An unhealthy obsession

I enjoy football as much as anyone and even have a season ticket for my local club, and know the ups and downs of supporting a club in the League Division 2.

Sometimes though I think our obsession with football has become more than a little unhealthy.

It is not simply the hours and hours  devoted on radio phone ins and sports programmes to discussing the rights and wrongs of a handshake that never happened, see here, or whether Tevez will return to Manchester City here.
It is the fact that once serious news programmes on the BBC (and other broadcasters) have been leading their bulletins at times, with these stories or the one about Rangers going into Administration .

There is civil war in Syria ,starvation in parts of Africa, a very controversial welfare bill going through parliament and we are fixated with this  trivia

In contrast there are some very serious stories that are getting little or no coverage on the  broadcast news
Included among them are this story see here which reminds us that despite employing some truly world class professionals , many parts of the NHS do not know how to treat people with a learning disability ,and that human beings made in God's image have died as a result . you can read more here Mencap

Bill Shankly the one time Liverpool manager famously  quipped ;

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.' 

I think he was joking- it seems the BBC thinks he was serious!