A funny thing happened on the way to not betting all of the time......

[yyz]

I found something:

MY LIFE!

I have been amazed at how much time I have wasted watching sports on the tube, and sitting in front of this stupid minitor.

With far less 'action' on games, I found it completely dull to watch sports. I actually discovered that there is an "outside" of my house, besides going to work!

I have taken walks, spent more time with my little girl, called friends on the phone, got back to the gym, met a nice lady at work......and life is not so bad.

I made sports wagering too much of an interest, and doing my little "test" has proven that I don't need this shit. I still have 5 weeks to go in the test, but I have a hunch I may not complete it. The "need" for "action" is not nearly as strong as I thought, and the amount of time I wish to devote to this activity is diminishing. (It would be suicide to place wagers without taking the time to handicap properly, so wagering may go away in my life.)

I'll see what shakes out this week, but I feel pretty good about life, and myself, and that's not half-bad.



[This message has been edited by yyz (edited 12-09-2001).]

 

[Neemer]

VERY VERY VERY interesting. These exact thoughts ran thru my head about six months ago. I lost a few friends out of the deal and didn't even answer the phone when it rang. While cappin' games, I didn't want to talk to anyone b/c they'd screw up my train of thought. Guilty of ignoring my children and especially my better half. I would stay up till 1:00-3:00 every night lookin' at matchups and scowering the net to try and find better information. I'd wake up in the morning, take a shower, and flip my computer on to check late scores, and then off to work I went. I also stopped going to lunch with friends and started reading 3-4 different sports sections trying to pick up a couple angles. If I wasn't watchin' the tube, I had my eyes glued to my notebook screen checking out different handicapping sites. All this information I could find, kept me up later and later when finally I simply ran out of gas. I'm the type of person that was always fully prepared before test time. I was the same way when it came to analyzing matchups. With the addition of sooo many handicapping and gambling sites out there, it simply became too overwhelming! When I would lose, I'd blame myself b/c I didn't take enough time to study a particular matchup. With so many games and so much new information out there, I ran flat out of gas trying to process all of it! In the meantime, my family went along with their lives, while I was becoming some zombie like idiot, who could care less about the outside world. I also quit playing golf, which on avg.,I probably played anywhere from 2-3 times a week. I deservingly caught HELL from friends and family about my new found way of life.

Thankfully, I had enough sense to reflect back upon my way of life one night, on a very long road trip to Dallas Texas. Needless to say, I was ashamed about my actions for the last few years. I really couldn't believe that 26 months had passed since I found this site. It had felt like 26 days. My reflection revealed a very sick individual who had become obsessed with gambling. My stress level was sky high and it really had become apparent with the people I USE to associate with.

I believe that you can take anything to the extreme if you're careless. I had certainly done that with sports gambling, and it had cost me quite a bit. The key is to find a happy medium in which there is some balance to your life. Don't let it engulf your entire life b/c more than likely, you'll find yourself in a position that's hard to get out of.

And lastly, I hope you all don't get the impression that this is a slam on Jack's place, or any other similiar place. I can promise you that it is not! I just hope that everyone can find that happy medium out there that enables someone to participate in sports gambling, while keeping fully aware of the important things in your life. However, if you let it, it will totally consume you, and take ya to a place that's EXTREMELY difficult to escape from.

 

[Fred]

Great stuff yyz! Thanks for sharing and good luck.

You too neemer, i'm guessing many of us can relate to your experience.

i'm bookmarking this thread in my Madjack's archive of very valuable posts

best wishes