The 2025-2026 NFL Season has kicked off. Your Kansas City Chiefs are playing on Sunday Night Football, and you invite some buddies over and have a few while they spank the Buffalo Bills. The Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing on ESPN’s Monday Night Football, and you were fortunate enough to draft Lamar Jackson in your fantasy football league. Your favorite bar has a nice Monday special – $7 appetizers, $2 domestic beers and $3 well-drinks!
Amazon’s Thursday Night Football has the Cincinnati Bengals visiting the Tennessee Titans. Joe Burrow is coming to town! Did I mention you’re a Chiefs fan visiting Nashville for work? You tailgate, eat some amazing barbeque and get sloshed on whiskey-based cocktails while Cam Ward (who unfortunately is your fantasy opponent’s starting quarterback) puts up 4 touchdowns, 380 yards on 24-31 passing. The “drunchies” kick in (alcohol triggers cravings for salty foods) and you celebrate the win with a 1 a.m. hot chicken sandwich and fries.
Friday morning is a little rough but you’re able to push through with some coffee. Hangover’s gone by two p.m. The weekend is here! What to do? But damn, the realization hits you: If I go out tonight, that’s 4 nights drinking out of the past 6. If I go out Friday and Saturday, that’s 5 of the last 7! This doesn’t even account for College Gameday, which is a whole day-long drinking culture on its own!
If you enjoy drinking socially and watching sports, some variation of this scenario may be familiar to you. Many people get by just fine, but some of us need take inventory of our drinking patterns to make sure we’re not developing any bad habits. Actually keeping count of the days one drinks can help avoid the weight gain that cooling weather, three additional socially acceptable days to binge drink, and the holidays bring.
There are some fun ways to do this.
First, set a baseline for “healthy” consumption. This doesn’t have to align with CDC guidelines (not exceeding one drink a day for women and two for men). Perhaps you consume five drinks on a typical night out.
What stat-line in professional sports most closely aligns with your ideal consumption?
- Should the number of days you binge drink socially match a solid MLB batting average? .250 or 2 out of 8 days
- Perhaps the number of non-alcoholic drinks vs the number of alcoholic drinks should match the average NFL kicker’s extra point percentage? .958 or roughly 96 non-alcoholic drinks for every 4 alcoholic drinks
- Maybe the number of NFL gamedays you spend at a bar in a month shouldn’t exceed the average NBA 3-point percentage? .360 or roughly 4 NFL gamedays a month
It sounds ridiculous, but juxtaposing your drinking habits with the sports you enjoy so much can help alert you to a rough patch. Thursday through Monday can be a brutal stretch for some football fans: NFL Thursday, social night, College gameday, NFL gameday, Monday Night Football. Even if you take one of the five days off (80%), how do you reconcile the fact that you’ll have 17 consecutive five-day stretches where you’re more likely to get drunk than an NBA player is to hit a free throw? (77%)
It’s a fun exercise that keeps you accountable. Ask yourself:
“Am I more likely to get drunk than Aaron Judge is to be successful on this at-bat?”
“Am I more likely to consume an alcoholic drink than Harrison Butker is to make an extra point?”
“Am I more likely to get drunk watching the NFL today than Steph Curry is to make a three pointer?”
Sure, we’re here for a good time. But take if we take care of ourselves, we can have a better time for a longer time!
Enjoy the 2025-2026 NFL Season, and go Chiefs!