THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040499
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TOM ROBINSON
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Yo, Sports Guy. This coach, Kevin Quirk, would like to ask you some questions. Actually, 64 of them. You know, like the number of teams in the NCAA basketball tournament.
And if you can call timeout from DirecTV or your tee shot for a few moments, maybe as long as a couple two-minute drills, it might behoove you to pay the man some mind. And let the woman in your life listen in.
Quirk wants to talk your lingo. And as a man who says he lived for sports for 25 years, a dozen as a sports writer, Quirk knows the turf.
But he doesn't come spouting opinions or comparing the Cowboys to the 49ers. Rather, his keen interest is in how much time you spend doing those things - watching, reading, talking and playing sports - why you do them and the numbing impact it might have, particularly on your personal relationships.
Quirk, with all due respect, suspects a lot of Sports Guys need to get a life. And he's here to help.
``The drama of sports is incomparable,'' says Quirk, 41, the director of LifeChange, a Charlottesville counseling service designed to help people find direction and purpose. ``It's all in black and white, the drama is so intense and easy to get hooked into. Everything else in your life can pale by comparison. That's how you start tuning out.
``I call it an addiction, but I'm quick to point out it's not alcoholism, it doesn't ravage your body that way. But it affects emotions and can limit your life.''
Quirk is writing a book - Men in Hiding: Escaping from Life Through Sports - that started as the story of his own obsession with sports, which be blames in part for the collapse of his 10-year marriage.
To add depth, Quirk began circulating a three-page ``Sportsaholism Questionnaire'' mostly to men, although he's received back a few from women. Most women, however, address the shorter questionnaire Quirk offers for those in relationships with sports-consumed men.
The questions require written answers, no superficial circling of multiple choices. And there is no numerical score or goofy categories like ``Geek,'' ``Junkie'' or ``Hopeless.''
Instead, Quirk sends each respondent his personal evaluation of their survey, for free, as he compiles general information for his book and files away individual details for follow-up.
The idea is to expose adverse sports interest in many forms, including gambling, and create awareness and discussion about how other parts of your life could be suffering. And, no, Quirk isn't the new sheriff in town, sent to wipe sports off the map, or a snob out to force-feed the masses Shakespeare and public radio.
Quirk admits he even watched a bit of Nebraska's romp over Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. It's true, though, that when he quit writing sports for the Charlotte Observer in the late '80s because of boredom and emptiness, Quirk went on a three-year sports blackout.
During that time, he earned a master's degree in writing at the University of New Hampshire. He next went to California for a master's degree in spirituality and psychology from the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality in Oakland.
Throughout, Quirk spent time at the Omega Institute, what he calls ``a holistic educational center'' in Rhinebeck, N.Y. He settled in Charlottesville in November.
``I haven't recommended to anyone that they give up sports,'' Quirk says. ``But it helps to be more aware of how it's impacting you so the rest of your life doesn't get out of balance.''
Which is what happened to the Sports Guy in Columbus, Ohio, Quirk's heard from who went into a week-long depression and blamed himself for Ohio State's loss to Michigan this football season. Seriously. Why? Because he didn't wear his lucky clothes and sit in the right chair when he watched the game.
Or the supposedly shy Sports Guy whose girlfriend told Quirk: ``You ought to see my guy watching a game, the way he jumps up and down. He ain't like that otherwise.''
Or Quirk himself who, after his then-wife unplugged the TV, knocked it to the floor and stormed enraged from the house one Super Bowl Sunday, calmly stayed behind, righted the set and watched the rest of the game.
Quirk is treading largely on unstudied ground here, and he knows it's unpopular ground in many cases. It's no surprise, naturally, that some of his most animated discussions have come during sports-radio show appearances.
Some hosts and callers have tried to woof him to distraction, but Quirk says he's encouraged by the consideration most people seem to give his topic.
``There's a lot of laughter,'' he says. ``But what I've found is there's something underneath the laughter that's a little more serious.'' MEMO: For a free copy of Quirk's ``Sportsaholism Questionnaire,'' call
1-800-484-7165 and enter code 0022. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
``The drama of sports is incomparable,'' says Kevin Quirk, 41, the
director of a Charlottesville counseling service designed to help
people find direction and purpose.
by CNB