Okay Nfl Enough Is Enough

[Geezer]

I've been a sports fan most of my life. We had season tickets for our local NBA team for eight years. I also admit that as I've grown older I'm no longer a rabid sports fan. Baseball simply isn't interesting enough to invest the time it takes to watch an entire game.

 

I will watch an entire game of football or basketball but only if its a good game, but most games aren't. Many games are often, for all practical purposes, over by half time and sometimes sooner.

 

Now my rant. I realize the NFL is hugely popular. I never thought anything could knock the University of Tennessee football off their #1 perch in TN, but the NFL Titians did, even though they have pretty much sucked for the last few years, but so have the Vols.  

 

Here is my rant. Saturday is college football day. Sunday is the NFL, morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. But that isn't enough they expanded to Monday night years ago. Now, they have replaced the Thursday prime time lineup on CBS with Thursday night football.

 

Geez Louise, enough already. I stopped watching Monday night football years ago and I refuse to give up Thursdays to the NFL. I love ice cream but I know too much of it isn't good for me. I used to love NFL football but I got so saturated with it I began to just like NFL football, now its like eating an entire bag of donuts, too much of a good thing tends to made folks desire it less and I'm at that stage now with the NFL.

 

Maybe they see their own demise looming in the future and they are trying to grab as much money as they can now. The head injury issue is enormously serious and unless somebody invents better protective gear that issue could potentially destroy American style football as we know it now. That and the fact they seem to have become infected with thugs, gangbangers, and players that are spending more time in jail than on the field. It appears that sponsors are becoming wary of contracting sports figures to represent their products, because that has blown up in their faces so often in the last few years.   

 

That said, the men that play at that level have to been physically imposing, mean as hell, arrogant, overly self confident, and belligerent or they won't survive. Unfortunately, there isn't a switch in the human body that allows them to turn that persona on and off. That becomes a serious problem when they can't turn it off and they take it home with them.

 

I never have been able to distinguish a discernible difference between and NFL player and a Roman Gladiator, except for the loser dying at the end of the contest. The NFL game is at least a symbolic fight to the death.

 

Anyway, one good game on Sunday afternoon is my limit now and it has to be a good game for me to invest my time.

 

 

 

 

[florduh]

I just never got it. Why should I be interested in one multi million dollar corporation playing a game with another multi million dollar corporation? 

 

I can understand people being interested in school rivalry and local teams that represent a community playing against each other. What I don't get is the interest in teams with no connection to anything other than making money off the city whose name happens to be currently on the jerseys.

 

NFL season certainly plays havoc with the normal TV schedule. Fortunately, that doesn't affect me. Still, I'm already tired of all the local idiots in team costumes talking about how good/bad things are going. It's lunacy to pay big premiums for something with a team logo. It's like paying to advertise for a wealthy corporation; much like the phenomenon of Harley apparel.

[RankStranger]

I've never understood the appeal of watching big sweaty millionaires chase a ball around. Not saying I have a problem with it... just that I don't get it.

 

I think that being a fan of team sports must be an outlet for some basic human tribal instinct that I lack. We can't really root for our men to go kick the asses of all the men in the village over the hill... so we do that by proxy via sports?

 

Personally the only team sport I'm really into is women's beach volleyball. I was flipping through the channels a while back and came across the U.S. vs. Brazil. The U.S. team didn't really float my boat so to speak... but I gotta say that Brazil had the best team I've ever seen! They didn't win the game... but they won hearts and minds.

 

[florduh]

Hmmm. Go Brazil!!!

[Gamecock1973]

 

 

I can understand people being interested in school rivalry and local teams that represent a community playing against each other. What I don't get is the interest in teams with no connection to anything other than making money off the city whose name happens to be currently on the jerseys.

