Sports Players

By Johnny Fuery ⋅ November 18, 2005 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I was at the gym around 10:30pm last night and I noticed that the Lakers-Knicks game was in the first quarter. I did the math, and it was a 7 o’clock game in Los Angeles. (Yes, I’m on the east coast this week.)

Then I reflected on how messed up my own rhythms get when I travel across the country, and it occurred to me that playing sports for a living is actually pretty difficult. If I were playing professionally (and, indeed, even when I’ve trained for amateur competitions), I tried to get as much sleep as possible (10+ hours was preferable) and change my sleeping habits as little as possible. Flying messed everything up.

No wonder home teams win more often. The visiting squad is jet-lagged. Those NY boys were playing until well past midnight on their clocks!

Then again, if I were a professional sports player, I’d sleep like 12 hours per day every day, so maybe the jet lag doesn’t effect them like it does me.

Speaking of… (yawns) It’s 6pm and I’m going to bed.