The NFL is Losing Fans

Yesterday we mentioned a recent poll which showed the number of people listing football as their favorite sport dropped from 53% in 2012 to 41% today.

This is an astonishing stat.

Now some of the drop is no doubt due to the recent National Anthem controversy.  But most of the drop is due to long term issues.We ourselves were giving up on the NFL even before the controversy because of a variety of issues.

 It is worth going over those issues again.

-These tattooed millionaires are hard to like. They strut and preen over making a tackle, never mind what they do after a touchdown. This is all part of so called gangsta culture and we hate it.

-Replay. Every catch, interception and score risks getting overturned by some micro-technicality like the ball moving slightly as the player goes down in the end zone. Replay was supposed to help refs who can't see through 300 pound linemen. It has become a huge part of the game, just as important as offense, defense and special teams. Networks now keep an ex-ref in studio just to explain the ruling.

-TV commercials I. This is how it works. Touchdown, commercial, Kickoff, commercial. Timeout, commercial. Replay, commercial. End of quarter, commercial. All the interruptions are hard to sit through.

-TV commercials II. To sit through an NFL commercial break is to be bombarded by Peyton Manning ads for Papa John's and Nationwide Insurance, fantasy football gambling, Cialis-Viagra-Levitra ads, the DirecTV Sunday Ticket, and NFL spots touting how great the NFL is.

-The rules. After the Patriots mugged Peyton Manning and the Colts in the 2005 AFC Championship, the rules were changed to favor wide receivers. This is great for fantasy football stats, an obvious motivation, but bad for defense. In fact defense is almost meaningless today. A defensive back's job is to tackle the wide receiver after making the catch.  Offenses march up and down the field and once they get into a groove, find that rhythm, they're impossible to stop.

These factors make for a slow, choppy game that lacks suspense and is filled with unpleasant people. No wonder fans are turning away.

Now we watch the officials

Notes on Stroock's NFL Ban

We totally forgot their was an NFL game on Thursday night. So the ban is going well.

We should define out terms. We'll be folding some laundry later and will probably have a game on in the background while doing so.

[What are you, a woman?-Ed]

This is more of a soft ban, but a ban nonetheless.

[We don't know what that means.-Ed]

Let's review our reasons.

1-We hate the rules. Because one cannot so much as get a hair out of place on a wide receiver offenses march down the field. No lead is safe. This great for ratings and fantasy football stats, but not for the game.

2-We hate instant replay. Every play gets a full IRS style audit. Were both feet down? Did the ball move? Did the player make a 'football move' to establish possession. As the great John Madden said, let's just have a catch be a catch a touchdown be a touchdown and a fumble be a fumble. Enough.

3-We hate the players. This goes way beyond Kaepernick. We loath the best player on the Giants, the showboating but un-accomplished Odell Beckham. We loath the hip-hop culture in the NFL. The braying, the preening, the taunting. These guys are worse than my 4 year old showing off her pink pony dress.

4-We hate the pandering. Because the NFL has a yuuge problem with its players beating up the women in their lives, October is breast cancer month. This means the players are decked out in pink crap; cleats, bandannas, wrist bands. Hot pink does not go great with NY Giants blue.

5-We hate the cheerleaders [Yeah sure-Ed.] No seriously. They look more like strippers. What is this, the XFL? Jesus. [You watched half a season of that-Ed] I did, and it sucked.

6-We hate the commercials. First the way the breaks are scheduled, touch down-commercial, extra point-commercial, kickoff-commercial  Second, to watch an NFL game means being bombarded by commercials in which the NFL tries to sell you stuff, jerseys, aps and the like. It also means being bombarded by DirecTV Sunday ticket ads, Peyton Manning Papa John's ads, Viagra ads, Levitra, ads, Cialis ads [Gee those seemed to catch your attention-Ed].

Yeah, yeah. Shut the fuck up, Ed.

[Why don't you shut the fuck up and go fold some laundry-Ed.]