Even more ridiculous is the average of around $1700 a year smokers spend on cigarrettes.
I bring that up (as a former smoker, nonetheless) because a friend of mine and I were just talking about the costs of attending the Superbowl, which came up due to this thread. He tried explaining to me that I was nuts to have paid to attend said games in the past due to their expense (if you know my wife and I personally, you'd understand that we are notoriously cheap and picky with our money, despite being fairly well-off). As he's explaining how crazy I am, he goes all-in in our Hold 'Em game for $120 and lights his 3rd smoke of the hour (true story).
After taking his money, I asked him if he wanted to hit the game with me in 2010. He explained that its too expensive. I responded that, if he'd quit smoking and stop betting the farm on a straight when there's clearly a flush on the board he'd have more than enough extra money to use, he went quite quiet.
I know this anecdote (true as it is) isn't really related to the topic, but I couldn't help myself with the irony - had I said I was a smoker no one would bat an eyelash at my $1500 - $2000/year habit. Mention that I buy Superbowl tickets every so often, and its a shocker.
Just wanted to illustrate this as a lesson in human perspective. It interests me because my reaction would have been no different.
