Posted on 08/18/2009 9:55:56 AM PDT by Matt Philbin
So Michael Vick is an Eagle now. That’s ok with me. I’m a Giants fan. Or I was a Giants fan, when I could stand to follow pro football. For a long time now, I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch more than a few games a season. These days, I feel nearly as out-of-place at a Super Bowl party as I would at an Oscar party.
Here in the DC area, the Redskins religion has begun its sacramental advent count-down to opening Sunday. I wish I could share the excitement. Part of the problem is that I’m a natural contrarian. Everybody loves football, so I don’t. Also, I’m a baseball fan (in a town largely devoid of them). The end of summer means my season’s running down, while theirs is pumping up.
But the problem is more involved. See, I love the game of football. But I loathe how it is played at and by whom at the professional level. I don’t like the hype and the spectacle and the production – the computer generated “Transformers”-type robots Fox uses in commercial bumpers. And I can’t believe I’m the only one who thinks Hank Jr.’s “Monday Night” theme song gets a little more embarrassing every year.
(Excerpt) Read more at cultureandmediainstitute.org ...
I, too, watch very little football. But really it’s just a byproduct of the fact that I have just about cut all TV watching from my daily life.
I got no sympathy for people who complain about things on TV.
There’s an easy solution: Don’t watch it.
I've heard of broken plays before, but I'm not sure what this is. Not sure how much of a fan you were in the first place.
The NFL is a business. Patronize it, or don't.
I was so happy to watch the Giants/Panthers game last night.
And now with Brett Farve going to the Vikings, I’ll be watching all football all the time.
Seems like all football accomplishes is sucking up tax dollars for big stadiums and causing programs I like to get delayed because a bunch of guys throwing a ball around can’t decide who wins in the allotted time.
blowing kisses would be taunting, that’s a 15 yard penalty. If such an incident happened, and I don’t remember it, it would have been penalized, and plenty of sport journalists would have harangued the guy for it and he probably would have gotten clobbered by the defense who certainly would have caught up to him (lots of guys get crushed by the D when they start their celebration at the 10, starting at the 40 is a sure ticket to pain). There can be excessive celebration in the NFL, there can be excessive celebration in every sport. Plenty of home run hitters stand their and watch the ball and wave their arms around during their victory lap. Yeah the NFL probably does more in a game, but they have 1/10 as many games, that condenses the sport.
I’m ready for football. Arsenal vs Celtic.
“Too much celebration on the field” is one of my favs.
Once they vote themselves Bread and football...
Most years about this time — for almost 40 years — I am chomping at the bit waiting for the season to begin.
This year, for whatever reason, I just can’t get excited about it. Maybe that will change at kickoff of the first game. Maybe not.
Olberman is on NBC for NFL games, sports keeps eveil networks like CNN (ESPN), BCS, ABC, NBC alive, stadiums cheat taxpayers. NFL and TV sports helps to keep the serfs in line.
Just like Rome - bread and circuses. Send the army away for the empire and to keep the army from removing the despots - meanwhile illegal aliens flood in (vandals, hun & visigoths) then Rome aka USA implodes.
TV sports is a mindless waste of time.
I have felt for a long time that sports “watchers” are those of us with little athletic talent and who live a sort of Walter Mitty life. Washington D.C. is the perfect example of that syndrome. So many bureaucrats with so little talent — intellectual or athletic.
I love football!
Overproduced. I grew up a Raider fan. Loved pro-ball as a kid. I got into College FB from there, and pro-football lost its lustre for me. Too many great games on Saturday, too many upsets.
I agree with you.
I am an odd sort of person who can’t stand college football and loves the NFL, yet prefers the NCAA to the NBA.
Football players are paid to be 18. And it shows.
PS - your writing sucks.
"But I loathe how it is played at and by whom at the professional level."
That doesn't even make sense! Horrible grammar!
Of course it’s also the one that makes some people call it “the No Fun League”. I’m all for those penalties, most of the celebrations are boring and stupid, I believe in the Jerry Rice rule: act like you’ve been there before and will be there again. I especially hate defensive players that celebrate failure, “ooh look at me I laid down the big hit... 4 yards on the wrong side of the down marker”.
Arsenal is John Lydon’s favorite team. That’s all I know about them, but it’s enough for me to hope they win.
Michael Vick admitted his guilt, served his time WITHOUT complaint or blaming ‘society’ for his actions
He is entitled to resume his carreer. He lost a 13million dollars
You can continue to have disgust for what he did, I do too. But he did not make it worse but blaming others and did his time. I believe he seriously learned his lesson.
Well they sure took care of my Everton this weekend. Felt real bad for Tim Howard, wasn’t his fault.
