Watching Sports as You Grow Old

I've always enjoyed watching sports since I was little. In the beginning, there was cricket, with Virender Sehwag’s powerful hitting and soon after Irfan Pathan’s beautiful swing bowling.

Then came Wenger’s Arsenal, with Fabregas as the centerpiece. Fabregas eventually left, but in the process I became a die-hard Arsenal fan. Over time, Sebastian Vettel became another favorite as I started following F1 too.

I've always been decent, not great at sports. But for most of my life, I’ve actively followed and watched at least one sport to the extent that I hardly missed any matches. And this hasn't always been easy. In the early days, it meant waking up at odd hours to watch India play in Australia or the West Indies. And for the last 12+ years, it has meant staying up late to catch Arsenal in action.

Nowadays, a good part of my weekends still goes into watching Arsenal and other football teams play. I still follow the scores of cricket matches or the race results in F1. Sometimes I’m even watching 2-3 football matches at the same time. But recently, I’ve noticed that while I still follow the team, the way I follow players has changed.

When I was young, Sehwag and Irfan Pathan were my clear favorites. I supported them regardless of which team they played for in the IPL. Similarly, as a lifelong Arsenal fan, I watched Barcelona, Chelsea, and Monaco’s matches every week just because Fabregas played there post-Arsenal. I supported and cheered for Ferrari and Aston Martin simply because I followed Vettel.

As a youngster watching sports, there are players you look up to—ones you admire and whose style you try to copy whenever you play.

But as I’ve grown older, so have these players. And over the last few years, all of them have retired.

I still watch these sports and the teams I love, but not with the same spark. As a youngster, it’s easier to look up to players and say that 'X' or 'Y' is my favorite. These players act as your role models, and you daydream about playing like them when you grow up. You copy their style.

But as you grow older, you may still like the players, but you don’t admire them in the same way. I guess it’s difficult to see role models in players who are younger or the same age as you. As your routine gets busier with work, friends, and family, any distant dream of replicating these sportspersons’ achievements also fades. I still enjoy watching the likes of Bukayo Saka or Yashasvi Jaiswal, but not in the same way I loved Fabregas or Sehwag.

At the end of the day, you may still love the sport. But as your favorite sportspersons grow old, so does your relationship with the sport. Which in itself, might not be the worst thing.