Patterico's Pontifications

2/3/2018

Why I Have Grown to Hate the NFL

Filed under: General — JVW @ 11:50 pm



[guest post by JVW]

With the big brouhaha building up in advance of tomorrow’s Big Game (note that advertisers are not allowed to use the trademarked term S____ B___ without paying extortion money to the NFL; because of that I will stand in solidarity with them and avoid using that stupid term too.), I thought this would be a good time to lay out the reasons why I, a former fan of the NFL, can no longer bear to watch the game. So even though it is a hackneyed and over-used device, I’ll present my reasons in a count-down list.

6. An NFL Stadium is a Public Rip-Off
In an era when even the least-valuable NFL franchise — the lowly (but rebounding!) Buffalo Bills — is worth an estimated $1.6 billion, it is remarkable that cities are willing to be held hostage by these teams and spend taxpayer money to build stadiums that do not return the equivalent value to the public. (By contrast, basketball/hockey arenas and baseball fields which host more events over the course of the year generally pay back their subsidies in increased economic activity.) Yet some cities persist in coughing up big bucks whenever the well-heeled owners threaten to relocate to municipalities who for some inexplicable reason are desperate to play host to an NFL franchise. Why any NFL franchise deems Los Angeles — a city filled with an inordinate number of people who come from somewhere else and arrive here with longstanding loyalties to their hometown team — as a city in which to relocate not one, but two separate franchises is beyond my comprehension (other than the clear fact that LA is suffused with sucker wealth). The great David Burge summed it up thus:

5. And the Stadium Experience Sucks These Days Anyway
So you have paid $688 to a ticket broker to procure four tickets for your family to watch an NFL game at your local taxpayer-funded stadium (maybe you were lucky enough to get them at face value and paid closer to $400). You pile into the car to drive to the stadium. Did you purchase a parking pass in advance from a fan who has season parking privileges close to the stadium? If so, you probably spent $60 or more. But hey, if you forgot to arrange that detail in advance you can always park in an off-site lot for $40 and have the kids join you for the 20-minute hike to the stadium. When you get there, you will find that four hotdogs, two cokes, a pretzel, and a box of popcorn will set you back an additional $40, and if you and your spouse want a beer they’ll average about $9 each. Souvenir for the kids? I hope they are happy with a $10 pennant and don’t want the $150 replica jersey.

When you get to your seat, the fun awaits you. Your game watching will likely be distracted by drunks jacked up on testosterone who bellow obscenities down to players who can’t possibly hear them and, more probably, opposing fans who likely can and will respond in kind. If you are lucky, a full-blown fan fight might break out in your section, sometimes among fans of the same team and sometimes among the female fan base! That is provided you made it safely into the stadium without being accosted by the other team’s fans in the first place. Do you think that security will rush over to break it up? Watch these videos and see how fan safety in the seating sections is apparently a low priority in many NFL stadiums. So we’re looking at $850 to have expensive beer poured all over you and be punched in the face, and you’ll face a long walk back to your car in the dark with drunk and surly fans all around you. Good times.

4. The Game Has Been Taken Over by Vanilla Play
As football has become big business with coaching and playing salaries exploding skyward, a certain sort of boring conservative style has taken over in which teams run a certain set of plays that statistical analyses have suggested are the most likely to consistently succeed, rather than exposing your job to risk by playing with more verve and flair that was once a hallmark of the pro game. How many times have you watched an NFL game and watch both offenses appear to utilize the same safe playbook: bubble-screen to the wide receiver on first down for five yards, short swing pass to the running back on second down for five yards, slant to the receiver on first down for six yards, tailback over right tackle for four yards, repeat ad nauseam? That over-reliance upon the tried and true along with offense-friendly rules which hamstring defensive players’ ability to play aggressively, leads to a very nice set of game stats (more on that later), but the net effect is like watching two well-rehearsed military bands playing a Sousa march note-for-note as it appears on the sheet music, game after game after game, when every so often you want the monotony broken up with some improvisational jazz. This post at the blog The Ringer does an excellent job of expounding on how aseptic modern NFL offenses are. Consider a comparison of Hall of Famer Joe Namath’s 1968 season, in which he led the Jets to an 11-3 regular season record and a Big Game title, with Eli Manning’s season this year in which his Giants went 3-12 in the games that Manning started:

QB comparison

Note that Manning’s stat-friendly line consisting of short passes in the name of ball-control and patiently driving the football down the field yields a higher quarterback rating than Namath’s higher-risk downfield throwing that gives him a superior yards per completion (also yards per attempt) and touchdowns versus attempts number than Manning, but his lower completion rate and higher interception rate leaves Manning with the overall better quarterback rating.

3. Injuries Mar the On-Field Product
This NFL season, more than any other in recent memory, has been dominated by the number of serious injuries that have sidelined star players for weeks at a time. The league is also dealing with horrible PR as retired players report the onset of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), permanent brain damage brought on by years of vicious blows to the head which is being investigated as a possible cause of several NFL player suicides in recent years. In considering the carnage that the game seems to be engendering, it’s worth considering how the evolution of the game and human performance might be at fault.

We have seen a sheer increase in size of the average professional player over the past century, from roughly 5’11” and 190 lbs. in 1920 to more like 6’3″ and 240 lbs today. At the same time, the evolution of human physiology over that same period has not kept pace with these advancements, so more body weight is being piled upon joints, ligaments, and tendons that are often ill-equipped to bear them, especially as increased muscle mass, strength, and speed, has made collisions more violent. One of the reasons that the New England Patriots have been so successful over the past seventeen seasons is that their quarterback, Tom Brady, has been a paragon of health, starting every game over that period except for the four games he missed last year when he was suspended and the 2008 season in which he played in only one game and the Patriots missed the playoffs. Your success in the NFL is no longer based upon getting great players and slotting them into a solid scheme, it’s about keeping them healthy for the brutal five-month season.

2. The NFL Thinks It Is Far More Important Than It Really Is
Look, I get that this is a multi-billion dollar business, and I get that for the last six decades or so the NFL has clearly established itself as our country’s most popular professional sports league, despite the occasional claims that more internationally popular sports beloved of one-world progressives such as basketball and soccer are about to displace football among the U.S. sports fan. But for the life of me I can’t understand the attitude heard often among diehard NFL fans that the period between the end of the Super Bowl and the opening of NFL training camps in the summer is a sports wasteland. I started being bothered a couple of decades ago when ESPN would devote round-the-clock coverage to the two days of the annual NFL Draft in April, not to mention the incessant yammering on about what teams ought to do, want to do, and ought to want to do in the month leading up to the draft. To see talking heads spend sixty seconds discussing whether that wide receiver from Tumbleweed State is worth a seventh-round pick or ought to be signed as a free agent is to summit the peak of the picayune and piffling.

But what really did it for me was the year that ESPN had a three-hour prime-time special during the beginning of summer in which the next year’s season schedule was announced and laid out week-by-week. It was surreal to hear besuited in-studio yakkers pontificating upon whether the Week 13 Dolphins-Jaguars match-up would be a pivotal game for playoff possibilities, not knowing one iota whether either team would have a record of 2-10, 6-6, 11-1, or something else. It seemed entirely tailor-made to satiate the degenerate NFL fan who is starved to hear various gregarious ex-jocks and ingratiating media gasbags pretend that they have any inkling of what the coming season holds for us. And this kind of inability to keep the NFL in proper perspective leads me to my number one complaint:

1. Fantasy Football Turns the Game Into ADHD Hell
My disgust with the game grew exponentially with the advent of fantasy football. Football is in many ways the ultimate team sport. Unlike basketball, a great individual cannot easily dominate the game, and certainly not on both offense and defense. And while it’s true that a great pitcher can almost single-handedly win a game with a dominant performance, or a hitter can crush four homeruns and provide his team’s entire offense output in a win, baseball itself is a game consisting of ongoing individual match-ups between a pitcher and a hitter, with the former trying to record an out and the latter trying to reach base. Football, though, consists of eleven men on the field each with an exact assignment which must be carried out in tandem for the overall success of the team. The best passing quarterback is far less effective if his receivers can’t catch the ball, and the most elusive running back is useless if his line can’t stop the defenders from tackling him in the backfield. A wonderful defense that only surrenders seven points per game doesn’t win games if the offense is incapable of scoring more than six. Football rewards the entire team effort, not any one player carrying the team.

