Paralysis by Analysis: Can we still enjoy Football games?
By Bart
Do you remember watching a football game as a child? Do you remember watching a football game before we had the internet? What about what it was like watching a football game before you were concerned about how many yards your Cleveland Brown receiver got for your fantasy team? (we’ll ignore the odd fact about having a Cleveland Browns receiver on your fantasy team) I want to ask you a question – can you still enjoy watching a game, particularly the Bears, as a fan and enjoy it?
With the mass influx of data, talk radio, tweets, status updates, newspaper articles, blogs (and yes, for those of you wondering, I understand the irony of questions I’m asking on a blog), fantasy football, etc., I’ve been wondering if we can still be “fans.” Let’s focus on the Bears. When Jay Cutler has a bad game, we blame his relationship with his girlfriend. Matt Forte doesn’t play a lot in pre-season, and we look to his contract. The O-Line allows a truck to drive through to the backfield and we analyze the GMs trades and draft picks for the past 3 years. Roy Williams is slow to get starting, and we ask ourselves why him and Jay don’t go out to a park and play catch with one another on Saturdays. We delve into players family lives, play armchair doctor, and evaluate every off-season move. Can we ever watch a game to see if our team wins anymore and just be happy or upset by the win or the loss? Are we too inundated with information to watch the Bears and football games like we did as fans twenty years ago; or are those times gone for good?
What do you think? There’s a lot here, people, let’s hear what you have to say…