Football is the hardest

I thought the hardest game to stop watching would be basketball, for a couple of reasons. First off, the schedule is a bit haphazard. It's not like baseball, where they play so often you can be surprised by an off day. The Celtics play three or four times a week, and there never seems to be much rhyme or reason to the timing. They play every other night for a while, then three games in a row. It's easy to lose track. Beyond that, the Celtics are a team at the bottom right now. There is so much development to follow. So many plot twists stand between today and their next title. I have followed 7 teams from irrelevance to championship, and there is nothing quite like it. I will truly miss this first chapter of the Celtics next run.

Hockey schedules are the same way, but I have to confess that I've just never been that close with hockey. Die-hards tell me it's cause I have been to hardly any pro games, but I'm not sure that's the real reason. I just didn't fall for it the way I did basketball. I've not yet been able to understand how every single person on the ice can react to the puck the way they need to, and games can sometimes get to the point where it simply seems impossible to score. Don't get we wrong, I love a good hockey game. Maybe I just haven't seen enough of them.

Anyway, in both those cases, it's just easy to forget if the teams are even playing or not. But football is different. Every Sunday for the past four weekends, I have awoken knowing that they are playing football all day long. My team, the other teams, the rivalries, the amazing plays. It's all happening right now, and I'm not watching. That's been the biggest challenge. Before, it was a real pleasure to ignore the challenges and successes of my week, and the tasks that awaited me in the week to come, and just sort of camp out. Watching. Being entertained by something vulgar and beautiful. Being connected to friends in far flung places, who are spending the day the same way I was. One month in, that's been the hardest part to go without.

I'm certainly aware that the Belichick-Brady combination is a once in a lifetime gift. The fact that I am essentially turning away from one full season of theirs is a huge struggle for me. I am sure that any list of regrets I have for taking on this experiment will start with that. Based on some of the Facebook and Twitter posts I saw early on in last nights game, I seem to have more faith in them even while not paying attention than some Pats fans do while looking right at them. Something very special seems to have happened last night at Foxboro, where my Patriots play. The clues were there on social media, but then, just as I was laying down to sleep, I got a frenzied phone call from a friend out west who could hardly process the fact that I was missing what was happening. It was awesome. This morning, social media did the job again, informing me that whatever kind of comeback the Pats were able to mount, they made it stick and won the game.

I'm bummed I missed it, but I can tell you this. Though I was dying to open my phone and see what was happening in the game, I was also keenly aware of how nice it was to not be stressed out by the game. That was a new feeling, and it does not bode well for my return to full time sports watching when this is all over.