But all that is thrown out the window with fantasy football, which rewards gaudy personal statistics at the expense of team excellence. Take quarterback Smith and quarterback Jones, for instance, each of them playing a different team in the same week. Smith plays in a balanced offense which emphasizes ball-control and chewing up time on the clock, and runs the ball effectively while mixing in the passing game when necessary to keep the defense guessing. He leads his team to a 24-7 victory in which his team runs for 190 yards and controls the ball for 38 of the 60 minutes. His passing stats end up a respectable 15 for 21 for 160 yards and one touchdown, and on three occasions he keeps drives going by passing for a first down when the team faces third-and-long. Jones, on the other hand, plays in a system with very little success running, so his team throws the ball quite a bit. Jones finishes a game with a stat line of 34 for 58 for 360 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, but his team is on the losing end of a 44-24 score and Jones’s final two TDs come late in the fourth quarter when the outcome has already been determined. Guess which player had the superior performance in the eyes of fantasy football followers, but then think about which quarterback helped bring his team closer to a playoff appearance.

Fantasy football makes simps and boors of its participants as we no longer admire team excellence, we instead focus on individual statistics. Note how in this day and age each televised game has a bottom-screen crawler which tracks all of the numbers for the most popular fantasy players. Instead of intently watching the game in front of them, the modern fantasy-addled NFL fan’s attention nervously bounces from game to game, chasing those fantasy points to the bitter end. Even the newest stadiums (stadia, I guess) are getting into the act, pandering to the fantasy football fanatic since — Heaven forbid! — fans shouldn’t be distracted by what is actually happening in the game right in front of them: the one they actually bought a ticket for. I have found that when recapping a game, the modern fan is far more likely to know various players’ statistics than something as uninteresting as the final score or even which team emerged victorious. Fantasy football, more than any other factor, has made the NFL unwatchable.

So enjoy the Big Game tomorrow, folks. As for me, I’m heading out to see the Churchill movie.

– JVW

220 Responses to “Why I Have Grown to Hate the NFL”

  1. Unless anyone starts a new post, feel free to use this as a Big Game open thread too.

    JVW (42615e) — 2/3/2018 @ 11:51 pm

  2. the nfl isn’t as gay as the olympics

    yet

    so it just has to build on that

    happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/3/2018 @ 11:56 pm

  3. I gave up on the NFL about 10 years ago.

    I’m purely a CFB fan now. I spend less than 10 minutes on any given Sunday watching an NFL game.

    For 30 years I was a Raider fan — never a hardcore fan, but I followed them and I watched their games.

    But to me the NFL is boring. I prefer the excitement and unpredictability of CFB.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 2/4/2018 @ 12:05 am

  4. The count-down:

    6. Yes.
    5. Yes. Yes.
    4. Yes, yes, yes; it’s not merely big business; it’s entertainment.
    3. When you have to hide the fact you product causes long term brain damage, you have a problem.
    2. It’s not that it thinks it’s important; it believes it’s powerful. It’s not; the people w/t remote control are.
    1. Enjoy Winnie. That’s entertainment.

    ________

    The Chargers left San Diego for LA and few miss them. The bet for the future is on soccer and it is popular w/a younger generation- male and female- weaned on a sport played in their schools and worldwide.

    Heard on the evening news the night before the big game there were still 2,000 Super Bowl tickets left selling at $3000.00 each. That’ll buy a ticket to a Churchill flick and a helluva lot of popcorn.

    “Raisinetes!” – Hedley Lamar [Harvey Korman] ‘Blazing Saddles’ 1974

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:30 am

  5. i’m worried about gaga’s health

    i hope she’s hydrating

    happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:44 am

  6. compounding my worries

    it seems perverted pedophile Mitt Romney’s slicked-up and ready boytoy Paul Ryan has yet to master the finer points of the art of the social media

    i do what i can jesus knows i do

    but i can’t help errybody

    happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:50 am

  7. Growing up in Detroit, we never had a professional team to root for(*), so for me “football” has always meant “college football”.

    A much more attractive and interesting game, IMO.

    (*) I am 54 years old. Number of post-season games won by the Detroit Lions during my lifetime: 1.

    Dave (445e97) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:32 am

  8. Ha, ha, ha! Great post, JVW. I’m with you. The five minutes or so I spent reading your post is the most attention I have given to NFL football at any one time in decades. Since the OJ trial at least.

    nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:46 am

  9. The NFL consciously and ardently pursued parity amongst the teams. Well, they got it. How boring.

    Just like rabid Lefties, who are devoted to the concept that men can perfect life on earth, the NFL is consumed with a replay system which “gets it right.” Never mind that it is all too often impossible to do that. They will literally stop everything in service to that pretense. All is subordinated to this absurd goal. Remember when it was first instituted? The standard was “incontrovertible evidence” in order to overturn a call on the field. Man being man, we immediately saw that it was all-too arrogant individuals deciding to insert their biases in deciding to reverse officials’ calls. Yup. A perfect analog to our judicial system where the black robed ignore strictures on their power. Today, nobody can explain that which constitutes a catch.

    What farce it has become.

    Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:52 am

  10. Would you believe since Aaron Hernandez’s suicide?

    nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:04 am

  11. How about since Pence walked out of the Colts’ game?

    nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:10 am

  12. Though college football is much more appreciated by yours truly than the pro game, I dont like the shootout overtime used. I actually preferred sudden death OT. Don’t like that kicker won it with a 50 yard FG 3 mins into It? Defense should play better and your ST should have spooked him better.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:02 am

  13. They should go rollerball, lower the payroll, raise the turnover.

    narciso (d1f714) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:27 am

  14. Letting dog murderer Michael Vick return did it for me. Gave them the boot on the day his return was announced.

    Bang Gunley (ff0402) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:16 am

  15. The owners decided to support a fringe racist protest movement designed to methodically insult and annoy their fans. They further decided to vilify anyone who objects.

    You left that out of your list, but that point, to me, is more important than the rest of your points put together, JVW, and while I’m interested and slightly amused that you left it out — I’m thinking that was a deliberate decision, which of course was yours to make since it’s your list — I couldn’t get past that to even begin considering any of your other points seriously. I consider that calculated decision by the NFL owners no different than a store owner spitting in my face as I walk through his establishment’s front door. I’m going to spin on my heel into an about-face and proceed anywhere but there when that happens — and so I have with the NFL. I haven’t watched a full series of downs this entire season, and won’t watch one today either.

    Twitter delinda est, but the NFL can follow them into the garbage heap of history.

    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:17 am

  16. *follow it (Twitter), I ought have said.

    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:17 am

  17. Tired of your “commercially induced surrogate interest” per Heinlein?

    Fred Z (2123f0) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:21 am

  18. Football has been in decline for decades ffs. Good riddance for the crypto-fascist metaphor for war. Meh.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:26 am

  19. From THIS WEEK transcript

    STEPHANOPOULOS: You’ve read the underlying documents?

