The world of sports and I have long regarded each other with a wary eye, co-existing in an uneasy truce with the understanding that we were not to cross paths in any meaningful sense in this lifetime. Until now. The world of television has once again come to my rescue and brought me into the fold with the lure of a sport I can finally get behind; binge racing. At first I was like, hold on now here, slow your roll! Racing sounds a lot like getting up off this couch and I know you just dropped some new episodes of American Horror Story, Netflix!
Unlike binge watching, where you finish an entire season over a couple of days, binge racing is when you, my television streaming addicted friend, consume an entire new season or show within the first twenty four hours of release. Let that roll around in there for a minute – that means back to back, no time to sleep, full on dedication to that couch and screen. Why would anyone do this? Viewers, excuse me, racers, do this in an effort to be the first to complete the material and be the coolest kid on the grown up playground aka – around the water cooler or on social media.
You win the race and you can sit back smugly, dropping tidbits and spoilers faster than River Song can shake a finger at you. You know NOTHING coworker! (insert evil laugh here) This is a real thing and it’s something I can wholeheartedly get behind. It requires no other effort than melting my brain and not leaving my couch for hours on end (except to recaffeinate as needed), and since I have already perfected the art of both sitting on my couch and binging series, I’m thinking it’s going to be a small step to binge racing glory.
Netflix is officially calling dibs on this phrase by the way, and states that millions of their viewers have begun doing this “binge racing” in increasing numbers over the last few years. This came into existence in large part because Netflix is able to dump whole seasons of original content to viewers with no week by week wait, or obnoxious (repetitive) commercial interruptions to sift through before finding out what happens next. It changed the way we watch tv in a big way.
I ask you friend, who needs that extra day of life when you can spend it racing to be the first to post to Facebook and blow the ending for everyone else? When you can create the first on trend meme from this seasons funniest moment? When you, good racer, can be the first to write up crazed fan theories or ship those two cast members we all know are never really going to get together?! Not this writer.
You go ahead and get your shut eye puny mortal, meanwhile I’ll be clearing space on my Dad’s long forsaken trophy shelf he made for me back in middle school and popping fresh batteries in the remote. Now that they’ve named it, it’s socially acceptable and I plan on medaling!
Follow Us
