Why I don’t watch football (soccer) anymore

Semih Aykut
4 min readJan 12, 2022

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10 years ago I quit watching sports. Here is why:

1) It’s a total WASTE OF TIME

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A football match is 90 minutes long + 15 minutes of half time + Extra time. Our lives are limited. Spending it to sports matches doesn’t make sense. You look at your watch after the game ends, and it went 2 hours forward for no reason!

2) Mood swings according to a team’s success is NOT LOGICAL if you are not getting paid

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You’re not a player of that team.

You’re not getting paid based on that team’s success.

Even the players of that team don’t feel that guilty or sorry for a lost match.

They go party afterwards.

It’s not your carreer, not your money.

You earn nothing when the team wins. You lose time.

You lose nothing when the team loses. Oh, I almost forgot: You still lose time.

3) It makes it IMPOSSIBLE TO MULTITASK

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When you’re watching a sports match your brain is completely hypnotised (disabled) by the broadcast.

You can’t even understand if anybody says something to you. You don’t even realize if somebody calls out to you. It’s not like ambient music that you can finish any jobs while enjoying it.

4) If you don’t actively play that sport you LEARN NOTHING

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Okay. If you actively play that sport, especially if you make money from it there is a lot to learn for you in an actual match.

BUT if you’re not a player, then there is literally NOTHING TO LEARN in a match.

Still, you can learn in street football. From friends.

5) You LOSE MONEY

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Sports broadcasts are not free and not cheap these days. You need to pay substantial amounts to watch high quality matches.

And if you’re into sports betting also, it means your losses are limitless.

You buy jerseys, you lose money.

Your money goes to broadcasters, teams, players.

You lose your money because they earn your money.

6) You FILL UP YOUR BRAIN’S MEMORY SPACE with useless match highlights

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Ever witnessed your friends or loved ones remember exactly what happened in a match played 20 years ago but they don’t remember a more important data in life?

This is beacuse they watched that green pitch for hours and hours.

The brain learns what it sees. And you’re still showing it the sports match.

CONCLUSION

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I only realized these after many years and I want my time back!

If it’s your passion, don’t get me wrong. It’s still better than a lot of things for example bad habits that harms your body.

I played football for years. Played for endless hours. Played everyday. Every evening. I even played football in the midnight or in the morning. Not joking. And I regret none.

I still think it was among the best games out there to PLAY. Fast-paced, exciting, immersive, addictive. Physically, great cardio.

But when it comes to watch, I think it’s a huge trade-off between what you could do instead.

AND I HATE NOT BEING HEARD BY A MATCH WATCHER WHILE I SPEAK TO THEM.

I HATE REPEATING MYSELF, SAYING THE SAME THING AGAIN.

I’m calm.

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Semih Aykut
Semih Aykut

Written by Semih Aykut

Numbrle @iOS & @Android. Computer Science BSc. I like electric guitars, swimming and cats. https://x.com/sem1h_

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