    SCHIFF: I have and they voted that down. They voted against hearing from the FBI. When you do oversight, you haul them in under oath. You say why was this included, why wasn’t that included. The interest wasn’t oversight. The interest was a political hit job on the FBI in the service of the president.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:33 am

  20. Whatever we have to do to get Trump voters back should not include jettisoning our principles. The problems with the Trump voters (and let’s not sugar coat this, there are problems), is they willfully abandoned whatever values they had because Trump directly appealed to their hidden fears, desires and resentments whether that was maniacal insistence on perfect security, sheer greed, genuine racism, neediness to have someone take care of them, activated grievances, fundamentalist wishful thinking, gleeful misogyny or a half dozen other things. It wasn’t just racism. I’d really like Democrats to stop assuming race was the only principal component. It was only the largest of many.
    It was these dark fears and desires that the GOP has been stimulating and feeding for decades now. It got out of hand with the election of Trump. And let’s not forget the boatload of money from long time Republican donors with very specific agendas whether those are reversing the New Deal, rolling back taxes to almost nothing for themselves, going “weightless” in the workplace, profiting from war, and rent seeking from the fossil fuel industry, the telecom industry, and the healthcare industry. They’re the ones who funded the politicians and talking heads and gave them the tools of psychological manipulation and a platform to amplify their voices.
    I’m not sure how you can appeal to people who are in the grip of delusion. My own personal history of having grown up in a high control group suggests that this will be a Herculean task. Getting into the delusion relied on deliberately pricking at the thing many people secretly fear or desire with fine precision. This is what cult indoctrination is all about. It’s an emotional thing, not a rational thing. Inevitably, we will have to also appeal to emotion and right now many people on the right have locked us out. They’re listening to their leaders.
    We’ve got to make them realize that the people they think are their enemies, ie the Clinton supporters, are just as subject to this careless economy as they are. That we also are fearful of our safety and for our futures. We live in the same country and are subject to the same injustices and scarcities. We are also only one paycheck away from devastating consequences to our quality of life. This is what the Bernie people were trying to say. This is what every volunteer for the Clinton campaign that I met in 2016 was saying. We are not a separate tribe living by different laws of nature. What affects the white working class affects all of us, white, black, college educated or self employed, home healthcare aids and teachers and construction workers.
    We’re ALL getting screwed.
    What makes us different from the Trump voters is we haven’t abandoned our empathy for each other in an effort to frantically save ourselves.

    https://riverdaughter.wordpress.com

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:41 am

  21. Specialization has killed the game. There are about six basic skills in football: blocking, tackling, kicking, running with the ball, passing, catching the ball, and defending the pass. Most players are at best skilled in two. Want to reduce head injuries? Reduce the roster to 25 players and make players play both offense and defense. The 300 lb lineman will be obsolete as he tries to chase and tackle someone.

    Back a few years ago when the steelers beat the cardinals in the super bowl, when the game was on the line the best athlete in the stadium was firmly on the bench (Larry Fitzgerald) and no one thought that was strange. Even though he was the best athlete, he had no pass defense skills. The steelers ran the same play twice. Imagine LeBron sitting out the last 30 seconds of th deciding game.

    Baker Paul (97b046) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:45 am

  22. How many want to see Tom Brady and his Patriots eat astroturf?

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:45 am

  23. The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said he thinks “it’s very possible” that staff of GOP Committee Chair Devin Nunes “worked with the White House and coordinated the whole effort” to declassify and release a GOP memo alleging abuses of government surveillance powers at the FBI and Justice Department.
    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-congressman-coordinated-white-house-russia-memo-democratic/story?id=52818825

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:48 am

  24. Will Brady thank God when he loses?

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:49 am

  25. I’m thinking that was a deliberate decision. . .

    It was, Beldar. Frankly, I started hating on the NFL long before the league decided to humor the crybullies, and I didn’t want this post to be dismissed as “right wing guy dumps on NFL because of the kneeling protests.” Maybe down the road I will write a post titled “Why I Have Grown to Hate Reading Sports Illustrated,” and their obsession with social justice issues will feature prominently in that.

    JVW (42615e) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:52 am

  26. What a great post. The omission that displeased Beldar pleased me greatly; we got a very well written discussion of the problems with the game and not one mention of a hot-button issue relating to that thing between your thigh and calf.

    Patterico (a217ed) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:54 am

  27. C’mon. Like the kneeling didn’t inspire this magma to break surface.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:57 am

  28. As with many things I think the level of performance is,overrated, is Brady up there with staubach Montana unitas

    narciso (c6b0ae) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:59 am

  29. C’mon. Like the kneeling didn’t inspire this magma to break surface.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:57 am

    For many it did. Not for JVW. For some people there is a worldl that lies outside what people scream about on blogs and partisan TV.

    Patterico (a217ed) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:00 am

  30. Your Bach pieces qualify in that sense I must say but this is stealth Trump distraction..

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:06 am

  31. Even before the kneeling began, there was a sense that one race and a few regions were taking over the sport and to the extent it stabilizing interest and directed youth participation in baseball, noe lacrosse, soccer and even following the commonwealthers into cricket and rugby

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:08 am

  32. I noted that our host had omitted the kneeling controversy. I noted that such was his right, since it’s his list. I argued that the item he omitted was, for me, determinative, such that I didn’t need to bother with his list. That ain’t the same thing at all as saying JVW’s omission “displeased me.”

    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:13 am

  33. (I thought our host was sensitized already to the risks of such recapitulations, since he’s so often abused in others’ attempts to recapitulate.)

    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:13 am

  34. He sat up slowly and cleared his head. I asked him if he knew anything about the homeless camp — if he knew what happened to the men.
    “Yeah,” he said. “Teens driving by started shooting their guns at them, so they decided there had to be a safer place to live. Why do you ask?”
    We talked for a minute or two, about my editor’s idea and journalism in general. After a brief pause, he said, “You ought to do a story about me.”
    I’ve heard this line many times before, and many more since.
    “And why would I want to do that?” I said.
    “Because,” he said, “I’ve played in three Super Bowls.”

    http://www.nola.com/living/index.ssf/2018/02/jackie_wallace_ted_jackson.html

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:14 am

  35. The constant commercial interruptions are killing it, for me. Watching soccer and baseball, you get long, intense periods of uninterrupted play – the commercials take a backseat. With football, you watch more commercials than game.

    Leviticus (924d70) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:15 am

  36. The owners decided to support a fringe racist protest movement designed to methodically insult and annoy their fans. They further decided to vilify anyone who objects.

    Bear in mind that a significant proportion of those fans are black. Perhaps they don’t buy tickets to the game (I don’t think I saw a single non-white in that video of the Vikings fan entering the stadium), but blacks watch plenty of games on TV, buy plenty of team merchandise, etc etc. There are other factors at work. Some teams may play well away from the city, like New England, but the Dolphins play right in the middle of the urban glut of Miami–and their stadium is in Miami Gardens, which is almost exclusively a black middle class community (defining black middle class as “owning the home they live in”). I doubt they’re the only time that is so situated.

    I would suggest the league has decided it had to alienate one group of fans to avoid alienating the other, and puts its chips down where it saw its ultimate financial benefit lay. As for myself, I was not annoyed by the anthem protest, just saw it as silly. And since I don’t see those protests as being attacks on patriotism, I was more annoyed with Trump for attacking the protests as attacks on patriotism.

    I’ve never been much of a football fan (having the Dolphins as the local team merely means I pray that the local team gets eliminated from the playoff race as early as possible), and my NFL interest starts and ends with the team of my birthplace. If the Patriots were not in it I would have no interest in the Yawn Bowl. As it is, my interest is not enough to overcome to the fact that I have to get up really early for work tomorrow, so I need to go to bed early, so I won’t watch much, if anything of the game.

    kishnevi (bb03e6) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:15 am

  37. Easy, fellas. This thread has the potential for an actual good-faith discussion amongst friends. In this day and age, such a thing should be nourished like the first tender shoot that sprouts after a nuclear winter.

    Leviticus (924d70) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:17 am

  38. Another thing which has perhaps grown into a problem lately.
    Always was a problem with the Raiders. The blackout rule.

    If they don’t sell out the game a certain amount of days prior the local television coverage is swtched over to the Kansas City Chiefs game.

    Hate the Kansas City Chiefs. Prissy red uniforms.

    Boo! Different shirt Montana!

