Posted on 08/23/2010 8:00:45 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Brett Favre was sacked in his first preseason game on Sunday. Experts say Favre can skip most of camp and still be ready for the regular season because he knows the system so well.
The National Football League perpetrates two annual frauds: one against the American public, the other against players who give body and blood to make the league a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
The first fraud is preseason football, those empty, glamorized scrimmages that teams force on season-ticket holders as parts of the regular-season package.
The second, more dangerous fraud is training camp, which exposes veteran players to unnecessary risk and perpetuates the myth that football is more complicated than it really is.
The situations of Brett Favre and Eli Manning, Exhibits 1 and 2, make for the most compelling arguments yet for eliminating these colossal wastes of time and resources.
Favre, the N.F.L.’s 40-year-old prince of drama, waltzes into Minnesota Vikings “training camp” three weeks after everyone else and participates in four plays Sunday. Experts say Favre can pull this off because he knows the system so well.
No. Favre can pull this off because a training camp lasting several weeks is not essential. After not practicing with the Vikings until Wednesday, he played one four-play series Sunday night, completing a pass and getting sacked, in a 15-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Eli Manning did show up for camp. In the Giants’ first preseason game, against the Jets, he took a blind-side shot and needed 12 stitches to close a three-inch gash on his forehead, causing him to miss several days of practice. All because of a meaningless game.
We talk a lot in sports about going for the glory. Where’s the glory in that?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That photo of Favre getting sacked is a portent of things to come this season.
Trent Green went down in a pre-season game back in 1999 or 1998 and he was out for the rest of the season.
True, it did give the Rams Kurt Warner as the starting Quarterback, but Green was never the same after.
The exhibition season used to be 6 games, with a 14 game regular season.
Not everyone is a QB, and not everyone has the mental acumen of a Manning, Favre or Warner. LBs, corners, offensive tackles and receivers also need the time, and not everyone is a ten year veteran.
Most of all, the team starts out with 80 guys, and has to play the original version of Survivor to get down to 45 or so.
“That photo of Favre getting sacked is a portent of things to come this season.”
I hope so too.
There is very little relationship between what happens during preseason games and the regular season. /s
This guy doesn’t know football. Camp and preseason aren’t for the Favre’s of the world, they are to gauge who makes the team and who gets cut. And to work out game plans and synchronize efforts. I don’t think you need four preseason games but a preseason is a necessity.
This guy is an idiot and doesn’t understand football at all. Training camps and pre-season games certainly have risks but they also have rewards.
wow. Brett Favre gets sacked one time and WILLIAM C. RHODEN
is ready to cancel preseason football forever.
Even if I was a season ticket holder, I would not care. The NFL season is to short and MLB, NHL, and NBA to long. THEY should have training camps/preseason and only play one game a week!
Keep the regular season at 16 games, give all teams a bye right after the 8th game so all teams will be on the same level, institute a playoff bye for ALL playoff teams and get rid of the extra week before the Super Bowl.
And, abolish the stupid Pro Bowl game and just post the Pro Bowl players in the media.
What utter tripe.
He’s saying that a team can play as a team without ever having been a team?
HUH?
Beam me up to baseball Spring Training!
“That photo of Favre getting sacked is a portent of things to come this season
not a chance!!the best quarterback in NFL history and he will continue to be so
You can gauge the players and rookies in scrimmages and in camp. This means that they will play extra hard to make the squad.
The NFL LOVES Obama. The NFL refused to sell a team to Rush and his investor group but sold it to a shady Muslim.
I heard that Frank Rich thinks that football players are dreamy!
Pre-season’s are nothing but showcases for the rookies on the squad who are fighting for a permanent spot on the starting lineup. The writer should stick to basket weaving, or whatever it is metrosexuals waste time doing.
I think Brett Favre has earned the right to show up at training camp when he damn well pleases.
I’ve been boycotting the NFL for several years now
And enjoying my autumnal Sundays alot more as a result I don’t miss it a bit
“Keep the regular season at 16 games,”
Plans are in the works for an 18 game season, probably next year, plus the pre-season games.
I think the NFL should play 52-week seasons. Damn wimps!
Sorry but 18 games, that’s way too many. NFL players are already suffering enough from the current schedule.
