Blissfully missing a big sports weekend

This past weekend was one of the biggest sports weekends in local sports in quite a while.

The Minnesota Twins were still in the wild card race with three games to play. The Gophers football team was opening the Big Ten schedule with a road game against a ranked opponent. The Minnesota Vikings looked to improve to 3-1 in Denver against Peyton Manning and Co. And the Minnesota Lynx began the WNBA Finals by hosting Indiana. Oh, and my Wisconsin Badgers hosted rival Iowa at Camp Randall Stadium.

I didn't watch a second of any of it -- and I'm perfectly OK with that.

Instead of gluing myself to my couch all weekend, I spent the past few days camping with my wife at Copper Falls State Park in north central Wisconsin (and enduring 30-degree temperatures at night in our tent, which was an adventure). We've had this trip scheduled for several months and I was looking forward to it, but I'll be honest that I was originally bummed out that I'd be missing the Twins' final weekend.

When I booked the trip for this weekend, I didn't anticipate the Twins would be playing for anything in the last few days of the regular season. Sure enough, they entered their final series just one game back of the second wild card spot in the American League. I knew Target Field would be buzzing with excitement and anticipation after four disappointing seasons for the Twins.

Three losses later, their playoff dreams were dead and buried. I didn't see any of it, but it doesn't sound like I missed much at all. Instead, I took advantage of perfect fall weather to explore a beautiful state park filled with waterfalls and scenic trails.

Though I don't have much of a personal tie to the Gopher football team anymore now that I don't cover them as a writer, I was still curious to see how Jerry Kill's team would fare against an upstart Northwestern program. The Wildcats were ranked in the Top 25, meaning Minnesota had a tough test to open conference play.

One quick check of the score -- the Gophers were shut out 27-0 -- told me that my time was much better spent sitting around a campfire than around my television. (The same is true about my alma mater, Wisconsin. When I heard the Badgers lost 10-6 to rival Iowa, I knew I would have been beyond frustrated watching that game live. I was glad I was in an area with no cell phone reception, which meant no disappointed texts from my fellow Badgers fans.)

The Vikings have let me down plenty over the years, so I watch the purple with a jaded mindset. I go into each game fully expecting them to lose in some unbelievable fashion. With that said, I still enjoy tuning into games on Sundays.

Looks like I missed a patented last-minute choke job the Vikings have perfected oh-so-well over decades of futility.

I also noticed the Lynx lost at home in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. Even the one winning team that Minnesota has been able to count in recent years laid an egg on what was a pretty abysmal weekend for Twin Cities teams.

No matter. I was too busy buying this sweet vintage Budweiser shirt for $8 to care about another local loss. --->

I love watching sports as much as the next guy; I even used to get paid to do so. Yet this weekend was a reminder that there is more to life than sports -- something I try to remind myself (or, rather, something my wife reminds me) every time I get worked up after a Badgers loss. I truly enjoyed looking at the beautiful scenery of northern Wisconsin much more than I would have enjoyed staring blankly at the TV following each less-than-impressive performance by the local teams.

I'm not pretending I'll never watch sports again, because that's clearly a lie. I still love sports as much as ever. But I'll be less averse in the future to missing out on a game to do something more enjoyable than watching my team(s) lose. Besides, with technology these days -- DVR, the internet, etc. -- you can re-watch the games you missed if you really want. (In the case of this weekend, I had no interest re-watching the mishaps.)

I encourage you to try skipping a sporting event in the future to do something that will bring you more enjoyment than a few hours of a game. If you're not into camping, do what makes you happy. Go fishing. Ride a bike. Go skydiving. Take part in a cooking class. Heck, take a nap if that sounds good to you.

Whatever it is, do it with intent. Don't check your phone for game scores. Don't text friends to see what's going on in the game. Chances are, whatever you're doing will be a better use of your time than the alternative.