Is the NFL becoming too much like WWF? (managers, celebrities, Bills)
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Wonks use data. Just look at the parade of curmudgeons that rant about change.
Once past 55, people are often set in their preferences and so to attract new customers....the advertising is almost entirely aimed at youth. If you are older and didn't spot this as your parents and grandparents complained about trends then oh well.
You are right about we older farts being set in our ways. Technology, innovation and the internet though have changed things a bit quicker and dramatically than it did for our parents.
My post was somewhat tongue in cheek but there are underlying things in the NFL that seem to be turning it into a choreographed production.
Politics, human rights and equality are now also part of the NFL’s mantra. I guess as fans we aren’t just watching football anymore we are getting an education on what we should be embracing socially in America.
You're echoing the opinion of more people than can be counted. When it comes to end zone choreography, my Vikings are one of the worst. I'M SICK OF WATCHING IT AFTER THEY DO ANYTHING OF CONSEQUENCE. They should spend so much time practicing the game of football so they stop losing games that they should be winning. I'm also tired of all the virtue signaling. We don't need big words all along the end zone saying END RACISM. Concentrate on football. There is a LOT of bad things in the world? What about all the other terrible things in the world. Where's it end? Enough already.
I'm also very tired of all the women announcers who know next to nothing about the game, but are there entirely for political correctness and diversity. How I miss guys like John Madden. His knowledge and explanations of games and plays was unbelievable. There are good announces yet, but they feel like they have to intersperse too much fluff with them.
Yes, I want to watch some old fashioned announcing and emphasis on football things. The GAME and how it's played has changed and I'm OK with that. It's just how it's presented.
There are female announcers? Sideline reporters are one thing; announcers, another
Not me, I enjoyed the NFL more when the Patriots ruled the league and it was every year who can stop Tom Brady and Company. Now I just see a ton of 8-8, 8-7, 9-7 teams that I can't keep track of. So many middle of the road teams. I want to see someone take down Goliath when it comes to Football.
The best games were the Superbowl when Eli took down the Pats. Thats entertainment at its best.
I found the Brady-era Pats quite boring to watch, with the exception of the year where they went undefeated in the regular season, as they actually had exciting skill position players that year in Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, and Laurence Maroney. An endless succession of 7-yard completions to the Welkers and Edelmans (Edelmen?) of the world makes for effective but boring football. Brady's Bucs teams were more fun to watch than all but that one Patriots team. And I promise that this isn't just my bias as a Buffalo Bills fan speaking, either, heh
True, I would just like to see less of Taylor Swift by the network during every other play and if they are going to put marquee games on a Saturday of a holiday weekend I don’t want to have to subscribe to Peacock in order to watch it.
From what I understand they made the fourth quarter free of commercials but filled it with fluff from the sportscasters.
Since that game involved the Bills, I got to watch it without a Peacock subscription, on our good ol' local NBC affiliate. Fluff from announcers is better than ads and not by a small margin
Except that a few of us have been questioning the legitimacy of some of the finishes for a long time now.....
AS for entertainment, well, it is. And Americans pay a lot of money for entertainment, so in order to make more money, it has to be MORE entertaining....and the NFL is about making money
So I have already posted too many times about it being rigged, because sometimes it LOOKS Very rigged....
But in order to gather fans, making it more entertaining with Taylor Swift may be bringing in fans who care...
I also agree with Announcers like John Madden, who knew the game forwards and backwards and made it more interesting to watch. And today, some of the commentators are horrible
They have this one dyke sounding female announcer on college games and I shut the sound off whenever she is on. And often turn off the sound during the games anyway.....it sometimes interferes with my Sunday afternoon cat-nap.
ESPN ran a college game last year with NO Announcers, only the stadium play by play and three camera angles on the field....I really liked that but might have been the only one.
In my opinion, Madden and Summerall were the worst announcing duo I've ever been subjected to in my 30+ years watching the NFL. Summerall, an alcoholic, sure sounded perpetually hungover during broadcasts, and with Madden's articulation issues, you'd sure hope he was drunk. I never understood the Madden cult. He seemed like a good dude, but he should've never been within 100 feet of a microphone.
My favorite booth ever is a very unpopular choice: the year MNF decided to put Dennis Miller in the booth. These days, I am no Miller fan, as he's taken a serious rightward turn. But back then, when I was in high school, I loved the eccentricity and obscure references. And Dan Fouts was in that booth, too, and I've always been a fan of his. The rare atheist ex-NFLer! Hah. I believe Al Michaels did the play-by-play, and he's always been super-solid. I appreciate his thinly veiled point spread and over-under references
It seems more like flag football, what happened to the hitting?
The game now has an artificial feel to it, players avoiding contact; in some cases seemingly unmotivated.
I find college football a better option.
The most annoying aspect of NFL fandom to me today is the half-measures that have been taken in the name of player safety that disrupt the flow of the game but likely have minimal impact on preserving health. Yes, CTE is real and has devastating consequences. Yes, concussions are a bad thing that should be avoided to whatever extent possible. But football is an inherently violent game, and players have to have some degree of awareness of the risk(s) they're taking by choosing to participate. Glory now, repercussions later is a trade-off many are willing to take and probably just as many don't even stop to consider. Also, the research I've seen indicates that actual concussions are overrated as a contributing factor towards CTE. What's underrated are the subconcussive impacts that are routine and ineradicable. These guys take blows to the head all the time, and the cumulative impact of that is real. So the NFL has sacrificed watchability for safety measures that are likely of limited consequence.
You are right about we older farts being set in our ways. Technology, innovation and the internet though have changed things a bit quicker and dramatically than it did for our parents.
My post was somewhat tongue in cheek but there are underlying things in the NFL that seem to be turning it into a choreographed production.
Politics, human rights and equality are now also part of the NFL’s mantra. I guess as fans we aren’t just watching football anymore we are getting an education on what we should be embracing socially in America.
Back when Kaepernick and company were doing their thing, I had a couple Republican relatives claim that they were going to boycott the league. Predictably, they never stopped watching. They did, however, support Nate Peterman as the starting QB for the Bills over Tyrod Taylor. Peterman is white; Taylor is black. Taylor led the Bills to the playoffs and will be starting for the Giants tomorrow; Peterman is out of the league and, with apologies to Josh Rosen and Zach Wilson at his worst, probably the worst NFL QB to take the field over the past 6 years, 7 years, maybe decade. I got a good laugh out of all that
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