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:19 am

  39. The constant commercial interruptions are killing it, for me. Watching soccer and baseball, you get long, intense periods of uninterrupted play – the commercials take a backseat. With football, you watch more commercials than game.

    There’s also hockey, although the commercials can creep in there.
    Over the course of a hockey game, there’s almost as much tackling as in a football game. I would not be surprised if the CTE phenomenon starts showing up in the NHL.

    kishnevi (bb03e6) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:21 am

  40. See, this is a perfect example of why it’s bad when something – anything – becomes a monopoly. Sure, you have college football, but it’s not the same (better in some ways maybe, but not Pro Football). Luckily, you don’t have to watch it.

    Tillman (a95660) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:35 am

  41. The west coast offense, brought on by ridiculous rules changes, has killed the game much like the flex has for college football. It’s just a rougher version of basketball. All the offenses are the same, no character. It’s all cookie cutter.

    More passing brings on more injuries, penalties, replay reviews, clock stoppages — slows down the game, which used to finish well under 3 hours. I can’t sit through a game anymore.

    random viking (6a54c2) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:44 am

  42. Errata #32: I wrote, “our host had omitted the kneeling controversy.” That ought to have read, of course, that JVW had omitted it; I had indeed taken due note of the post’s authorship, and I accord all of our host’s co-bloggers the respect I accord him in choosing his own subjects.

    I’ll further note that had the original post suggested that its intent was only to discuss things other than the kneeling controversy, I’d have happily — not displeasedly — gone along with that, and simply would have omitted making any comment whatsoever.

    I don’t even disagree with JVW’s list, which I did read; I don’t have any current data to bring to bear on any of those questions, however, since I no longer watch the NFL.

    When someone or something displeases me, or when I actively dispute it, I believe I’m very capable of making that clear. I’m grateful to have that privilege here so long as I continue to do so respectfully. But it always grates on me to have someone paraphrase what I’ve written and to do so in a way that isn’t supported by what I’ve actually written, and is indeed contrary to my beliefs. I think our host, and probably his co-bloggers, are likewise annoyed when that happens, and I encourage all of us who try to carry on civil conversations and debate to be sensitive to the perils of paraphrasing.

    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:50 am

  43. I’m caught on the horns of a dilemma, the game has become stale, overly officiated, and loaded down with commercials, yet the familiar and long established rituals, although diminished, still call out for attention.

    I have faithfully observed the sacred rituals from a time before there was an AFL. But, this year I’ve skipped games and turned the TV off as often as watching to conclusion.

    Part of the reason is kneeling players and cowardly team owners allowed a powerful and inappropriate distraction to take root and stigmatize enjoyment of the game. By overt displays of disrespect for the National Anthem ostensibly to draw attention to Black racial grievances (or to one poor player’s ego) the owners and ‘take a knee’ players are bitting the hands that feed them.

    At a time when it’s product is losing support across the board, the NFL has seriously offended it’s core audience, and seems oblivious to the law of cause and effect.

    So, yes I’ll be watching the Super Bowl and I expect Tom Brady to win it for the Pats.

    ropelight (6e223e) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:54 am

  44. You’re rather thin-skinned for a lawyer beldar.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:55 am

  45. Bear in mind that a significant proportion of those fans are black.


    No, bear in mind an overwhelming majority of those fans are not black, especially those who actually buy tickets.

    I would suggest the league has decided it had to alienate one group of fans to avoid alienating the other, and puts its chips down where it saw its ultimate financial benefit lay.


    You are suggesting that alienating patriots and/or white people makes more financial sense than alienating anti American racists? Boy, this country really has turned to crap.

    I was not annoyed by the anthem protest, just saw it as silly. And since I don’t see those protests as being attacks on patriotism, I was more annoyed with Trump for attacking the protests as attacks on patriotism.


    You weren’t annoyed by the anthem protest? Perhaps only “ignorant bigots” like myself who slugged their way through a jungle, shot scores of people, were themselves wounded and watched their friends get killed may disagree with your opinion of what is proper when our anthem plays an what is a proper display of patriotism. Perhaps you also fail to understand that as black people they were “dissing” America by kneeling and you don’t “see those protests as being attacks on patriotism”, but they damn sure were. So your annoyance with Trump is well understood. He was standing for the belief that America and what we stand for should not be dissed. Especially by a group of privileged over-paid criminals posing as America’s conscience for attention. Footballers are hired to play a game and entertain the audience not be the self appointed conscience of the Black Lives Matter radicals at our expense, in our arena, paid for with our money. As a decorated veteran I am insulted that any real American would stand with a group of racists over the proper respect for the symbols of our country.

    You know Kishnevi, it’s a gradual process, the systematic corruption of the Republic by “progressives”…much akin to the proverbial boiling of a frog by starting with warm water at first. And people who think like you are the cooks.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:57 am

  46. But a majority of players are black angling for a place in the Roman Circus and Hoagie gives them a thumbs-down.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:04 am

  47. Gladiators are not Roman citizens so death is a victory for freedomloving slaves.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:05 am

  48. “Hate”? Really?

    Lol at leaving out the kneelers. All my friends who boycotted the NFL this season (a few) did it because of the protests and nothing else.

    Some of us understand that the entire anthem kneeling/BLM/woke nonsense is political agitprop performed by useful idiots to distract people from thinking about the very real cultural pathologies in the black community and the failed democratic policies which either created them or made them much worse. And to add insult to injury, the “epidemic” of police violence against unarmed blacks is a fraud.

    https://www.city-journal.org/html/hard-data-hollow-protests-15458.html

    “Four studies came out in 2016 alone rebutting the charge that police shootings are racially biased. If there is a bias in police shootings, it works in favor of blacks and against whites. That truth has not stopped the ongoing demonization of the police—including, now, by many of the country’s ignorant professional athletes. The toll will be felt, as always, in the inner city, by the thousands of law-abiding people there who desperately want more police protection.”

    As to “HATE” – really? Hate is so destructive and there is way too much going around these days. Maybe pump the brakes a bit.

    Applying this logic on hating the game because of how the league is run is the same as saying you hate the USA because of the government.

    IOW – Don’t hate the NFL, good points in the post but I will watch today not rooting for either side, just hoping for some great football. There are good, talented people involved trying to reach excellence – might be worth watching…..and if it’s a blowout, it’s only a few months till they start all over.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:09 am

  49. Sports only make sense when divorced from the real world. Allowing protests to get injected just reminds people how ridiculous it is to set aside 3+ hours for a meaningless game. Goodell is too stupid to understand, and the owners are even more stupid for renewing his contract.

    random viking (6a54c2) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:20 am

  50. So what does that have to do, with the game, I don’t begrudge them their remuneration, but one didn’t go to the coliseum to be reminded of the tool to use a metaphor.

    It’s is,an alinskyite exercise to rub raw the source of their discontent.

    narciso (c6b0ae) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:21 am

  51. Jackie Wallace played against Terry Bradshaw in Superbowl 1979.
    Cornerback. Kick returner.
    Wallace rode the bench in the big game and after the loss cussed the coach for not playing him.

    Got released the next season.

    I remember that year. The Rams were a mediocre team that hit a lucky streak to get in the playoffs then run the table to get into the big game.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:22 am

  52. The Rams were a dropped Nolan Cromwell interception away from winning that game.

    random viking (6a54c2) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:28 am

  53. Luck ran out. Here’s a recap.

    Super Bowl XiV Pittsburg versus the L. A. Rams (22:04)

    Remember when football had cheerleaders? Fluffing their pompoms on the thirty yard line?

    I miss that.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:37 am

  54. That game was used in a clever attempt to free the American hostages in Iran.

    random viking (6a54c2) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:44 am

  55. A couple days ago they were making a stink that if the Vikings were to beat Philadelphia they would have a home field advantage in the SB – first time this had ever happened the sports reporters claimed.

    Pasadena Rose Bowl hosting the Rams doesn’t count?

