I live with my good friend Joe. In most ways, we get along very well. In fact, we are almost ideal roommate except for one thing – his obsession with sports news. I can understand why he wants to hear about college football sports news from time to time. We are both enrolled in the University of Michigan, you see, and college sports are very important here. Still, does he need to hear the news sports every single evening? Would he die without it?

It has gotten so bad that I can't watch the evening news because he is busy watching Fox sports news instead. He knows that it is not a real news Channel – he has told me so many times. For him, however, finding out the sports news trumps all. He needs to know what his favorite teams have done and what the pundits have to say about it. In general, he is a pretty educated guy, and he seems to find a way to keep up with the current events despite the fact that he gets all of his news from the television. Nonetheless, it is irritating the way that sports news dominates our living room.

The whole town feels like that. If you go down the street and try to talk politics with a stranger, they will probably give you a sideways look. But if you want to talk about college sports team news with them, they will be all for it. Everyone – even people who don't watch sports – knows the sports news for the day. Whether you are going to frat parties or co-op parties, you hear people talking about new sports more often than you hear them talking about corruption in the president's office. 

As if sports news wasn't enough, we have the stadium only half a mile away. That might not seem to be very close for anyone who has not lived in Ann Arbor, but believe me it is. Who needs sports news when you can hear the announcer's voice blaring all over the entire city with every game. Every touchdown, every play, every promotion – blasted right to our ears. Having to put up with that in the afternoon and the sports news in the evening is just too much some days. On game days, I stay out as late as I can. I don't want to get anywhere near that house or that stadium.