The Baseball Playoffs are in full swing!

The Jets and Giants have started another season with their hopes extremely high!

Basketball and hockey are waiting in the wings!

Saturdays are given over to college football!

It is very hard to break away from the couch and the television set. They naturally go hand in hand with frequent trips to the refrigerator for liquid and solid nourishment. It seems that all this athletic activity is controlling my life and taking up too much of my time and there is no time to exercise.

My sincere question: How can I break this cycle?

Listening to the scores on the radio or even the snippets of tape on the 11 o'clock news is not really satisfying for a true sports fan who wants to know and experience the small details of each game.

Attending these games in person is also not the answer. I am getting to be a little too old and too delicate to sit in freezing weather at an outdoor sports event. Traveling to New York sports events is always fraught with traffic jams of bumper-to-bumper movement before and after the game. Paying $13 to $24 to park at the stadium is also quite depressing.

Am I in control or am I a prisoner of the tube?

Or is the tube the master?

The empty, barren, dark days of winter are approaching relentlessly. Soon Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's will be upon us. If I don't plan activities, it will be a long, hard desolate season. Fortunately, my wife is full of wonderful ideas about how I should allocate my time. Some of these ideas are acceptable and some are just not for me.

Some answers:

• I have signed up for several courses at local libraries and universities and purchased tickets for a few plays on Broadway.

• Swimming at indoor pools is both fun and great exercise.

• Museum visits can be stimulating.

• I have joined an indoor tennis game with a nice group of guys.

Any other suggestions from my readers?