Don’t remember when I exactly stopped watching sports live but realized as much as love sport I actually watch very few matches live now. I still try to watch Arsenal matches whenever possible, but I do miss a lot of matches for various reasons. The main reason mostly is the timing of the matches. Most of the sports I would like to watch are played in different time zones. I used to watch Cricket a lot being a big Sourav fan after he left, my interest waned in that.
Nowadays, I follow a few sports by actually not watching any of the games, but by listening to the commentary, analysis on it, and watching the highlights. Most recently I started following the NFL due to the Tom Brady phenomenon, and what a season to follow him, he just won the Super Bowl! What a story that is, an old guy going to a new team that has not won in a long time, most people writing him and Tampa Bay off, and he and his teammates bringing the trophy home. That is the magic of sport I love, anything can happen. It was fun following it mostly on Youtube. I never watched a single match, not even the final!
I listen to the ESPN analysis team on Youtube discuss it. And the way they do it is actually both informative and fun. Like Stephen A Smith, that guy is special, the way he talks. Even though it’s BS sometimes you still love it. He is super entertaining. The other sport I follow religiously now is NBA, I have become a Luka Doncic fan, that youngster is something special. There are also so many other teams with their own special players making things competitive.
My favorite sport is Football, which is probably the only sport I still try to catch the odd match live. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the excitement of watching it live, the super tackle, the special save, the beautiful pass, the wonder goal, all these if you do not watch live you do not fully appreciate it, even though later you can watch a highlight of it. It’s strange and I am sure I am not the only one who has started following sport this way.