 

 

I think this was the mentality of most people in the past- people loved their local team or their alma mater and didn't care about the other games so much.  Growing up in Wisconsin, where quite honestly not much else is going on, football is a HUGE part of the culture.  I remember as a kid watching the Packers every week, but couldn't even get interested much in the other games until the playoffs.  But in the last decade or so, FANTASY FOOTBALL has been the biggest boon to the NFL ratings.  People are willing to watch a variety of NFL games because they have an investment in their fantasy football players.  Think dungeon and dragon geeks times about 100 million people.  It is MASSIVE!  This is what has changed.

 

To the OP, i get it.  You casually like football, but are not a huge fan.  That's cool.  I couldn't care less about the NBA, but I'm living in China and it is by far the #1 spectator sport.  I also don't get gardening, bicycling, or calligraphy.  It doesn't mean it doesn't have merit because I don't like it and think it's a waste of time. To each their own and all that.  Just because it's not your thing doesn't mean it's not interesting to other people.  You are in the minority.  The NFL is not only the #1 sport in an already sports-crazy culture, it is also gets more viewers each week than ANY TV show.  THAT is why it plays havoc with the TV schedule,  Because no matter what your favorite show is and no matter how much you love it and no matter how popular it is- that NFL game is MORE popular.  Maybe you are the logical, smart ones.  But by the numbers, you don't get it.

[Ravenstar]

I have issues with professional sports.. and they aren't allowed in my house… I just can't stand to even hear it.

 

especially baseball and football…(and.. ugh, wrestling) I admire athletes but I don't get the hero worship.

 

and the money is, frankly, obscene.

 

 

Nope, I'll stick to my documentaries and sci fi, and if I want to be sporty I'll play something myself. (rather fond of Taekwondo and Badminton)

[Sybaris]

I read somewhere that there is on average only 11 minutes of action during a 3 hour football game.

 

i watch hockey.

[Vigile]

I like football, but have lost probably 90% of my interest in it compared to my youth.  I prefer watching college ball, but it's not really representative of the local area either.  My alma, Boise State, for instance, recruits in CA, TX, AZ, and elsewhere if they can.  Local boys on the team are the exception, so if that's your angle, it's not really pure either. 

 

It's a good way to kill time, and I do experience real joy on the rare occasion I can catch a BSU game, but I don't understand those like my buddy I grew up with who live for FB season.  This seems sad to me. 

[Aiyana]

Well, my avatar is football-related, so obviously I'm biased. And I live in Seattle, current home to the reigning Super Bowl champions, so there's that. During my five-year marriage to my husband, I have gone from someone who did not understand/care about football at all, to someone who enjoys it a lot. But not enough to watch any games other than my home team! My husband, on the other hand, will watch every game that comes on. But the home games are still the most important to him, too. And we both play fantasy football. This is my first year, but he's been playing it for many years.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

I'd rather watch soccer or rugby.

[RankStranger]

I'd rather watch soccer or rugby.

 

You're in serious danger of having your 'redneck' license revoked.  

 

Any and all time spent watching soccer or rugby must be offset by DOUBLE time fishing, hunting, shooting, fourwheeling, working on junk vehicles, smoking, drinking (no girly drinks), or feuding.

 

Keep this shit up and you're gonna have to start filling out time-sheets.

[Fweethawt]

I can't watch any games on television. I just can't get into it.

 

But give me tickets to a LIVE game -- I'm there in a heartbeat!

 

Other than that, I'm not a sports fan. I can't stand listening to other people talk sports or sport stats. Drives me up a wall...

 

 

To the OP -- get Netflix..

[Vigile]

I can't watch any games on television. I just can't get into it.

 

But give me tickets to a LIVE game -- I'm there in a heartbeat!

 

Other than that, I'm not a sports fan. I can't stand listening to other people talk sports or sport stats. Drives me up a wall...

 

 

To the OP -- get Netflix..

 

Yeah, me too.  And take that away from Boise where I grew up and they don't have anything left to talk about but hunting. 

[♦ ficino ♦]

Remember the "Heidi" outcry?  When was that, in the sixties?  Children just need to watch football and not movie versions of children's novels.

[Blood]

I've never understood the appeal of watching big sweaty millionaires chase a ball around. Not saying I have a problem with it... just that I don't get it.

