Staying up late

by Steve

When it comes to armchair viewing of sport, the finest experience has to be watching the action late into the night. Generally, my regular viewing habits, from childhood onwards, would obviously be during the day and into the evening. We watch the sport that goes on in our own country, in our own time. To stay up late as a child is exciting and exotic enough. To do so and also have the added thrill of sport was a rare treat indeed.

I remember being allowed to have the television in my room to watch England versus Argentina in the 1986 World Cup. Other times I might creep downstairs to watch the overnight sport, on one of the few occasions an event was deemed important enough to be shown live. This was better than any midnight feast.

I think this is such a powerful memory that it remains a genuine pleasure in adulthood. There is that element of nostalgia, remembering how it feel to be staying up to watch something going on halfway across the world and finding the thought of it somewhat overwhelming.

Even in the age of 24-hour sports channels and internet streaming there is still something wonderful about catching the Olympics, or a baseball game or whatever it may be, live, but at such a late hour. Really you should have gone to bed hours ago, but you can’t sleep when there is a stadium full of drama out there. Just like the comfort of late-night radio voices, it is good to know life is still going on, somewhere.

And it feels good to still be that naughty child, sneaking downstairs to turn on the television…