Free Agency: Why I Stopped Watching Professional Sports
Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart I was a typical young man in 20 th century America. Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I loved baseball, basketball, and football. A few years later, I became interested in Hockey, and I played intramural soccer in high school. I am writing this because I feel a little sorry for younger fans today. I grew up in Los Angeles. One of the greatest times in my younger years was in 1958. I was 12 years old and the Brooklyn Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles. I went to my first game the following year. In 1960, I was even more excited when the Minneapolis Lakers moved to my hometown. With these teams came two players I admired and emulated: Sandy Koufax and Jerry West. I was a pitcher on my baseball team, and a point guard on my basketball team. I loved football, but I was very ‘skinny,’ and chose not to get broken in half. My mother was unaware that I listened to the Dodger games, when I was supposed to be asleep, on my transistor radio. I began to keep score, under th...
