I am an MMA addict. That's why I'm here, and that's likely why you are here as well. We follow the sport very closely. We get upset when fights that haven't been announced yet are cancelled due to injury. We lament the cancellation of any fight, let alone a whole card. We lambast the decision to put our favorite prospect on Facebook instead of on FX. We're a demanding bunch. My girlfriend thinks I take MMA too seriously. Maybe she's right.

This past week forced a wakeup call as Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast. MMA was forgotten as my brother-in-law & his wife sought shelter in my house in NJ to wait out the storm. While we managed to get through with what amounts to a few minor problems, many others were not so lucky. People like Chris Weidman are dealing with severe flood damage and worse, while 74 people lost their lives in the storm. Three days after the storm hit, I'm waiting in line for gas as I write this on my phone (Note: 90 minutes later I was sold $20 worth of gas). Most of the town has been without power for days. My workplace has no electricity and driving there is a nightmare while crews work to restore power and clear debris. After dealing with this for four days, all I want right now is things back to normal. I want to go to work. I want to get gas & groceries without dealing with traffic, police officers, downed power lines and the sound of generators running everywhere. In short, I want the regular day-to-day annoyances back, because the fact is that things were pretty good a week ago.

I look forward to this weekend and the chores that are required as things slowly get back to normal. After what will surely be a hard day’s work, I think I will take a different approach to my entertainment. I will try to be a bit less cynical than I used to and try to enjoy it for what it is: a diversion. I know that I am likely to return to my old form of craving news as the stories of Hurricane Sandy fade into history, but right now MMA news and analysis just doesn't seem very important.

So, for this weekend, give me TUF and all the juvenile nonsense that goes with it. Give me the slow paced Bellator with the bizarre reffing. And give me Cung Le vs Rich Franklin on Saturday on Fueltv. Let me watch MMA again as it is meant to be watched. As a fan looking for a distraction from reality.