Never once did I think, that in my life, I would be as excited for a boxing match as I was last night and during finals week. Apparently, the long awaited fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd “Money" Mayweather was finally happening and has been talked about for what feels like five years. Roped up in the hype, I procrastinated from my studies to figure out how to watch this boxing match. To buy this pay per view event from HBO, it would cost me a pretty $100. No way in heck I'm forking that over, so I turned to the trusty internet
for my outlet.
After sifting through website after website claiming “FREE HIGH QUALITY STREAMS" I finally settled on a 480p stream from the Ukraine and hunkered down to watch a boxing match that I had zero investment in.
But it was still awesome. Thousands of people packed into a giant MGM Grand only increased the unwarranted excitement for this fight. Celebrities from Clint Eastwood to Beyonce were in attendance, so you knew this was a big deal. For some reason, I was completely absorbed in the hype machine and found myself glued to the screen for the duration of the fight, acting like I had any grasp of what was happening.
“That was a good hit"
“Wow great block"
“Is he allowed to do that?"
I had no idea what I was doing, but it was still fantastic and I was doing exactly what every corporate sponsor and TV producer wanted me to do: consume. I was consuming all of this pointless bull s*** that the media was feeding me and I was loving it. Completely engrossed and enraptured by the flashy lights pretty colors.
After an uneventful and curt 12 rounds (which I found out later is considered 'long'), the fight ended and Mayweather emerged victorious by a decision. In my mind Manny Pacquiao should have won because he was hitting harder and more often, but again, I know nothing about boxing so my opinion didn't really matter.
At the end of the day, I served my purpose as the consumer. The media did its job in roping me into a pointless hour of a sport I didn't understand. I rooted, cheered, and was mostly confused for the entire duration of the fight, only for it to end and my life was completely unaffected by the whole ordeal. This fight added no benefit to my life and in no way helped me study for my remaining finals that have been looming over my head for the last few weeks. But I enjoyed it, for no other reason other than it was just plain entertaining. I had fun and I was happy for at least an hour until I remembered I had to study for my economics final.
What I'm trying to say is, we are constantly dealing with an overwhelming amount of responsibility as soon as we leave home for college. From day one, we have essays to write, exams to study for, classes to reschedule, Greek life to deal with, and the list goes on. But every once in awhile, even though you are so bogged down by work and responsibility, just sit back and enjoy some mindless entertainment. Be unproductive. Be irresponsible, because while college and grades are important, so is your sanity. Don't lose your mind in stress, watch two guys beat the crap out of each other for 36 minutes. Be a consumer.