Man, that's twisted.
Soccer is pretty much a year-round sport in World Cup/Euro years. The English Premier League and UEFA Champions League started right back up less than a month after the end of the World Cup, and will go all the way until May.
Unless Peterson realizes Chester isn't around anymore and put's a little effort into blocking it will be.
On the other hand, if teams decide sending everybody after the QB every play is the way to beat Favre, there's going to be a lot of 60 yard slant plays to Berrian, and 80 yard runs from draw plays for Peterson.
“and not everyone is a ten year veteran.”
I think the average NFL career is 3 years.
Our studies have shown that Bret thinks he's this big. In fact, that doesn't seem to be the case...
I’m for a 2 game pre-season. By the time 2 games pass, coaches really know who they want and don’t. The rest is scrimmage. Lengthen the season and make the 2 extra games mean something!
Soccer players cry when they get the slightest bump. By the end of the season many NFL players are having trouble walking the day after a game.
The Steelers certainly need the preseason games to test replacements for Ben Rothlisberger, for when he serves that four game suspension.
I”m soo F’in sick of the NFL treating QBs as primadonna ballet dancers who need all these “Brady” rules to protect them. All because a few of the leagues franchise qbs may get hurt each season and the NFL advertisers overwhelmingly put qbs in their campaigns. That’s what all this crap is about. $$$.
The NO Fun League officially needs to Man Up, but I’m sure up next will be that nobody is allowed to tackle qbs, ever.
You know its coming.
I agree Dr. and the more games the more money they make to pay the high salaries.
Brett is fun to watch.
I seem to recall a team that once went unbeaten without their starting QB for most of the year.
You’re right, preseason is about the new guys trying to make the cut. Of course, the veterans have to show up and prove why the new guys don’t get their spot... ;-)
Yo, William, this Wiki’s for you...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Rhoden
What utter tripe.
He’s saying that a team can play as a team without ever having been a team?
............Why no “preseason”’in college?
Seems like every couple of years the NFL adopts another CFL rule. Safety touch, 2-point conversion, next an 18-game season. Now if they can make a missed field goal a live ball it would really get interesting ;-)
I hope so too.
*******
Why?
same here.....since, well a long time ago. after the greatest backfield EVER, Bart Starr, Jimmy Taylor and Paul Hornung hung ‘em up, or soon after was when I left. the entire thing is a damn thug outfit and has been for 40 years, just like the once great NBA. hard to believe the occ. video news clips I happen to see now are the NFL, they are not the NFL I remember when. great athletes now sure but their actions are just sad. oh well, times change I guess. the kids like this sort of thuggish behavior from their sports guys now I suppose.
And why does the NFL insist on calling them “pre-season” games? Back in the old days, they were called “exhibition” games. And that’s what they still are. They are meaningless exhibition games.
The only team to go unbeaten was the 72 Dolphins with the no name defense and Shula as coach, who are you referring to?
Nah, move the regular season back to 14 games and have the Super bowl by the middle of January - in a cold weather location.
Oh wait, I think Bob did get knocked out for about half the year, my apologies. My bad
Earl M. filled in that ‘72 season for Shula and Griese as he healed up iirc. Earl also subbed for Johnny U. at Balt. in ‘68 and was the NFL MVP that season. then the underrated Jet defense, and the choke Colt offense who went AWOL, had a wonderful Superbowl 3 game. I LOVED it!
By the end of their careers some may not walk at all. Check out Earl Campbell, only recently successful back surgery had him out of his wheelchair and walking again.
What i want to see is what happens when the fans sue the tramp he fooled around with since she cost the fans seeing him play in four games. There were never even any charges pressed and the guy got suspended so why was he suspended? I don’t want to hear about he is a role model since that’s all bullshit. He is a football player in a business. Role models went out the door when Jack “The Assassin” Tatum joined the league. All Ben did was try to get a piece of ass with a willing participant and when she changed her mind she decided to go for the money. Somebody should sue the tramp along with the other pig in Vegas. AllBen is guilty of is being a dumb hick from a small hick town in Ohio.
Gotta end a hero, not a loser.
NFL teams have been doing that for over forty years now, so I don't think it's going to change.
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