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:45 am

  56. Most still do, but the family owned franchises (Bears, Giants, Steelers) are the last holdouts, with the Packers, Lions, Jets,and Browns only getting squads intbe past decade.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:46 am

  57. Or for that matter SB XIX, Niners v. Dolphins at Stanford Stadium.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:47 am

  58. I,too, watch less football. Tell me, what is a catch? I used to know, now I do not. Also teams are not allowed to practice as much as they used to. It shows in the poor quality of games, increased penalties,etc. Add to that the fact that the Bears are owned by a 95 year old woman who has as much business owning an NFL franchise as I do doing brain surgery, well you get the picture.

    Ipso Fatso (63b6e2) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:54 am

  59. Natch, CFO Ted Phillips now and the Smithers-like son Mike McCaskey back in the day muck things up for the Bears.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:56 am

  60. Pasadena Rose Bowl hosting the Rams doesn’t count?

    Not as a home field, IOW where they play regular season games.

    Same as Niners playing the Dolphins at Stanford.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:56 am

  61. “The Rams were a dropped Nolan Cromwell interception away from winning that game.”

    Rams has the lead at the end of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarter, to say it was luck is not to know the game at all.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:58 am

  62. Urban, ain’t it the truth!

    Ipso Fatso (63b6e2) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:59 am

  63. Perhaps a bears rescue is the best thing Rauner could do (he owns a farthing share in the Steelers currently). His primary opponent went full Oberweis.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 10:00 am

  64. I,too, watch less football. Tell me, what is a catch? I used to know, now I do not.

    Yeah, that’s a great point. When replay review started in the NFL all those years ago, I remember my father telling me that it would ruin the game because referees would start being very tentative in their calls, afraid of being overruled. Not only has that come to pass, but the inability to let the referees use their judgement (wrong though it may often be) has led the NFL rule book to expand so that every possible occurrence on the field is anticipated and legislated. For a league that is supposedly so right-wing and unaccountable, it’s as if their rulebook was written by the American Trial Lawyers Association.

    JVW (42615e) — 2/4/2018 @ 10:31 am

  65. Rams were beaten like an Indian drum by the Buccaneers and Cowboys during the regular season, and still needed a super hero game from the Raiders to get clear of the 8-8 N.O. Saints.
    Insanely lucky.

    Rams used the Colosseum as home field in 1979 – Last year that they did that.

    [looks around]

    Only one thing left on the to do list. Ball spike. [YouTube]

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 10:37 am

  66. Its not a coincidence Goodell is a preening potentate, whose father didn’t last two years in rfks former seat.

    narciso (511c19) — 2/4/2018 @ 10:38 am

  67. The west coast offense, brought on by ridiculous rules changes, has killed the game

    Yeah, I dunno.

    Those Namath-era teams JVW is nostalgic for probably ran about 1/5 as many different plays and formations as today’s do, and relied a lot more on “three yards and a cloud of dust”.

    Dave (445e97) — 2/4/2018 @ 10:40 am

  68. Those Namath-era teams JVW is nostalgic for probably ran about 1/5 as many different plays and formations as today’s do, and relied a lot more on “three yards and a cloud of dust”.

    OK, let’s take that as a given. My point is that I would rather watch the Packer Sweep, a very basic play that depended entirely upon each man executing his assignment flawlessly, than watch a series of five-yard slant passes run from a myriad of formations that succeed largely because defensive players can no longer jostle wide receivers at the line of scrimmage without risking a holding penalty and offensive players have perfected getting away with illegal picks. But the NFL wants more 34-31 scores than 17-14 scores because scoring appeals to the fantasy fan and the ADHD generation, so matriculating the ball down the field via short passes is the way things go these days. If that’s the style of football you like then you’re welcome to it. I’ll watch something else.

    JVW (42615e) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:06 am

  69. When teams line up in the shotgun on a 3rd and 1, as is common, the league has jumped the shark.

    random viking (6a54c2) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:23 am

  70. I was a big fan of the NFL growing up. The Cowboys were my team until Jerry Jones bought them, and then I boycotted them the same way I boycotted GM after Obama nationalized it. (I don’t like it when anyone messes with my traditions.) But I still appreciated the NFL teams — the freewheeling West Coast offenses, the great Steeler, Viking and Packer defenses, the excitement provided by great quarterbacks like Elway and Marino (just two of many), and the way different teams came together to win memorable games.

    But I survived my NFL addiction and now I have college football. Go Horns. Go Horned Frogs.

    DRJ (15874d) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:29 am

  71. Ok you great Bears fans out there: What is the over/under on the number of times they will mention the name Moses Moreno on the broadcast tonight?

    Ipso Fatso (63b6e2) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:35 am

  72. Cade McNown…Will Furrer…Craig Krenzel…Todd Collins FTW. Otherwise I don’t bite, is he an assistant for either team now? Tangentially, people are selling Brian Flores as the ugliest Croatian’ s successor as Pats HC.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:42 am

  73. Actually, that speaks well of the Croatian people.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:45 am

  74. I will call your Will Furer and raise you Henry Burris!

    Ipso Fatso (63b6e2) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:48 am

  75. “Rams were beaten like an Indian drum by the Buccaneers and Cowboys during the regular season”

    Rams beat the pokes in Dallas and shut out the Bucs in the playoffs.

    Good teams know when to peak.

    Penalty for spiking when no score involved.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:57 am

  76. Btw – agree on Fantasy Football being distracting as well as tedious. Stopped playing FF in 1991.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:59 am

  77. Haven’t done fantasy nothing since being in a dorm mate’s baseball league in 92, 93 and 94. Haven’t ridden a bike since 1997.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 12:04 pm

  78. What is the over/under on the number of times they will mention the name Moses Moreno on the broadcast tonight?

    A great Colorado State University Ram!

    JVW (42615e) — 2/4/2018 @ 12:08 pm

  79. The brother Zeke was a USC Trojan linebacker. Bishop Amat, Bosco, and those 605 towns from the crazy teacher post aside, still are unicorns at the next level.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 12:11 pm

  80. When teams line up in the shotgun on a 3rd and 1, as is common, the league has jumped the shark.

    Yes to this sentiment one thousand times!

    JVW (42615e) — 2/4/2018 @ 12:13 pm

  81. Four hours of crass, costly commercials interrupted by a football game.

    Like buyin’ Playboy for the articles.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 12:34 pm

  82. Lyrics from “Dreams and Nightmares (all I know is murder)’ by Meek Mill, the song the Eagles have chosen to be played when they take the field:

    “These nig**s tryna take my life, they f**k around and get killed…

    All I know is murder, when it come to me

    I got young nig**s that’s rollin’, I got nig**s throwin’ B’s

    I done did the DOA’s,”

    Because Black Lives Matter, right?

    Meek Mill will not be attending, he’s in the slammer.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/02/all_i_know_is_murder.html

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:01 pm

  83. I noted that our host had omitted the kneeling controversy. I noted that such was his right, since it’s his list. I argued that the item he omitted was, for me, determinative, such that I didn’t need to bother with his list. That ain’t the same thing at all as saying JVW’s omission “displeased me.”

    My apologies for failing to note the distinction. I retract what I said. I promise it was not intentional.

    Patterico (115b1f) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:06 pm

  84. Meh. The take-a-knee crap is just the distracting flavor of the month. The military flyovers have injected ‘politics’ into these games before the damn kickoff. For any true budget hawks it’s an expensive waste.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:28 pm

  85. Penalty for spiking when no score involved.

    blue and yellow laundry fans.

    They’re doing a Doug Williams bio on the pregame now.

    He’s that backup that led the Redskins to the Superbowl. Beat snot out of John Elway and the Broncos.

    I guess I’ve always been against blue and yellow laundry.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:39 pm

  86. He wasn’t a run first guy by any means, his getting hurt in the NFL championship in 79 was also part of Ram good luck.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:43 pm

  87. Still more wokeness:

    “Kaepernick raises $20K in celebrity donations for group honoring convicted cop-killer”

    “A “direct action” advocacy group, Assata’s Daughters drew its name from Assata Shakur, formerly Joanne Chesimard, a Black Liberation Army member convicted in the 1977 shooting death of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster.

