Ok.  So I thought I was just wierd like this.  I'm so glad everyone else is just the same.

Yeah, he nailed it. I can definitely empathize with everything said.

"But if you're watching a game that's already happened, you're constantly forced to decide whether or not it's worth the investment of your time. You suddenly have too much agency. You know you could just walk over to your computer and learn everything important in seconds (i.e., who won, what the highlights were, what the takeaway is), so the play-by-play action needs to be more entertaining than every other life option you have at that moment."

The game IS worth the investment of my time or I wouldn't have recorded it or be watching it.  If you would rather walk over to the computer and 'learn everything important' then you don't really care about the game.  You only care about the final score/highlights.  You don't care about the development of players, watching Denard Robinson improve throughout a season, seeing the pagentry of the event (as much as you can on TV).  You only care about which team has more points at the end. 

Also, Twitter and Facebook and other bits of technology have made it more difficult to avoid "The News" I don't find it that difficult.  They are easily avoidable. If you really don't want to know the result of the game or Big Events (Palace Brawl, etc), don't log in.

For me, watching a live sporting event on location is completely different than watching it on TV.  I get the fun of going to an event live.  Watching on tv live?  I have better things to do: spend time with the family, golf, clean the house or whatever.  Commercials don't build tension - they waste my time.  Announcers don't contexualize the action unfolding on screen - they 'explain' what I have just seen.  As a seasoned sports fan, I don't need some former player who has trouble putting together a sentence without a cliche to help 'break it down' for me.  The LAST thing I need is Mark May and Lou Holtz pumping up the next big game or hero worshiping student atheletes on the "Old Spice/Pennzoil/Home Depot/Tostitos Pre-Pre Game Halftime Post Game Extravaganza."   The obsession with pre/half/post game shows draws a parallel to our culture's love of 'reality tv' which is just an excuse to judge others, call people stupid and watch people treat one another badly.

I can watch the GAME on TiVo later and enjoy it even more because I'm interested in much more than the final score or any of that other stuff.  In fact, DVR has made being a Lions and Pistons fan much more palatable these days! :-)