would you want your school matched up against them in the tournament?

3. Be Social

I’m not saying football turns you into a hermit, ok, maybe I am. Longhorns and Cowboys fans, please explain to me what you were doing every weekend for the last five months. Point taken? Now is your chance to go on that weekend trip out of town to catch up with old friends or go out on the town on a Saturday night when so many of them seemed to be filled with primetime Texas games this season. If you haven’t seen or talked to anyone except your fellow football fans for the last half-year, first, you need help, and second, now is your opportunity to become a normal person again. Look at this offseason as freedom from football fanaticism, and make sure you still have friends.

4. Look Forward to Baseball Season

Only two days until pitchers and catchers report! Ok, this is a stretch I’ll admit. But everyone loves America’s Pastime and combined with the NBA playoffs and March Madness quickly approaching, this can be a temporary cure until the NFL draft. You’ve got to love the optimism that comes with the approach of Opening Day, when “everyone’s in first place”. Go Rangers?

5. Intramural Sports

The next best thing to watching football is actually playing it. While not all colleges offer a spring intramural football league, softball, basketball and other IM sports take place in the spring to hold your competitive appetite at bay just a little longer. Most schools have a spring flag football tournament, including the University of Texas. Intramural sports are a great way to stay in shape and meet new people.

So hold those chins up high my football frenzied friends. Whether your team underachieved or exceeded expectations, the 2009-2010 season is behind us and you must move on. There are many paths to remaining sane during the offseason, the one you choose is your decision. Remember not to mourn your loss, celebrate the season that was, and of course, your new found freedom.

© David for CampusByte, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us, Stumble It! Here

The phone rings.  It’s your buddy, he has two tickets to the Texas Longhorns vs. Kansas Jayhawks this coming weekend and you’re invited.  At first thought, you’re pumped, a chance to go see the Horns in their final home game before their push into the 2010 BCS title game in Pasadena.  You can smell the roses already.

But if you are anything like me, a college graduate with a full time job who is closer to getting a reduced rate on car insurance than doing keg stands at foam parties, reality starts to set in.  So does the smell of the dried puke from the overly eager and extremely intoxicated frat boy who passes out next to you in the 2nd quarter.

I have a 50 inch HDTV, three leather recliners, a refrigerator stocked with ice cold beer and food, and a remote control within grabbing distance all within the comfort of my home.  The question now arises:

Which is better?

Watching the game from the comfort of your HD capable home or fighting the masses in an attempt to see the game live in person.

Arguments for both sides seem to be valid.  You have multiple reasons for wanting to stay home and root from your recliner.

• Face value of a ticket to a Longhorns game: $80

• Number of drunk, obnoxious fans at DKR Memorial Stadium: 115,000

• Ridiculous price of stadium food and drink (no beer available at DKR)

• Length of time it takes to commute, park, walk to the stadium, walk back to the car, sit in traffic for an hour trying to   get out of the parking garage, then of course the drive home.

• Calling your own timeouts and replays via your HD DVR

• Being able to see the action no matter where it is on the field (did I mention in HD?)

• A thermostat and shelter

• Ability to watch other games

• Leather recliner vs. metal bleacher

• Being able to sit and watch the game, instead of standing on your seat the entire game – a requirement of sitting in the student section

The old fashioned sports fan is cringing at the list I provided, which is fine, that list has nothing to do with the history of sports entertainment.  This is the future.  Going to a game now costs hundreds of dollars, not to mention a huge investment of time, especially if travel is involved.

DKR Memorial Stadium and “Jerry World” do their best to compensate for the fact you cannot always see the action from your seat by putting “Godzilla-tron” screens up for the fans viewing pleasure.  That then begs the question, if you’re watching the game on the stadium’s big screen for most of the game, why are you there in the first place?

Now the sports purist in me comes out.  You forfeit everything mentioned above, buy tickets and show up to the stadium in your favorite player’s jersey for one simple reason:  the love of the game.

There is not a list to quantify “pros” for attending a live sporting event.

It is an experience.  You can tell your friends, “Yeah, I was there.”  You don’t feel the same watching Colt McCoy lead the Longhorns down the field for a game winning touchdown in your living room as you do with 115,000 other Texas fans screaming “TEXAS! FIGHT!” at the top of their lungs.  You don’t look around in awe at the sea of burnt orange and white surrounding you.  You don’t smell the sulfur and feel the stadium shake every time the cannon booms.  You don’t chest bump and high five complete strangers.  You don’t sing “The Eyes of Texas” with the rest of the fans devoted enough to stay after the game and honor school tradition.  There are so many things lost when you do not attend a game in person, but you have to actually go to a game to understand exactly what that is.

Take the 2005 BCS National Championship game that pitted Vince Young and the Longhorns against Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and the USC Trojans.  A match up that lived up to its hype and went down as one of the greatest college football games in history.  I watched the game at home, with a rowdy crew of Horns fans and an insane spread of food and drinks.  My friend went to the game, spending thousands of dollars on the flight to California, hotel and tickets to the game.  He actually saw Vince Young cross the goal line on 4th down for the win with only seconds remaining on the clock.  Would I trade a couple thousand dollars to see that game in person?  Probably not.  But my friend can forever say, “I was there.”  I can only say I saw it on TV.

Ultimately, the fan must make the decision.  It makes sense to have a healthy mix between the two, attending a game occasionally when the time is right.  But with technology at home becoming more advanced and affordable, coupled with ticket prices steadily increasing, staying at home could become much more appealing than a trip to the stadium.

image source: sheknows.com

© David for CampusByte, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us, Stumble It! Here