    After escaping from prison in 1979, she fled to Cuba and was granted asylum. The FBI has placed her on its “most wanted terrorists” list.”

    http://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/4/colin-kaepernick-raises-20000-assatas-daughters/?__twitter_impression=true

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:47 pm

  88. Lol at a military flyover being political……..but then if one party hates the military a la the El Rancho teacher that might be right.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:49 pm

  89. Super Bowl XXII Washington 42 Denver 10 [22:03]

    Worth a look back. Williams actually got better after hyperextending his knee, because it settled him down. He had to plant and throw. Improved his accuracy. Watch. You’ll see.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 1:50 pm

  90. 88.Lol at a military flyover being political…

    Yes, it is quite a joke at that — ’til you get the fuel bill.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 2:20 pm

  91. Always dig out an old tape of Super Bowl XIV from January, 1980 on Super Bowl, watch the Steelers crush the LA Rams and bruise brain tissue. Steel Curtain is a tad rusty these days.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 2:28 pm

  92. Steel Curtain is a tad rusty these days.

    And Mike Webster ended up homeless on the streets suffering from CTE until he died at age 50.

    JVW (42615e) — 2/4/2018 @ 2:32 pm

  93. Football is getting it from all sides.

    Strangely enough I think the sport would be safer if they went no pads = no helmets.

    Or maybe they could just pick a team of nerds and have a brisk game of Madden.
    No hurt except their feelings.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 2:52 pm

  94. Some radio dj said that he did an internet search for Superbowl and it auto corrected to superb owl. I didn’t get the joke at the time. Or was it?

    jcurtis (0ab7fc) — 2/4/2018 @ 2:52 pm

  95. @92. Yeah. As a Pghburger by birth, we’re required to eat only Heinz products and back the Steelers, JVW. The Webster story is tragic beyond words but it opened the door to the realities of a problem that has to be addressed which the NFL simply will not do. Back in the day my late grandfather was good friends w/Art Rooney, Sr.– in the era when Pgh as a steel town and not a ‘city.’

    My late father would tell us that Rooney would give my grandfather tickets to the Steeler games- when they’d play in Pitt Stadium, because nobody would go to watch them. Once the leagues merged and the marketing machine ramped up and the Super Bowl crated, the beast was loose. The tickets got hotter and when Three Rivers Stadium was being built, Rooney told my grandfather to go down and pick his seats for season tickets. Chose around the 40 yard line, lower deck, under the overhang to protect from the weather and most importantly, near a Men’s Room. Had them in the family for nearly 40 years and the Noll/Bradshaw era was tops. I’d go to games while in college and fly from NY to Pgh to watch Cleveland/Steeler games back in the early 80s… Rooney was not keen on the cheerleader crap Dallas hyped, either, so in his time, no dancing girls on the field.

    But the marketing machinery, life-damaging injuries and the problems policing players has gotten out of control and the business side won’t address it only because of the fiscal liabilities involved. The league really needs a good house cleaning and a management overhaul. TV fans have a lot of power in their hands– like using the remote control.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 2:54 pm

  96. Strangely enough I think the sport would be safer if they went no pads = no helmets.

    Some of the older retired players — Dick Butkus comes to mind — suggested several years back that the facemasks be removed from helmets. That is how they grew up playing the game, and according to them you learn not to tackle head first if it means potentially getting your nose broken. It’s not a bad idea at all, so naturally it will go nowhere, but it might be interesting if a pee-wee league tried it out as an experiment. Of course all it takes is one little mama’s darling to get his nose broken and so ends that experiment.

    JVW (42615e) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:05 pm

  97. @96. Leather helmets…

    Out in the garage, still have an old dice ‘board game’ from the 1930s which was a treasure to my father that used map pins and pencils to mark off the game on a gridiron page called ‘Pigskin.’ He was still playing it in the early ’70s.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:13 pm

  98. 93.Football is getting it from all sides.

    They’re losing a generation or two for sure. My 20-something niece and nephew have zero interest in anything NFL; they play, watch and enjoy soccer and follow the chase for the World Cup, not the Lombardi Trophy.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:19 pm

  99. “To honor America…” kick the wife beaters and assorted criminals out of your league, admit your product causes brain damage and pay for your own stadiums.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:21 pm

  100. Signing the star spangled banner {i hope} – peak touchie feelie reached.

    I don’t think you can get more pc.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:25 pm

  101. MoH recipients now NFL props.

    A new low.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:26 pm

  102. Thats a mutually beneficial transaction. Pose for a picture and you’ll get a good seat.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:49 pm

  103. @102. Seat???? Seat?????? Those are for the suckers. Think Skybox.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:54 pm

  104. Those famed Dallas cowboy cheerleaders are only the 3rd best looking squad in their own division (Eaglettes or whatever looking good and the Redskins kill it when they wear the gold bikinis).

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:54 pm

  105. That incoherent solo trailer makes you go hmm, but they were able to splice things together.

    narciso (d1f714) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:58 pm

  106. starwars is gay and played-out like anderson cooper

    nobody even likes starwars anymore

    happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/4/2018 @ 3:59 pm

  107. They are killing franchises and wearing their skins dc comics transformers and lastly starwars marvel is the holdout, dont screw it up

    narciso (d1f714) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:02 pm

  108. I’ve got the Pats at even money. One sure way for the Eagles win is to rush Brady, knock him down, and keep on doing it, play after play.

    Otherwise, it’s Brady vs the Eagles secondary, and I’ll take the league MVP in that match up every time.

    ropelight (25f0b1) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:10 pm

  109. World Without Love World With Robots

    Please lock them away
    And don’t allow the day
    They’re inside where they’ll spy
    With their processors

    I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
    In a world with robots

    Songs use autotune
    But robots never croon
    They won’t stray, here they’ll stay
    With their processors

    I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
    In a world with robots

    So just wait and you will see
    What they say will be, will be
    Day will come, I know not when
    When it does, we lose
    So people until then

    Lock them away
    And don’t allow the day
    sanctioned kills, steal your pills
    Those damn processors

    I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
    In a world with robots

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:13 pm

  110. “Yes, it is quite a joke at that — ’til you get the fuel bill.”

    Pilots are required to fly so many hours, the fuel doesn’t know if it’s for a routine flight or a stadium flyover.

    Smh

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:13 pm

  111. Doink. Hit the upright.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:13 pm

  112. Enjoy Justin’s final Super Bowl performance; Timberlake said at his presser he’d prefer his kids not play football.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:14 pm

  113. The Bud Light Knight looks like Boba, sounds like Driver/Ren.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:19 pm

  114. Sucky commercials
    How many suckers in attendance?

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:22 pm

  115. got yer beer here, just 40 bucks

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:23 pm

  116. Brady disgusted with himself – had open run to EZ there if he’d caught it.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:25 pm

  117. Pilots are required to fly so many hours…

    But not over football games.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:25 pm

  118. Does every damn commercial have be hip hop?

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:26 pm

  119. Interesting piece on the news a few days ago about how the NFL shoulder pads and ball have chips embedded in them to record speed and acceleration data. When asked if the helmets had chips to record impact data for study, the company involved said the NFL didn’t ask for them.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:30 pm

  120. @118. Haiku’s hangin’ in for that Afro-Sheen spot.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:31 pm

  121. I can only hope Philly wins

    15-3 is a good start

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:32 pm

  122. 120, it ain’t an episode of Soul Train

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:33 pm

  123. That would be one in a row for Philly, if they win huh?

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:35 pm

  124. “But not over football games”

    If they are logging hours, it doesn’t matter where they fly.

    But even though your complaint is nonsense, I think you may have hit on a 2018 Dem slogan:

    NO MILITARY FLIGHTS OVER SPORTING EVENTS, EVER!!

