As I sit here in a complete daze, the type that comes with lack of sleep, too much work and a paper due, literally, every day, I couldn’t help but notice the lovely array of commercials on ESPN. Have you ever noticed how many commercials there are for liquor and beer on ESPN, or any station showing a sporting event for that matter?

In fact, one need only look at the Super Bowl to realize this. Every year, the commercials people talk about after the big game are the ones from Budweiser.

They are great, certainly, and sometimes they are even hysterical, but they have nothing to do with beer. I love how they hook you at an early age with their talking frogs and the horses and Dalmatians and whatnot. It’s great.

Now, I’m not trying to be preachy, since I am, in no way, against the consumption of alcohol, but I feel like it is beyond ironic that sports of every sort are sponsored primarily by alcohol.

Think about it: The media tells sports fans that it’s a great idea to throw back a few beers and have a stiff drink or two while watching the game. While you’re at it, why don’t you just clog your arteries with fast food from McDonald’s or live up to America’s ideal of laziness and go see that new movie you’ve been waiting for?

It’s ironic that the people watching athletes, who are some of the most active and healthy people on the planet, are actually some of the most unhealthy individuals you will see.

I’m not condemning the love of sports, but why don’t more sports fans try to be active instead of getting drunk and eating a lot?

This doesn’t mean you have to go to the gym all the time; I don’t even fit into that category. I’m talking about going to play sports instead of just watching them.

Take snow football, for example. You should try this whenever you get a chance. There is nothing better than getting bundled to the point of no flexibility, freezing to death and feeling incredibly sore the next day from a pick-up game of football.

I know it is harder to do once you aren’t in high school, but really, it is not beyond any sports fan’s capacity to get some friends together to play a game of football or shoot some hoops.

Sports with a bunch of friends are often more fun than organized sports: There is no pressure, everyone gets a chance to play and you don’t have to practice your butt off.

So, are all sports fans as lazy as I make them seem? The answer is almost certainly no, and I can attest to that. Most athletes are also avid sports fans themselves, and they are certainly more active than the average Joe (although I can’t speak for all of those professional fishers and poker players out there; that’s another story).

I guess the group of sports fans that I’m referring to is the bunch that is chronically lazy: The group that would rather lift the remote than lift weights, the group that would rather drink a chocolate shake than a protein shake or the group that burns calories laughing at commercials rather than burning calories on the treadmill.

It is unhealthy to spend all of your time watching games, sports-analysis shows and everything else sports-related.

The moral of the story is: Be active. Do something productive with your life instead of watching SportsCenter reruns and throwing back Buds with your buds, or else you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of disappointment.

Landon Burris is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.