 

I think that being a fan of team sports must be an outlet for some basic human tribal instinct that I lack. We can't really root for our men to go kick the asses of all the men in the village over the hill... so we do that by proxy via sports?

 

Personally the only team sport I'm really into is women's beach volleyball. I was flipping through the channels a while back and came across the U.S. vs. Brazil. The U.S. team didn't really float my boat so to speak... but I gotta say that Brazil had the best team I've ever seen! They didn't win the game... but they won hearts and minds.

 

 

Women's beach vollyball. Why hasn't that replaced football by now? 

[BrotherJosh]

Eh, different strokes for different folks. I don't like soccer but I'm not going to make a pretentious moral judgement on those who follow it. Of course, anything can be taken to the extreme and become an obsession. 

[RankStranger]

Eh, different strokes for different folks. I don't like soccer but I'm not going to make a pretentious moral judgement on those who follow it. Of course, anything can be taken to the extreme and become an obsession. 

 

 

I watched a world cup game at a bar here in town a while back.  The game itself is no more interesting to me than football- I'd just as soon watch grass grow.  But it was interesting watching the fans- this is an entirely different crowd than you'd see at a football, baseball, or basketball game... even the cheers and yelling are entirely different.  It was a mix of young/liberal hipsters along with assorted foreigners.  So it was worth sitting through the game just for the people-watching.

 

Now I don't have any particular problem with either hipsters or foreigners- though I do find the hipsters inherently funny.  Kinda like my late/great dachshund THOR- he just looked so damn awkward that pretty much anything he did was funny.  Hipsters are the same way to me, so it was a fun time.

[Bhim]

I've never been terribly into football, actually.  The only thing that CBS Thursday football means for me is fewer television shows on the primetime lineup that might interest me.

 

Having said that, the one time I did manage to follow football was, of all times, when I was in grad school.  Yes, it was a bunch of physicists who got me to watch the game.  We all used to go to the bars on Monday nights, but one couple decided it was too expensive, and started hosting a football and pizza night at that time.  Enough people ditched the bar that I was more or less forced to sit down and watch with everyone else, and I was able to get some measure of enjoyment out of it.  Nowadays I'm able to watch a game and appreciate the plays.  But much as many people don't drink alcohol alone, football is something I'll only watch socially.

 

Women's beach vollyball. Why hasn't that replaced football by now? 

 

[midniterider]

I've been a sports fan most of my life. We had season tickets for our local NBA team for eight years. I also admit that as I've grown older I'm no longer a rabid sports fan. Baseball simply isn't interesting enough to invest the time it takes to watch an entire game.

 

I will watch an entire game of football or basketball but only if its a good game, but most games aren't. Many games are often, for all practical purposes, over by half time and sometimes sooner.

 

Now my rant. I realize the NFL is hugely popular. I never thought anything could knock the University of Tennessee football off their #1 perch in TN, but the NFL Titians did, even though they have pretty much sucked for the last few years, but so have the Vols.  

 

Here is my rant. Saturday is college football day. Sunday is the NFL, morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. But that isn't enough they expanded to Monday night years ago. Now, they have replaced the Thursday prime time lineup on CBS with Thursday night football.

 

Geez Louise, enough already. I stopped watching Monday night football years ago and I refuse to give up Thursdays to the NFL. I love ice cream but I know too much of it isn't good for me. I used to love NFL football but I got so saturated with it I began to just like NFL football, now its like eating an entire bag of donuts, too much of a good thing tends to made folks desire it less and I'm at that stage now with the NFL.

 

Maybe they see their own demise looming in the future and they are trying to grab as much money as they can now. The head injury issue is enormously serious and unless somebody invents better protective gear that issue could potentially destroy American style football as we know it now. That and the fact they seem to have become infected with thugs, gangbangers, and players that are spending more time in jail than on the field. It appears that sponsors are becoming wary of contracting sports figures to represent their products, because that has blown up in their faces so often in the last few years.   