    Those are the sort of things that got Trump elected.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/372101-gop-growing-optimistic-about-midterm-chances

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:35 pm

  125. Eagles getting good pressure on Brady.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:38 pm

  126. 30seconds of blank screen. Someone lost their $$$ ad.

    felipe (023cc9) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:43 pm

  127. Drawing inspiration from the Blue Eagle insignia of the National Recovery Administration—the centerpiece of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal[11]— Bert Bell and Lud Wray purchased the franchise rights of the failed Yellow Jackets organization named the new franchise the Philadelphia Eagles.

    Figured as much.

    I hate the Eagles, man. [YouTube]

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:43 pm

  128. I noticed that,

    narciso (d1f714) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:44 pm

  129. Just kidding @ 127.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:46 pm

  130. Keanu tempting nitwits coast to coast to pull an Indian Larry……

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:46 pm

  131. Actually a good game, except the crazy kicking. The Keanu stunt was amazing.

    DRJ (15874d) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:58 pm

  132. Yes, good game but not exactly a tackling clinic.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:00 pm

  133. The Eagles are playing solid ball. Patriots are a little wobbly.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:01 pm

  134. Holy cr*p, what a ballsy call.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:04 pm

  135. The score made me think of the album this song is on: http://youtu.be/-ZUOG2EHh-o

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:06 pm

  136. Oops 22-12, but the kicks aren’t necessarily falling in.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:09 pm

  137. Where was the disclaimer, Reeves? Don’t try this at home. My wife thought that commercial started with Will Ferrell and ended with Keanu. No more margaritas for her!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:13 pm

  138. 2nd half is Patriot Miracle time…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:14 pm

  139. 30seconds of blank screen. Someone lost their $$$ ad.

    felipe (023cc9) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:43 pm

    That was AmVets, felipe.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:15 pm

  140. Toyota flirted with a fatwa, but their truck commercial ended as standard PC.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:18 pm

  141. I have a total programming conflict. Phineas and Ferb marathon on Disney HD; Minions followed by Despicable Me 2 on FX; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on HBO. I’m going with Minions for the time being.

    nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:23 pm

  142. Couldnt get into phineas and Ferb dint have Disney CD either

    narciso (d1f714) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:25 pm

  143. Phineas and Fern represents “old” Southern California to me.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:26 pm

  144. Let’s see your stupid Tom Brady take a live grenade away from a baby.

    nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:27 pm

  145. Nice touch working the traditional marching band into the half time show.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:27 pm

  146. JT faked the haters out and did the Prince hologram anyway!

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:30 pm

  147. “Phineas and Ferb marathon on Disney HD; Minions followed by Despicable Me 2 on FX; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on HBO”

    Black Narcissus on TCM

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:31 pm

  148. I’m blown away by the logistics of setting up that stuff in the space of a pepsi commercial and a couple PSA’s.

    I think just watching them roll all that crap out would be entertaining, in a How It’s Made kind of way.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:36 pm

  149. I like both Deborah Kerr and Jean Simmons but Scarlet Overkill … ah!

    nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:37 pm

  150. If they are logging hours, it doesn’t matter where they fly.

    ROFLMAO Uh-huh. Request a flyover for your b/d. Then wait for the laughter to die down.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:37 pm

  151. 148, I dunno in this particular instance, that’s probably a lot of “skinnies” pulling carts and light strings. Might freak me out.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:41 pm

  152. Memo To: Dodge
    Subject: Super Bowl spots

    February 5, 1971:

    RAM tough.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZZe-xXx9_o

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:41 pm

  153. I ‘ve lived most of my life in the shadow of Air Force Bases. We get flybys all the time.
    Scheduling one might be a problem.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:42 pm

  154. “Head injury” is the new “concussion” in NFL-speak.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:44 pm

  155. Not the same thing in the case of Jeff Alm and Fred Washington and it cost them.

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:46 pm

  156. Gronk spike. Drink!

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:46 pm

  157. 126.30seconds of blank screen. Someone lost their $$$ ad.

    You saw that too— wasn’t there buzz about one of the sponsors planning to air an ad to only one person or such?

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:46 pm

  158. The owners decided to support a fringe racist protest movement designed to methodically insult and annoy their fans. They further decided to vilify anyone who objects.

    Actually Beldar, my annoyance at the NFL in the person of the Chargers began well before Kapernick. The kneeling BS insult to us was just the cherry on that s**t sandwich. Adding salt to the still raw wound, my brother tells me that the Chargers asked the city if they could return. San Diego reportedly said “Not just no, but F*** NO!” I don’t need the Chargers here, especially if they’re going to put up still more effort to get us to buy them a shiny new, bespoke stadium at zero cost to the team.

    I’ll tell you something: if they do manage to return, it had damn well better be with hat in hand, and the first words out of Dean Spanos’ mouth had better be “I’m sorry”.

    Bill H (383c5d) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:48 pm

  159. Who is winning the Puppy Bowl?

    Ipso Fatso (3342c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:54 pm

  160. Meek Mill will not be attending, he’s in the slammer.

    For pretending to be a musician, I presume.

    I have always felt rap has no claim to be called music. I am sure eventually black performers will discover this thing called melody. Until then….

    I am not watching the game, so to speak, just checking the score from time to time. I did catch one ad, the Dodge Viking saga. I thought it was cute. Production schedules being what they are, there must have been a version prepared for Vikings going to the SB. Would like to see that.

    Kishnevi (b7169d) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:58 pm

  161. I don’t need the Chargers here, especially if they’re going to put up still more effort to get us to buy them a shiny new, bespoke stadium at zero cost to the team.

    Ain’t that the truth. And the extra point in the groin is the very taxpayers they wanted to finance it can’t afford to buy tickets to see the games played in it anyway. Hell, a few years go the local SD TV affiliates got so fed up w/losing $ on buyouts to fulfill league telecast requirements they just went to the blackouts.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:59 pm

  162. 22 – 19 Eagles pending review on a touchdown catch

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:01 pm

  163. 157.

    Yes. Some YouTube personality whom I (being a 59 year old unwoke white male) have never heard of. But I think that reaction was supposed to be shown to the rest of us.

    Kishnevi (b7169d) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:02 pm

  164. “ROFLMAO Uh-huh. Request a flyover for your b/d. Then wait for the laughter to die down.”

    When your logic hits bottom you bust out a shovel, not a good tactic. You declared that military flyovers “injected politics”, lol. Own it.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:03 pm

  165. You declared that military flyovers “injected politics”, lol.

    They do.

    Own it.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:05 pm

  166. And there it is – a bobbled ball with only one foot inbounds is declared a TD.

    Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:05 pm

  167. the most of him was inbounds/

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:08 pm

  168. Wtf… Steven Tyler has been draining the blood from a 13 year old boy he has locked away and he’s been injecting it, along with Botox?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:08 pm

  169. Missed the Timberlake show; did the next best thing; took the trash out to the curb for Monday pick-up.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:09 pm

  170. Pilots are required to fly so many hours, the fuel doesn’t know if it’s for a routine flight or a stadium flyover.

    Smh

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:13 pm

    So, am I the first one to make a Black Hawk Down reference tonight?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:10 pm

  171. Chris C says he doesn’t understand that rule any more.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:10 pm

  172. Trump had the FAU marching band for his Maralago party. Local school, but if he had the true impresario touch he’d have asked the Fl A&M Rattlers to put on a real show.

    (And if they refused because he’s the R word, Trump could score points that way.)

