American football stinks. In fact, I am so sick of it, I have made a decision for the upcoming NFL season. (Actually, it applies to college football, too, but I never have cared about the NCAA season.) The decision: I will not be watching any football this year. I will not purposely watch any American football on Sundays or any other day of the week. Sure, I will continue to watch SportsCenter for baseball (and eventually basketball) highlights, scores, and stats, and I'm sure football highlights will be front and center. But where I can control it, I will be purposely missing the whole shooting match of the NFL. You may ask, "But I thought you played fantasy football & a pick-em pool with your Dad?" Well, that's true and I still will, but I will be doing it from a statistical standpoint only - and who knows, that may prove to be a better method. You may also ask, "So why would you boycott the great American sport, the most popular game in the US?" Well, here is your answer:
I have come to hate the game. It is an unintelligent, slow-paced mess-of-a-game, with more hype than entertainment and more time standing around than actually moving. It requires less athleticism than basketball and less strategy than baseball (by a mile). And, its fans are the most ridiculous on earth (no offense). In fact, they are ignorant in most aspects and it drives me nuts. With no research to back me, I would nearly guarantee that 75%+ of the viewership of the NFL doesn't even know the rules of the game. It is believed to be the most popular sport in America, yet it is not on the rise (unlike MLB, which has set attendance records now for four straight years despite smaller venues); and most importantly, that popularity is only driven by two things: money and timing.
The games are on Sunday, the only day 75% of the population still has off from work, and the only day they can afford to leave their tv's on for hours while they nap on the couch. And money, the king of all sport is the god of football. I once read (and I can find it if you need) that as many as 89% of viewers of the SuperBowl have money on the game. Betting is the ONLY reason why American football is so popular, so watched. In fact, that same article mentioned that the remaining 11% of the SuperBowl viewership are mainly women who care more about the finger foods being served and the conversation with other dis-interested wives than the stupid game. Football is based on money, betting, and fantasy more than any other game in this nation. It is sickening to know how many lives are ruined by those dumb games played on Sunday each week.
Disgusting.
And the biggest complaint against football for me is its watch-ability. It STINKS!! It is comprised of a 30 second play (if you're lucky), 1 minute of standing around after the play, another 30 second play, another standing around of a minute, then an eventual timeout. The game is ALL ABOUT THE COMMERCIALS. (As my Uncle Denny says, football is companies' favorite sport because it is their tv time more than the game.) Sustained playing of the game does not occur unless a team has no timeouts and the game is under the 2 minute warning. It is unbelievable the amount of time the actual game takes up. The NFL Network runs games during the week without ads and tv timeouts and guess what? The games are about 40 minutes of playing time - less than 1 flipping hour - are you kidding me!?! This is my main reason for boycott - it is so boring!
Let's quickly take other sports: basketball - quite a few commercials (not nearly as many though), BUT non-stop action, continual moving and athletic ability, and a game that has raucous comebacks, instantaneous plays of importance, and amazing physical ability; soccer (real football) - continual action with NO commercial breaks but halftime (that means 90+ minutes of actual game play), amazing athleticism, and one play (just one single play) changes the entire match and season; baseball - yes it has commercials but they are defined moments (between half innings and at pitching changes), continual cerebral battles of chess at each pitch, strategy upon strategy, unbelievable mental & physical ability, the only sport that is defined by a split second between pitch and contact, and it is not defined or confined by a stupid little ticking clock.
Get over it America, football stinks and no amount of the networks telling you otherwise (because they stand to earn the most money via football and its plethora of sponsors) should brainwash you of this fact. I have so much more to say regarding the financial situation of the NFL, the ignorant salary cap, and the absolute stupid notion of "parody" in the NFL (quickly, I can name a lock for the playoffs in every division but 2 of the NFL; in MLB, I could only lock 1-3 teams for the playoffs and I was wrong with one of them - hmmm, parody lies where?).
Anyway, the boycott is on. I might watch the SuperBowl, if the party is good enough and the Patriots aren't playing - but that will be a stretch. Join me if you dare. I'll spend my time on the other sports that are actually entertaining and fun (and I might even throw in a little golf for balance).
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