My wife and I were joking that we should make T-shirts that say

               "I survived the pandemic and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

                                  (and irreparable mental issues)"

but we decided it would be insensitive to the people who died.   But I feel the same way towards sports right now.  I was psyched after the MN game, but had something the day of the IN game and didn't bother to watch it.   I may have missed 1-2 other games in the last 30+ years for the occasional insensitively scheduled wedding.  I didn't watch the rest of the games because I just couldn't take one more thing going poorly in my life.  

I've watched 3-4 basketball games and am excited about the team, but I think everyone is so emotionally stretched at this point that it isn't safe to invest your emotions in sports.

I think that is why the reaction against Harbaugh for this years debacle (in a COVID year) was so harsh.  To have your emotional investment squandered so badly just isn't healthy.  It's a violation of trust.

I think you can see from the comments that you are certainly not alone. Everyone is experiencing sports differently than we did a year ago, and some of the fanaticism has been toned down as we all see how the events of the last 12 months put sports as entertainment into perspective. I'm in the same boat as you, and for me it's crossed over to other domains of my life, much more acutely. I've talked with therapists and coaches, so I'll try to pass on practice that has helped me - it's not a fix, but can move you in the right direction, out of an almost depressive state into where it sounds like you want to be.

Think deeply about what it is that makes you a fan. Why is it that watching athletes you don't know personally is so satisfying? What makes you happy when they win and disappointed or sad when they lose? Try to move past the obvious, and examine what we take for granted. For me, intellectually I like the technical aspects - play calls, recruiting, etc. Beyond that, I like the pagentry and tradition - uniforms, school colors, remembering old players, all of that. Connecting the past to the present - Nostalgia is a powerful emotion. I like the current players too, their stories, ups and downs, highs and lows - think about how emotional Brown was when Juwan gave him the game ball of his 1,000th point. Hitting milestones is awesome and we get to see how happy players are when the do it. Lastly I like the drama of competition. Close games, upset finishes, excellent athletic and intellectual feats. Break it down and look at each piece without judgement, both good and bad. Then put it back together to realize how special it is. It takes effort, but I think it's possible to shift your mindset to realize that it's pretty awesome that these college students are working harder than most of us have ever worked to be in great physical condition, practice hard to execute as a team, and become friends and teammates along the way. And they get to do that, night after night, against other high-level teams who are doing the same.

It's easy to become jaded with sports as you age. You see more and more seasons, so each one loses it's emotional impact. I've realized that so much comes down to luck - a bounce of a puck or a ball, questionable refereeing, the tiny distance between a shot that goes in and one that rims out. A single game can invalidate a whole season of excellence - the 18-1 Patriots and 73 win Warriors are probably the best teams of all time in their sport, but they're remembered for failing at the end. Our championship structures are set up to maximize drama, not necessarily excellence. Yet we know the rules going in, and accept them for what they are. Accept it for what it is, enjoy it for the usual reasons, and experience in your personal way. That's the best way to be a fan.

I would have probably been in the same boat but I feel like this team is so enjoyable to watch that they didn't really give me a choice but to get excited. I'm very thankful for that and hope that you can get there too.

I find it hard to enjoy watching entitled, rich people spreading a deadly disease so they can play an entirely unnecessary playground game.

Add to that the disgusting whining and protesting when said games were cancelled or postponed *while* they kept their full-ride plus payments, and seemingly every damn coach who, despite being paid millions, cannot be bothered to wear a mask properly.

Meanwhile thousands, likely tens of thousands, of high-academic achieving graduate assistants in the state lost ALL of their financial benefits so that the same schools could cover their budget issues. Coaches? Paid. Staff? Paid. Athletes not athleting? Full ride plus. Summa Cum Laude grad assistant? Fired.

So yeah. As my family pays out of pocket for tuition and housing for a grad student who earned a full ride this year, while all the nonsense above is going on...I've not watched much sports, either. I just feel angry and sick to my stomach when I do.

Um, sports are for entertainment.

They are not supposed to be emotional support activities.  I mean, its just a game!

Thank you for posting this. I've also "struggled" to find the interest to GAF about sports over the past year. I think a lot of it is just the result of living in a once a century pandemic. We spend our days and weekends doing generally the same things, same routines, etc. Then over night many of us are working from home and teaching/supervising/whatever our kids are doing for remote learning. The world sort of got flipped upside on all of us and this being such a unique experience makes it hard to find good, reliable information on how to handle it all.

When things don't seem to make sense it often helps me if I can focus on the things I have some sort of control over; diet, exercise, trying to be mentally/emotionally present for my family and job, making the effort to address my mental health, things like that. Also, as much as I might not like opening up to another person, it always helps to talk about what's bothering me. 

I feel the same. Since NYE I've been miserable: girlfriend I was planning to propose to dumped me and blocked me and won't talk to me. Moved away from home for a job I hate and feel alone, got into a car accident, bank account frozen due to fraud purchases, laptop broke, busted my knee on the ice, went to the doctor's for a check up and discovered I may have cancer on my back, and have been diagnosed depressed. Sports have been in the back of my mind, and frankly nothing excites me anymore. 2020 was rough but 2021 is killing me. 

I can't help you unless you want to read something stupid. Let's see if it helps you!

I thought this said "Stripping to Be a Fan" at first for some reason. And I thought, well that's silly, you can just be a fan for free.

I'm a little late to this post, but here's my $0.02...

I'm really sorry to hear that and that sucks. I've experienced some of this and I think there's (at least) two things going on here.

