The hardest post I've ever had to write

DawgatAuburn · Jul 30, 2010

This is not easy for me to talk about,
much less post on a message board of people I hardly know beyond a made up
name. But confession is good for the soul, and it’s something I need to get out
there for everyone to read. I hope it’s not something you judge me by in the
future. In the end, we’re all just Bulldogs trying to make life better one post
at a time.

So here goes.

For several years I have suffered from
an addiction. Several is sort of an understatement. It started back in the mid-1990s,
so while I can’t remember the exact time/place it started, I think it certainly
had to be around 1995 or so, which puts me at better than 15 years of
struggling. To even type that….”15 years of struggling”…..makes me cringe a
little bit. I had no idea that it had been that long.

There have been periods in my life when
I had my problem more under control than others. There have been times when it
is almost out of control. Weekends have long been a particularly bad time, and
as my ability to access the problem has gotten easier over the years, weekdays
sometimes aren’t any better. Sometimes I string together three or four days of
almost constantly doing it and not even realizing how bad things are.

When you are fighting an addiction,
sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can climb your way out. My “rock
bottom” occurred recently, but strangely, did not involve me. What it did
though, was wake me up to the better life that exists on the other side.

My addiction, you see, has been to
ESPN.com. I had to have it. I had to
know the score. Who got traded. Who got hurt. Who won the match, the game, the
race…..

But now it is over.

On the same night LeBron James made The
Decision, I, DawgatAuburn, made A Decision.

I bookmarked www.foxsports.com and removed the bookmark
for the other site. Yes, I took my talent to Fox Sports. I was so repulsed at the
incessant coverage of The Decision that I was able to see myself as others saw
me. I was reading only what ESPN wanted me to read, not the truth. I could not
believe I had treated myself like this for so long.

I now rely on www.foxsports.com for my scores, trade
updates, and general sports news. There are still some un-ESPNy things on the
ESPN site (like the Sports Guy) that I like to read, but for the most part I
have been doing well in making the transition. Did you know that if Team A is
beating Team B on ESPN, they are also beating them on www.foxsports.com? That if a player got
traded according to ESPN, they got traded according to Fox Sports too?

I am also more apt to use the site of
the specific event. MLB.com is not perfect, but it does a pretty good job of
covering, you know, baseball. I look forward to trying the same with NFL.com
this fall. College football and college basketball might be tougher, but I have
a few weeks to really figure that out. Newspaper websites are pretty good too.

Confessing all of this is not easy, and
I humbly ask for your support (prayers sent). Perhaps others of you are
struggling with this too, and if so, I hope my post has given you the strength
to make the same move that I made. I am not far enough along in my rehab to be
a sponsor yet, but I hope one day to be able to help others make the same
transition I made. Until then, I can only take one day at a time.

Respectfully,

D@A



(On vacation and with too much free
time)

BigMotherTucker · Jul 30, 2010

Thank God I'm only addicted to whores.

Optimus Prime 4 · Jul 30, 2010

[No message]

seshomoru · Jul 30, 2010

about espn3? I've been clean for a long time, but to watch the World Cup I had to go online. I also read Bill Simmons's mega mailbag yesterday, but that was the first time I've read him in a long, long time. LA killed his soul.

karlchilders.sixpack · Jul 30, 2010

espn3....

dawgoneyall · Jul 30, 2010

drink to that. Again.

McDawg · Jul 30, 2010

phew, thought I was going to have to report someone to the porn department at local PD.

Guy From Gulfport · Jul 30, 2010

It has been quite a while since I gave FoxSports a view. It used to be unbearably busy.

missouridawg · Jul 30, 2010

Tee-Totally Terrible.

That was just ridiculous. ESPN does need to get their **** together. I've already dropped them for the MLB Network for baseball...

KurtRambis4 · Jul 30, 2010

I hardly ever watch ESPN. I watch all the Yanks games on MLB.tv. Other than that, it's basically become what MTV turned into. It seems to be more "Real World" than "Headbangers' Ball."

DawgatAuburn · Jul 31, 2010

The sponsor says ESPN3 shows SPORTS, not garbage, and therefore is OK to use. That's step 3 in the 12 step program. Live sports are OK to watch on any network or website.

The hardest post I've ever had to write

DawgatAuburn

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BigMotherTucker

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Optimus Prime 4

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seshomoru

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dawgoneyall

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McDawg

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Guy From Gulfport

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missouridawg

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DawgatAuburn

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