With 2023 just around the corner, I thought it was a perfect time to look at some of my New Year’s Resolutions when it comes to the world of sports. If you are like me, sports are a huge part of your life and the new year provides hope, despair, and all manner of emotions in between. Unfortunately, this means as enjoyable as sporting events are – they can also take a bit of an emotional toll. These are the resolutions I will be following when it comes to sports in 2023, I hope they might inspire you as well.
Manage Expectations
The biggest bane of a sports fan’s existence is hope. Hope is a drug. Hope will make you say ridiculous things. Hope will make you forget all of the things you told yourself before the season started. Going into Texas A&M’s 2022 season, I told myself that I would just enjoy what I could with Aggie football replacing a lot key players at several positions. All it took to make me completely forget all of that was Desmond Howard picking Texas A&M to win the national championship. However, this year I will not be letting hope raise my expectations. I will be perfectly reasonable and be happy with an average season for all of my sports teams (until overreacting to the first big win of the year).
Go to More Live Events
A big portion of the back half of 2022 was spent attending college football games. I had incredible journeys to Baton Rouge to see LSU play Ole Miss and to Morgantown, West Virginia to see the Mountaineers play Baylor. There were also several more local trips to Texas A&M, Rice, Houston, and UT-Austin to watch games. In the first half of the year I also checked off a bucket list item by going to the Daytona 500. In between? I think the only thing I attended was an Astros game. In 2023, I want to attend more college football games but I’d also like to toss in a greater variety of sports. Maybe mix in some college baseball or MLS action.
Enjoy the Moment
This could really apply to any event and not just sports but I often times catch myself reacting to sporting events by rushing to social media instead of just soaking it in. Don’t get me wrong, the conversation aspect of sports is a big part of why I spend so much time with my eyes on the television, but maybe it’s time to react a little less and enjoy a little more. That will be a big focus of my sports content consuming in 2023.
Don’t Let The Outcome Impact Your Mood
If you are a sports fan, you have probably let the outcome of a contest impact your mood at some point. I am 100% guilty of this. I think the Texas A&M loss to Appalachian State may still be having a negative impact on me. However, in 2023 I pledge to take only five minutes to allow for mourning sports losses. After that, I will move on and go about the rest of our day enjoying whatever it is I am doing.
Learn To Love A New Sport or League
This is one that I think all of us could stand to do from time to time. I have tried to make an effort to do it but in 2022, I fell off a bit. That is why in 2023 I am going to adopt two leagues to devote time and effort to learning about and learning to love. I have chosen the WNBA and Australian Rules Football. It can be anything from Rugby to Table Tennis but I’d encourage each and every one of you to pick something new up in 2023, you never know what you’re missing until you tune in and try to learn the sport.
No More Emotional Hedging
This may just be me in the world of sports gambling but I can’t help but pick against my teams to soften the blow of a loss. I know emotional hedging is cowardly and that is why I am promising to swear off betting against my teams in 2023, unless I think there is an actual lock that I can make a lot of money on of course. I will be fully supporting my teams and not having the thought of “well at least I might win money” in the back of my mind.
I hope to let these six resolutions guide my sports watching experience in 2023. If you have any sports New Year’s Resolutions of your own, we’d love to hear about them. Tell us all about them on Twitter at the official Pokatok account!