    Kishnevi (b7169d) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:12 pm

  173. Sweeeeeeet!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:12 pm

  174. Enjoy Justin’s final Super Bowl performance; Timberlake said at his presser he’d prefer his kids not play football.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:14 pm

    They can sing, dance and punch women in the face. I wonder if his kid’s were confused nursing over the pasties.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:13 pm

  175. It’s a Skittles ad livestreamed only to some kid in California with a Hispanic name. I don’t know why I needed to know that.

    nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:15 pm

  176. Ron Silver Our Planes Now

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:16 pm

  177. My #2 son is a JT fan. I’ve not much interest in newer artists – though teh Black Keys are damn good – but that was pretty slick

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:17 pm

  178. Col H
    I think Tyler is competing with Richards and Jagger for “most decrepit rock star”.

    Kishnevi (b7169d) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:17 pm

  179. Already a SB yardage record and it’s not the 4th quarter yet….

    As I said. Not a tackling clinic tonight.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:20 pm

  180. Uh – that was more awkward than Eli & Peyton licking Oreos…..

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:22 pm

  181. Lol, Kishnevi…

    “You’re wrecked out now
    Washed-up high up on the beach
    Well now, look at your face now, baby
    Look at you and look at me”

    —- Mick Jagger, “Black Limousine”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:23 pm

  182. 175, at least it’s better than that one with the pasty dork couple. Don’t get into that “lean” drink crap like Trayvon, paisa!

    urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:24 pm

  183. But in his defense, Keith Richards cannot he killed with conventional weapons.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:24 pm

  184. Black Narcissus on TCM

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:31 pm

    I thought he was back home in DC tonight.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:28 pm

  185. WTF #2… Joe Perry!?!?!?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:29 pm

  186. I think just watching them roll all that crap out would be entertaining, in a How It’s Made kind of way.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:36 pm

    Have you seen the ball field in AZ that rolls outside?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:29 pm

  187. 184 – lol

    The BN I’m talking about is intelligent and the opposite of both ‘superficial’ and ‘overrated’. Kind of like the opposite end of the spectrum.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:31 pm

  188. Joe Perry is a republican.

    You know I read Steven Tyler left a nearly completed album in a taxi cab.

    Hey have you seen the Jackass Baby Prank?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:32 pm

  189. BTW, I think this business about trademarking “S–B—” is the stupidest thing the NFL has done in a while. Even more stupid than Deflategate.

    Kishnevi (b7169d) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:32 pm

  190. Eagles better start going for turnovers cause they can’t cover.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:35 pm

  191. Gronk spike. Drink!

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:35 pm

  192. They never hit on all 12 cylinders until crunchtime

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:36 pm

  193. Turns out University of Phoenix is a real place

    Ball Field

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:37 pm

  194. “BTW, I think this business about trademarking “S–B—” is the stupidest thing the NFL has done in a while. Even more stupid than Deflategate.”

    It’s about the $$$, just like the King family renting Martin’s likeness and words to push Dodge Ram.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:38 pm

  195. I ‘ve lived most of my life in the shadow of Air Force Bases. We get flybys all the time.
    Scheduling one might be a problem.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:42 pm

    You didn’t watch Apocalypto? It’s not about scheduling the, uh, passover. It’s timing your event to the other one.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:41 pm

  196. My farm in the Great Basin is near restricted air space for a nearby AFB – the walls of the gym of the local high school are cracked from sonic booms.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:54 pm

  197. Harkin,I thought they were objecting to use of King’s words for a commercial, which I can sympathize with.

    But if they were just complaining about feed I have no sympathy.

    BTW seen on Twitter, a BLMer boycotting the SB out of sympathy with Kaepernick.

    Kishnevi (b7169d) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:56 pm

  198. They also send a few fighters every 4th of July to do a flyover of the annual local parade. Every time we’re there on the 4th we head out to the high spot and they pass right over one minute before 9am.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 6:58 pm

  199. They just want to screw with us:

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-immigration-bill-would-omit-trumps-more-contentious-proposals-1517785320

    narciso (d1f714) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:00 pm

  200. Did anyone notice the A-10 Warthogs in the flyover formation? Air Force brass wants to replace the venerable ground attack plane, but over the battlefield – hands down it’s the answer an infantry soldier’s prayer.

    ropelight (25f0b1) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:03 pm

  201. Damn it!

    I have a dream, too. A pristine 2003 Ram V10.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:05 pm

  202. every once in a while a U-2 spy plane will fly over. Sort of like having a pterodactyl pop out of cloud.

    Gary Powers waving hello.

    Who is winning that puppy bowl?

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:07 pm

  203. For pretending to be a musician, I presume.

    I have always felt rap has no claim to be called music. I am sure eventually black performers will discover this thing called melody. Until then….

    Kishnevi (b7169d) — 2/4/2018 @ 5:58 pm

    Putting together The Sunflowers puzzle doesn’t make you Van Gogh but it can be fun and there could be a small amount of art in it. Taking 200 different puzzles and fitting some of the pieces together into an original puzzle is a little more like using samples.

    The problem I have is a lot of the monotonous drum parts. I suppose the initial beat might be creative but they run it into the ground.

    It’s Tricky

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:08 pm

  204. “I thought they were objecting to use of King’s words for a commercial, which I can sympathize with.”

    Well of course the perpetually-offended crowd is upset but the family cleared it and sent an invoice.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:09 pm

  205. every once in a while a U-2 spy plane will fly over. Sort of like having a pterodactyl pop out of cloud.

    Gary Powers waving hello.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:07 pm

    It’s like the Nic Cage movie. Go back in time and be born on the same day a flyover is happening then wait patiently for forty years and blow DCSCA’s mind.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:11 pm

  206. What about Ford’s King’s Ranch or King Cab?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:13 pm

  207. Congrats EAGLES!

    Philadelphia, hide de womenfolk!

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:18 pm

  208. Probably Brady’s best performance in a Super Bowl, and they can’t get over.

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:19 pm

  209. Cheesesteaks tonight, scrapple at dawn, Philly smear on the bagels! Well done Eagles!

    “Brady! Brady! Brady!” – Henry Drummond [Spencer Tracy] ‘Inherit The Wind’ 1960

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:25 pm

  210. Stabler would have beat em.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:34 pm

  211. Plunkett

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:36 pm

  212. The Eagles are off the schnied.

    papertiger (c8116c) — 2/4/2018 @ 7:37 pm

  213. Pretty good meme on Reddit

    Patriots won 306-232.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:27 pm

  214. Maybe she is a Quaker Indian:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/elizabethforma/status/960290364132397056

    narciso (d1f714) — 2/4/2018 @ 8:59 pm

  215. Stephen Miller
    @redsteeze
    Maybe figure out what a catch is or is not before tackling criminal justice reform, NFL

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:04 pm

  216. 214 – nice link.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVOkFj5VwAAHcvd?format=jpg

    harkin (8256c3) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:09 pm

  217. Mr Kishnevi

    I was thinking about what you said about music and I had some thoughts.

    Some people build songs and some people craft songs. Just to keep it simple.

    You can “build” a bookshelf from Ikea. You can build a bookshelf out of 1×8’s on cinder blocks. You can use joinery on dimensional lumber to both build and craft a bookshelf. You can cut, dry and stack the wood and joint, plane and saw it and craft an incredible bookshelf.

    TBH the Ikea bookshelf is more like karaoke. You just show up and eat some meatballs.

    I had this sort of philosophy book on guitar that I kick myself for giving away. I remember this one exercise though. Don’t say to yourself I can only play x on one string. Say, what can I play on only one string? How much can I play on only one string?

    So every once and a while I ask, what can I do with beats and samples? And I go from there.

    But I still try to excel at the craft part. The melody, the harmony, all the moving parts.

    Honestly, most hip hop is just contractors with subs if you know what I mean.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 2/4/2018 @ 9:18 pm

  218. I couldn’t agree more.

    yooying (71d714) — 2/4/2018 @ 11:06 pm

  219. I don’t understand yooying but I’m trying to keep an open mind.

    Pinandpuller (5d4d5e) — 2/5/2018 @ 12:34 am

  220. I discovered these guys on a pawn shop iPod.

    If you like a cross betsween KISS and Modest Mouse you might like Bang Camaro

    Push Push (Lady Lightning)

    Pinandpuller (5d4d5e) — 2/5/2018 @ 2:14 am


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1477 secs.