Watching Sports is a Great Retirement Hobby

Anyone visiting this website knows that I often say that you don’t want to spend your retirement watching television.  When the fall rolls around I have to make a bit of an exception to that guideline because watching sports is a great retirement hobby and this time of year is, in my opinion, the best.  As the summer comes to an end, you have the great tennis tournament in Queens, New York.  The U.S. Open is an amazing spectacle, and the best part is that it features both women and men in one of the most intense battles you can witness.  Tennis stars are extremely well-conditioned and watching them put forth every ounce of effort into their game is something almost anyone can appreciate.  Whether you watch on television or have the good fortune to experience it in person, the Open is an amazing event to watch.

Watching sports is a great retirement hobby especially if you do it with friends.

September is also the time that things start to get really intense in baseball which used to be my favorite sport.  The playoff positions are heating up and records are being threatened or broken almost every week.  I used to watch every game that I could and, when that wasn’t possible, listen to the games on radio, sometimes keeping score.  Yes, I was that much of a geek and even made my own baseball game at one point.  During my working years, I admit that I lost interest a bit.  The games would take four hours or more and I just couldn’t devote that much time to it.  Now, I have more time and watching sports is a great retirement hobby.  The games still take too long but the rule changes have helped that a bit.  There’s no player that is the equivalent of Mickey Mantle but that’s just my opinion.  That was back in the days where you could get into the bleacher section for a dollar and going to the stadium was more of a thrill because the bright green grass and the reddish tint of the basepaths and warning track stood in stark contrast to the small black and white image of the television screen.  The advances in technology and the incredible televisions you can buy today underscores why watching sports is a great retirement hobby.  Between the close-up shots and instant, slow-motion replays, you see the game a whole lot better at home.  A family outing at a baseball game is out of reach for the typical family and that’s a sad thing.  Corporate America buys up all the seats and the stands are sadly quite empty even though the tickets have been sold.  But it doesn’t minimize the importance of a game in the fall when your team is battling for a playoff spot.

And, when September comes, you have the start of the NFL and College Football.  I’m a Green Bay Packer fan and their games are penciled in on our calendar because that time is reserved (unless it’s a family event of some kind).  But, even then, the phone is out to keep track of the score.  Football is intense and every game is important.  There are only 17 games at this point (not counting playoffs) so each game can impact a season.  With baseball, you have 162 games in the regular season, so you don’t pay that much attention to each game in early April.  Fall is when everything seems to be magnified and it’s why watching sports is a great retirement hobby.

When you reach retirement age, you’ve witnessed so much history, you can’t help but compare today’s athletes to the heroes of your youth.  While the film clips of Babe Ruth in his prime were rather limited, you can see great recordings of baseball and football events from the mid-sixties in fairly good detail.  The 1940’s and 50’s are captured as well but not with the clarity that we’re used to today.  A visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown or the Football Hall of Fame in Canton could be a very enjoyable experience.  If you have the time to spend, their archives are extraordinary and can be accessed more than you might think.  I love history and the study of baseball or football through the years is no exception.  Sports is a great social tool as well and it’s not unusual for a group of friends to get together to watch their favorite teams because watching sports is a great retirement hobby. 

I’m probably like most people in being a little disappointed with how much money impacts sports.  It’s always the fan who pays the price.  The sports packages that are marketed by the cable companies are not cheap and, if you’re struggling to make ends meet in retirement, you may have to content yourself by watching the game highlights the next day.  As a Packer fan living in New York, I have become used to that because Green Bay usually isn’t the biggest draw in the Hudson Valle.  I listen to games over the internet from the Packer broadcast team.  That wasn’t possible when I was younger.  The famous Ice Bowl Game between Green Bay and Dallas was actually broadcast and I could not believe how many fans were there for that game.  I became a Vince Lombardi and Green Bay fan on that day and even bought stock so I can say that I’m an owner.  We’ve been to a few games in Lambeau Field and it’s a great place to see a game.  Watching sports is a great retirement hobby and it can be a great escape from a troubled world.  It’s time to start cheering for your favorite team and Enjoy Retired Life!

Thanks for visiting.  If you like what you see here, please tell your friends.

If you think it might be fun to start your own website (it is!) please look here.

If you’d like to learn about earning a steady online income, please check out this possibility.