7 Years 150 days - Speed Demons7 Years 150 days - Speed Demons
I'm Quitting Alcohol
David Boyle talks about his son’s soccer tournament loss to a faster team, reflecting with rough humour on race, athleticism and his own past attitudes to drinking. He also describes the exhausting schedule of kids’ sports and family plans, showing a hectic slice of sober parenting life.
6:37•12 Oct 2026
Speed Demons, Sober Dad: Boyle on Kids’ Sport Chaos
Episode Overview
- Boyle recounts his son’s team reaching the final and losing to a much faster side he calls “speed demons”.
- He jokes that facing such fast kids as a child would have pushed him towards drinking, linking sport to his past mindset.
- He shares raw observations about race and athleticism, using harsh humour and unfiltered language.
- The episode highlights his son’s packed schedule of soccer, wrestling and boxing, showing the strain of constant activities.
- Boyle admits he is already exhausted by kids’ sport but still intends to add more activities for his daughter once transport allows.
“If I came up against him when I was nine I would be like, I need to start drinking now.”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of a dad trying to stay sober while surviving kids’ sport weekends. This short episode of *I'm Quitting Alcohol* drops you straight into David Boyle’s exhausted, sweary commentary after two full days at the soccer fields. You’ll hear Boyle, an Australian comedian, recount how his son’s team made the final, only to be beaten by what he calls a bunch of “little speed demons”.
He jokes about childhood delusion around being the “fast white kid”, now shattered when he watches super-quick African kids tearing up the pitch. At one point he admits, half-seriously, that if he’d faced that as a kid, he’d have thought, “I need to start drinking now,” tying the story back to the mindset that once fed his own alcohol use.
The tone jumps between dark humour and blunt honesty as Boyle describes watching a group of young black kids wrestling and fighting at the ground, amazed at their shredded physiques despite their age. His language is rough and unfiltered, and he doesn’t clean up his thoughts for anyone, which is part of the appeal if you’re after a candid look at life after alcohol.
He also runs through his son’s intense weekly schedule — soccer training three times, wrestling twice, boxing, plus a match — and admits he’s already “over kids sports” yet still committed to keeping his son and, soon, his daughter in multiple activities. It gives a snapshot of how sober life can still be chaotic, tiring and full of family responsibilities, just without the booze.
If you’re curious what day-to-day sobriety sounds like when it’s mixed with parenting, sport and a lot of swearing, this might be the episode you throw on next. How do you handle the chaos of family life without reaching for a drink?
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