Matthew Clark

My 7-year-old son can’t watch sports with me anymore. Not because of the games, but because of the commercials. The horror movie trailers are the worst. The terrifying imagery can send him into a spiral of anxiety that lasts well beyond the 30-second ad. These are images his young mind simply isn’t ready to process. We talk a lot about mental health in this country, especially in sports. Yet between the relentless gambling ads, alcohol promotions and genuinely disturbing horror trailers, I’ve reached a point where watching an MLB or NFL game with my kids requires me to monitor every commercial break. I love sports. I work in sports. Some of my favorite childhood memories were made watching games with my family. I want that for my sons. I wish we could exercise better judgment about what we’re putting in front of families during sporting events. Sports should bring generations together. Instead, I’m increasingly forced to treat game day like an adults-only event. Something feels very wrong about that.