Are you a lolcat?
+1
I am a fan. I played the game in high school. A broken field return refers to breaking away from the defenders.
Yes, the NFL is a business. And column was an opinion. Read it or don’t.
Actually most networks lose money on the sports contracts, especially the NFL, you just can’t sell enough advertising to pay for those contracts. But they hope it brings eyeballs to their other shows (thus why there’s a lot of self promotion) it’s kind of a loss leader structure. And CNN and ESPN are in two completely separate media empires (TW and The Mouse respectively).
Not odd at all, I’m right with you. I’ve officiated football, baseball, and basketball. I’ve coached football and basketball at the high school level.
Love the NFL but cannot stand the NBA because as a basketball coach you preach defense and they play no defense in the NBA. Run up and down the court and dunk and when kids see that they think that’s basketball. All that does is get you beat at the high school level by a team willing to play defense. I run the “NBA” out of my teams!
Back in the old days of the NFL, you did that kind of celebration, you’d wind up with a broken leg before the end of the game.
Wow you’re like my twin. To me it’s simple though, defenses in college football tend to be weak, and I really like the struggle of an offense to deal with a good to great defense, free points are boring points. And the NBA has just become the all show off no skills league, guys can do all kinds of great arm waving in their dunks but in my book if you can’t get better than 50% from the free throw line you hardly deserve to be called a basketball player.
I’ll watch football again when the following things happen:
Michael Vick is used for halftime entertainment, placed in a cage naked with a dozen or so hungry Pit Bulls. (Chet99 can do the play-by-play.)
Donte’ Stallworth does the Run, Dodge and Jump blindfolded in the middle of a demolition derby.
Notre Dame rescinds the Honorary Degree it gave to The Usurper and pays restitution to Dr. Alan Keyes and Fr. Norm Weslin.
‘Till then, the New Zealand All Blacks will fill my need for watching contact sports.
I prefer college and high school football.
D players who indulge in their inane little celebrations are the most annoying of them all.
Can you imagine Nitschke, Deacon Jones or Butkus doing a little dance after they made a tackle or a big hit? Not a chance.
A player can break a tackle. A player can be in the open field. A player can return a punt or a kick or an interception.
Like I said, all you do is post from your blog trolling for hits, and your writing is not up to the usual standard around here. But I guess it's a consequence of anyone being able to spout off and call themselves a columnist. I'll just avoid you in the future.
Cheers.
Yeah, or benched, maybe even both (some of those old coaches had a mean streak).
From what I have read the sports is the money maker. News is a money loser. The prime time TV shows I doubt make much because of the production company costs.
Why do I keep thinking ESPN is with Sports illustrated which is owned by Time Warner. I cancelled all magazines and newspapers. Cable TV goes next month.
The NBA is fake anyway.
Feminine touch fouls for breathing on people, preferential treatment for stars, no D, sloppy passes, bricks from ballhogs, constant traveling over and over and over again — basketball is acting, not a sport.
Growling yes, I’m not convinced those guys even danced at their weddings much less on the field.
Speaking of Michael Vick, I’d sooner entrust my dog to Michael Vick than I would my health care to Barack Obama.
A broken field is one in which the defensive players are scattered across the field.
Here's the free dictionary definition:
bro·ken-field (brkn-fld)adj. Football Accomplished by a ball carrier against opposition that is widely scattered over the field: broken-field running.
Has Vick said why he thinks what he did was wrong? I have heard that he said it was a mistake and he didn’t know why he did it, but maybe I missed some of his more contrite statements.
Freegards
Well, there's one other person out there like you. me.
I don't really care too much about college football. Likely, it's the Bowl system...there's no champion, and one loss at the beginning of the year can sink your whole season.
The NBA are a bunch of thugs. I didn't abandon them, so much as they decided not to court my demographic.
However, you can't live in NC and NOT like College Hoops. It's a religion, work stops during the ACC tourney. And I live for the NFL.
Go figure.
News loses money too, but news is the cheapest source of “community good” which is necessary for the FCC licenses. Sports it largely depends on how popular the sport is, the less popular the cheaper the contract (for instance NBC’s NHL contract has no money down, they share the advertising revenue) and the more likely it actually is to be profitable. Since Fox entered the picture for the NFL contracts and there started being 5 networks competing for 4 contracts NFL contracts have consistently been money losers. Though again remember that’s just up front, ad revenue compared to cost, they get a lot of eyeballs for commercials for their other shows and ratings fluctuations seem to show that NFL broadcasts actually can bring in enough to make the big picture profitable.
Hide your Beagle, Vick’s an Eagle?
You gave me an adjective. He used it as a noun.
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