 

That said, the men that play at that level have to been physically imposing, mean as hell, arrogant, overly self confident, and belligerent or they won't survive. Unfortunately, there isn't a switch in the human body that allows them to turn that persona on and off. That becomes a serious problem when they can't turn it off and they take it home with them.

 

I never have been able to distinguish a discernible difference between and NFL player and a Roman Gladiator, except for the loser dying at the end of the contest. The NFL game is at least a symbolic fight to the death.

 

Anyway, one good game on Sunday afternoon is my limit now and it has to be a good game for me to invest my time.

 

I don't watch any sports. Never understood the  appeal of it. But, I'm a nerd so that is probably the answer. :-)

 

If football players had swords I might watch. :-)

[midniterider]

I've never understood the appeal of watching big sweaty millionaires chase a ball around. Not saying I have a problem with it... just that I don't get it.

 

I think that being a fan of team sports must be an outlet for some basic human tribal instinct that I lack. We can't really root for our men to go kick the asses of all the men in the village over the hill... so we do that by proxy via sports?

 

Personally the only team sport I'm really into is women's beach volleyball. I was flipping through the channels a while back and came across the U.S. vs. Brazil. The U.S. team didn't really float my boat so to speak... but I gotta say that Brazil had the best team I've ever seen! They didn't win the game... but they won hearts and minds.

 

 

I am so going to use "big sweaty millionaires chase a ball around" in facebook post. lol. Womens V-ball looks lots more fun...so does women's tennis.

[midniterider]

 

I don't get the hero worship.

 

In a nutshell, R. Here, it's Kaepernick this and Kaepernick that....lol.

 

Hero worship , along with Florduh's 'tribal village ass kicking' instinct.

 

Football is like boxing, only without the blood. Toned down violence to please a wide audience. :-)

[midniterider]

 

I can't watch any games on television. I just can't get into it.

 

But give me tickets to a LIVE game -- I'm there in a heartbeat!

 

Other than that, I'm not a sports fan. I can't stand listening to other people talk sports or sport stats. Drives me up a wall...

 

 

To the OP -- get Netflix..

 

Yeah, me too.  And take that away from Boise where I grew up and they don't have anything left to talk about but hunting. 

 

 

I spent time in Idaho. They told me, "If ya like hunting and fishing....", yeah well if ya dont.. stock up on alcohol I guess. :-)

[older]

Sport is the opiate of the masses.

[Vigile]

When I lived in Italy, my roommate Luca would pour over the sports page every day, which had an impressive amount of stats for those who are into such things.  He and his friends could talk calcio (soccer) for hours.  When Juventis was playing, they would hang a Juve (short for Juventis) scarf over the door handle, which meant no one but a Juve fan was allowed to enter the flat.  When Juve won the Italian cup, thousands and thousands of cars drove in circles around the city center honking their horns, throwing m-80s out the window, blowing air horns, screaming and hanging out the windows for hours. 

 

I know some pretty hard core football fans in the US, but I've never seen anything like the passion the Italians have on a consistent basis (after a big game win maybe, but not day after day) in the US.

 

In Costa Rica, I watched CR play Jamaica in a tiny bar that should have held 30 people max, but which had about 200 people standing shoulder to shoulder watching a 17" tv mounted to the wall near the ceiling.  The bar was suffocating and there was literally no room to move.  If you were in, you were in and not going anywhere.  When CR scored a goal, the entire bar banged their beer bottles on any hard surface they could find causing an eerie clanking noise.

[JadedAtheist]

Kinda like what BrotherJosh said, different strokes for different folks. I always enjoyed playing sports more than watching them. I enjoyed playing most sports, but am probably too unfit for them now. When it came to watching them on TV, the only sport that could somewhat hold my interest was UFC but even then I never got that into it. I don't particularly get american football either. The rules make it easier than rugby (the ball cannot be thrown forward in rugby) and in the few games I watched they seem to stop the game ever 15 seconds for whatever reason. All in all, I don't feel anything for sports, people are welcome to watch them I just don't enjoy watching them anywhere near as much as I do playing them.