Tony Suriano argues that watching sports and news is a modern distraction from actual play. He noticed dozens of TVs in a gym, points to adults wearing athletes' jerseys as a sign of lost identity, and challenges you to try a 30-day news diet and get outside instead.
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This is your time to be a kid again. This is my call to action for you to stand up, go outside, and go play. My wife says this intro sounds like a conspiracy mystery. So, I'll stop that voice and tell you this show is for you to get you on the track you want for your life. I'm going to share encouraging educational content, hopefully entertaining, that will help you direct Welcome in, and I got one thing to say to you. You were meant to play and have fun in this life, and not enough people are having fun, including me. Sometimes I get stuck. I'm Tony Suriano. I'm the host of this show. Thank you so much for being here. And today I want to talk about what just happened at the gym the other day. I went in this gym. And there's all these TVs on the higher areas where I'm not usually looking, but I go to this machine and I happen to be tilted up so I see the TVs. And guess what's on the TV? Sports, game shows, news, all things that are not necessarily horrible but can zone us out, can make us Think we're playing by watching the game, but we're really not. We're just observing from the stands and not having fun, really. We could pretend we're having fun and be like, oh yeah, my team won, my team won. But is it your team? No. Is, is there anything wrong enjoying a sports game? No. But personally, if I'm gonna watch a sports game, I need to be watching for the strategy and really admiration of all this cool skill they've built up. I do not want to be watching just to pretend I'm part of something because I can't do it or won't do it or just feel like I suck. I know that sounds harsh. I'm not trying to make fun of anyone that loves sports. I'm just trying to make the idea that I counted how many TVs were in this gym and how many of them had sports and games. Majority. Yeah, there was some news, but a majority of them had games. And what that tells me is that all of us, if you're an adult, you still are a kid inside. You want to have fun, you want to play. But there's a problem. And when you have this delusion that you're playing the game that you're watching, It's just that, a delusion. And this is also known as the bread and circus, where we have all this stuff going on in our lives. Maybe we haven't played with our friends for a while because we're an adult, or if maybe you're physically injured— I know that's true too— sometimes you can't. So then you just zone out and watch the game and, oh, he won, he won, yeah! Or, come on, why didn't he get that? But what are you doing? You're just having this False feeling of engagement. So I encourage you, if you're able physically, to get out and go play the game. And you don't have to be perfect. You don't have to shoot the perfect basketball point. But go play, have fun. This is what you're probably missing. If this is resonating and you're the one that's been zoning out too much on that TV, that sport, Don't even get me started with the news. Have a low information, no news diet for 30 days. You'll change your life. Trust me on that. Please verify. Go figure it out. Try it and come back to me if it doesn't change your life. Now I'm going to transition into something that's still part of sports, and Ed Mylett said this the best when I was listening. He loves sports just like me. I play sports, he's played sports, and he watches for the strategy and just to see all that skill on one court or one field. And it's just— it's admirable because they're pushing, they're doing their best, and they're— they are entertaining, of course. But there's a difference between admiring and inspiring Versus idolizing and again just zoning out because you don't want to do anything on your own. So Ed Mylett said this the best. He said, "If you're an adult, a full-grown person, and you're wearing a jersey with someone else's name on the back, this is something you need to question yourself about." Why isn't your own name on the back? Why aren't you owning your own character? Think about that very specifically. Now, when you're a kid, you wear jerseys, you know, that's inspiration. Oh, this guy on my back, I want to be just like him. But when you become an adult, you want to be just like you. You want to be the best version of you. You want to have the most fun you can. You want to put on a smile and go play. But will you? Or won't you? That's the question I have for you today. And just quickly going into this challenge, the next time you go to a sports bar or a gym or a lounge anywhere, just count how many TVs do they have. I counted 42 TVs in an establishment before, and I just, I can't believe it. Because what that does is when you meet up with your friends, you're actually not with your friends. You're watching vicariously, playing this game, this sport that you're not even part of. Now again, there's the other hand. Maybe you meet up with friends and you watch the sports, you analyze, you talk about it. Then maybe every Saturday you meet up and play and you apply those strategies, and then you're feeling more alive than ever. That's okay. That's a different story. But let's be completely honest with ourselves. If you're watching the sport and you're calling it, my team, my team won, oh, that's my guy, you're fooling yourself. You're just literally numbing yourself out from all the things that you haven't been doing. And I bring it all back to the one thing called fun. Life should be fun. Life should be something that you care about. You should go for things that matter to yourself. You should direct your life. That's what this channel is about, directing your life. And sometimes we can't be exactly where we want, but we can direct it better. And I wanted to wrap this up with just this phrase: you were meant to play. You were meant to play. I don't care if you have a physical ailment and you can't go play basketball the traditional way. There's got to be a different way to play it. Even if you can't move and you can talk, you can help another player and strategize here, but you're involved, you're in the game. And I hope that's not you. That sounds really horrible, but I know some of you, that's the truth. And then there's some of you where you feel incapable. You're like, no, I'm overweight, I can't, I can't go out there on the basketball court, they're going to make fun of me. No, the good ones are going to promote you and they're going to celebrate you and they're going to support you. So get out there, go on the court, go play. This is your time to be a kid again. This is my call to action for you to stand up, go outside, and go play. I am not preaching because I've never played anything. I am playing all the time. I'm doing handstands, I'm doing unicycling, I'm doing flips and turns and twists, and I worked forever learning these things just because I was curious of if I did this, how would it feel? Get back into your feelings. I promise you it's more fun to be out in the real world playing with real people than watching it on a little box whenever it's on and being obsessed with it to the point that you believe that it's your team. It is not your team. Now, if this episode is sounding like I'm being a little bit of a dick, I'm not trying to be. I'm just trying to be real with you that this is the reality, and face it or don't. Now, there's a thing called cognitive dissonance. I'm here telling you exactly the truth. From some science, from empirical proof, to people I've known, to myself. And then you could be listening, seeing that truth, but your brain's so used to the other thing, it's so attached to the identity of, no, every weekend we, we watch sports and we've done it for 20 years. And then someone says, well, when was the last time you played? And you're like, oh, I haven't played since I was a kid. You're cheating yourself out of fun. So I say this lovingly, you were meant to play. You're meant to have fun. There's a whole world out here, and maybe today is the day you turn off the screen and get out there and play. I hope you enjoyed this. I hope this was a spark, a reminder, even if you're active, to just be more fun in your life, in your day. So you can direct your life better every chance you can because life is short. And that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed this. I hope this actually helped you think and focus on what you really want to do with your life today, not tomorrow. You can start today. And if this did help you, if you like this episode, please share it to your friends. Share it to someone that actually should be listening today. Maybe they're watching too much. TV and they need to just move in life because sometimes we need to send those links so they can open the doors themselves. That's it. Thank you again. Please leave a review, rate the show if you're watching on YouTube, comment, like, and subscribe if you're listening to the audio platform. That's where you can rate and review. Thank you so much.
