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Post-Super Bowl Depression: A Sign You Need A Hobby

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Where is the United States Football League when you need it?

What better antidote for post-Super Bowl football withdrawal than a pro league that runs from March to July? Alas, the USFL didn't make it out of the '80s, which leaves hardcore fans to face the blues from early February until the August exhibition season.

Yes, some experts say “football withdrawal” actually exists as a medical condition. There’s been some news going around put out by Loyola University (Chicago) Health System on the chemical effect that the sudden lack of football has on the brain. It’s much like quitting smoking - you feel depraved and become irritable. Basically, you need a hug. No games, no Red Zone, no fantasy league.

To believe the theory is to prepare for a lot of grumpy co-workers on Monday morning. Therapists will be licking their chops for a ton of new business. Some in New England have probably even gotten a head start. When you really gear up for something, the letdown is that much starker (you get the feeling Jim Harbaugh would crash harder from a loss than his brother John would). And if you happen to over-imbibe during a game that runs late, so much the worse. Few things are more depressing than hitting the work week already exhausted.

“There’s no separation between mind and body,” says Adam Naylor, who runs Telof Sports Psychological Coaching in Boston, while also serving on the Boston University clinical faculty.

Not that Naylor, who reckons that the typical face painter is more likely to crash from a football high than the typical season ticket holder, sees much genuine depression with these things. “Technically, the evidence is kind of weak,” he says. Depression is a function of time and intensity. The stronger you feel about something, and the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. Missing work on Monday indicates a small case of the blues. Missing three weeks is something else altogether.

“It comes down to how much of your life is centered around this,” he says.

What these types of studies omit, at least to a degree: context. February is kind of a depressing month anyway. The holidays have passed, but several weeks of winter still lie ahead. Sports-wise, there’s nothing much going on. Not only is football over, but baseball is still in hibernation (even spring training doesn’t really get going until March), while the NBA and the NHL trudge through their interminable regular season schedules. It’s a waiting game until things perk up with college March Madness, hockey and basketball playoffs, and baseball.

The Loyola study recommends a slow withdrawal – be sure to tune in to the NFL Network and YouTube for football highlights and reruns. Though you’ll be glad to know that they advise against pills, booze or any other form of self-medication (who knew?).

At least the incremental lengthening of the season over the years has pushed the Super Bowl into early February, about three weeks later than it used to be played. And now, praise God, there’s talk of an 18-game season.

No doubt, some hardcore fans probably do become deprived and depressed once their five-month season comes to a sudden halt. A hobby might be in order. But - the Super Bowl has become such an institution that everyone and his brother, it seems, now uses it get attention. This time of year, a sports business journalist’s inbox gets flooded with everything from human resources experts calculating lost worker productivity on Super Monday to insurance companies warning of lawsuits from serving up bad food at your Super Bowl party. Anyone with an angle can ride the Super Bowl coattails. Even a college medical center.

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