1. Many people have been experiencing a heavy sense of doom/dread for the last 12 months (disease, job loss, social upheaval, general uncertainty, etc.) and that is (in my opinion) a very reasonable response/feeling to what has been going on lately.
2. Also, Michigan football went from decades of dominance to 15 years of painful losses to rivals and underdogs, and has ended many of those years on "almosts" and missed expectations. That's exhausting as an emotionally invested fan.

So yeah... That makes sense that you're not feeling the same way about M sports. Maybe it's because you feel that other things are more important. Perhaps you're working through some form of survivor's guilt (feeling bad when one has things pretty good, while others do not).

My advice as someone who has dealt with these things myself would be to...

1. Accept that you feeling off or muted is reasonable given what's happened in the last 12 months. This has not been just another year for most in the world.
2. Decide what you feel is important right now and give it the space in your life that you think it deserves.
3. Consider how much power over your emotions you are willing to give to things that you can't control (like sports).
4. Understand that your likes and dislikes will probably change as you grow and change. Not only is that normal, but probably indicative of healthy growth. Who wants to stay exactly the same for their whole life?

Personally, the last 12 months has been rough at times, but I've decided that I'll be thankful for the positives and will try not to dwell on the negative. That's not easy to do sometimes, but that's my aim.

I've taken a similar approach with Michigan football. I really enjoy the good games (like this year's opener), but I try not to let myself crash after bad ones (take your pick). I've decided that for me, sports are entertainment. If it's not entertaining, I make a conscious effort to pull back emotionally and put some of that energy into something else that might be more fun. Sometimes that's a simple as reading a book or going for a hike.

Some people very close to me are noticeably jolted by Michigan football losses to the point where other family members will check the score before interacting with those people to know what sort of mood they might be in. I've decided I don't want that for myself. I don't want that for anyone, frankly.

I think some people would consider my approach blasphemous or fair-weather fandom, but Michigan football is a net-positive in my life because I've worked at making that mental switch to ride the good and move on quickly from the bad.

I hope some of this makes some sense and helps. It's been a little cathartic to write as someone who has worked through some things, so thanks for posting! I hope you are able to work toward clarity and peace soon. Go blue!

If something's fun and enjoyable for you at some point, and that changes, it's challenging. We change in life, sometimes for reasons we can point to and sometimes for no discernible reason. When we find something we love, we want to hold on to it forever, but that isn't natural. The world changes and we change, so we should expect and it is natural for our relationship with the world to change as time passes.

If you're not enjoying Michigan sports like you used to, don't fight against it. Don't struggle to get yourself to like it as you used to. To move past it, as you say, you need to start by accepting things have changed. For now, at least, you don't derive the same joy you used to from it. There's loss there. That's sad. But it's also natural and ok. Appreciate and think about the fact that you got a lot of joy out of it for awhile, and be thankful for that.

Once you've done that, you can be open opportunities to discover new experiences that bring you joy. 

Alternative suggestion:

Stop reading any and all commentary and analysis of Michigan sports. Might allow to enjoy the games on a more gut level rather than on a pseudo-intellectual cerebral level.

I used to hate Brussel Sprouts, now I love them. I used to hate Ohio State, I still do, but I used to, too. 

Michigan men's and women's basketball are pretty much the only teams it's easy for me to be a fan of. But I definitely get you. Sports is still so messed up, and missing out on a lot of it in 2020 has lessened the "have to watch" factor -- aside from MBB and WBB of course.

Obviously, it has a lot to do with the teams I have lived and died with for a lifetime just flat-out sucking (and projected to keep sucking for years yet), but that's not the point of your post, so no hijack.

TL;DR -- yup, you're spot on.

I was definitely in the same boat during football season. I didn’t care about the games, college or pro. I watched some but my heart wasn’t in it. It felt like a throw away year but basketball brought me back. This team is special and for the first time since the Fab 5, I feel like we will win it all. There’s something different and special with this team. They look like they love playing together and they don’t care who takes the most shots or plays the most minutes. The true definition of a team and they won’t need to catch any breaks to advance in the tournament. If a player or two struggles offensively, there are others who can step up or they can just shut a team down defensively. 
 

Watch this basketball team and watch how they play for each other. They brought me out of my funk, and they might do the same for you.

I can totally relate. For me it's been a combination of things: I was without cable and good internet for a few years due to being in a rural part of Appalachia, obviously I am out of MI and can't as easily get the MI sports teams' games, I have a 2 year old, and of course the Pandemic. I would also say, not to get too political here, watching the Capitol get stormed on Jan. 6 really turned the volume down on a lot of things in the world for me too. Hoisting a trophy doesn't bring the same joy when you're concerned about the sack of Rome (so to speak). 

But to the point about the pandemic: The total absence of fans in the seats and the energy that brings is a constant reminder that this maybe shouldn't be happening at all and that there are way more important things going on. That said, this team has been a much needed relief for me in many ways too. Feeling joy at a win and the tension of a back and forth rivalry game has helped me feel normal for a least a few moments each week. I keep trying to remind myself that it is okay (for an hour or so) to let yourself be distracted. 

I've learned fans make the games exciting and their impact on a game is missed.  I've watched dozens of games across different sports where I thought afterward a home crowd might have won that game for the home team.

Its just boring without fans.

Nothing wrong with you.  It's a very different experience watching the game alone than our with friends. Even not being able to see people in person at work and talk sports has a huge effect on enjoyment.